Adopting western culture and to have forgotten the actual cultural values is usually associated with the people of East. It is a general perception that eastern countries have adopted the Western culture and have allowed the transition to affect their very own community with certain negative effects. Speaking of the negative effects, being brand conscious and preference towards western media are considered to be the basic drawbacks that have further given way to societal issues such as the growing rate of divorce. On most of the occasions it has been observed that people look to put the entire onus on the western culture and are little critical of themselves. The question however that still remains is how far is such a perception true? How far does it reflect the reality?
It is believed that if you want to know about the people of a particular country, you should study their culture first. If you are not able to do so, you will not be able to adjust. Just like they say, ‘when in Rome, do like the Romans do’ truly sums up the cultural impact on the community. Talking of the western culture it is a prime advocate of women empowerment and freedom of both the genders. Experts on family relations suggest that when there is equality, conflict of preferences come into play, that’s right, not conflict of interests but of preferences. Western culture typically constitutes of a large portion of working women and therefore they fail to give maximum time to their relationship or their family. Finding it hard to balance between their priorities, an unseen gap creeps between the husband and the wife that eventually leads to a divorce. Allowing western culture to replace their own to an extent, families in the East are also experiencing such problems. While in the western this may be considered to be normal, the trend is seen to be destructive in the East. In addition to this, women in the west are given certain protections that if used negatively could lead to an end of the relationship. This is considered to be another issue that gives rise to divorce in the western culture.
Another important reason for high divorce rates in the west when compared to east is that children, the moment they turn 18 are allowed to take every decision of their lives on their own. Therefore, even if an issue that may be resolved with the intervention of adults is not done because of the very reason that children do not allow any kind of interference. On the contrary, there is immense social pressure in the east that eventually leads to a compromise to save a relationship rather than parting ways. What may be concluded from this is that in east couples look to reach a mutual understanding and value their relationships a lot more as compared to those in the west. Also, the culture in east is such that it makes women dependent on men and as a result of this women are not empowered enough to take steps where they might have to live their lives on their own, but they look to stay in the relationship. Thus, it can be said that the divorce rates in the west are higher than the east, but to generalize this as a promotion of divorce would be a touch harsh, for every culture has its own set of values that beg to differ and should not necessarily be made a part of some other culture.