People’s perception plays a huge role in shaping up our society. It is something that an individual develops since his childhood. Our perception takes different forms overtime. All the factors that explain relevantly how perceptions can change overtime and how they play a huge role in shaping up our society always lead to psychological theories. Many theorists have come up with theories that help us understand the reason for different kinds of opinions and mindsets and why they affect our surroundings so much. Many people develop a positive mind and look at everything in a much happier way. However, many develop negative perceptions and thoughts and tend to predict a critical outcome for almost everything. This is just a very short explanation of how perceptions differ. It can further be explained in detail by the help of several worldly aspects which includes religious, scientific, political and, societal factors. In today’s world many incidents have occurred that question the honor of our society and doubt our behavior towards people.
There is less trust among individuals. When women walk out of their homes they have fear in their hearts of being bullied, tortured, kidnapped or treated badly. This fear is the common perception of the women in our society because of such incidents that have commonly occurred especially, in Pakistan and due to this they set their values accordingly. Mia Luchetti in her research paper states that the horror faced by women is a mixture of betrayal and inhumane treatment that they have faced. To prove this we have victims such as Zainab who was raped and killed having no mercy on a poor nine-year old. It is not only the women who have no choice to have such a perception in our society. We can take the transgender community into account as well who are completely deprived of their rights in Pakistan, are considered completely different from others, treated badly and, are considered to be very low in status. This is all because of the contracted perceptions and values of our society. An incident of a Trans woman, Areesha, who was brutally shot down by an offender and she was left in a very critical state. When she was rushed into a hospital the doctors took most of the time over there to decide if she was supposed to be shifted in the men’s ward or the woman’s ward. During this decision making process she passed away and this marked another huge question on our values and our perception over this discrimination. The people do not consider the transgender community as their equal. If it is looked upon from the perception of the transgender community themselves, even they aim and wish to live a normal life like the ones who do not belong from the transgender community. They wish to work in order to serve Pakistan’s economy. However, they are deprived of these rights because our society has set its values as such that they do not accept them.
What are values? Looking at a bookish definition we get to know that a person’s values are his beliefs and anything that helps them differentiate between right and wrong. These values are mostly developed by the help of nurture. Although, there scientific justifications that prove how our biological system plays a role in developing our perceptions. Our body orientation effects the perception of various elements such as distance, objects and, auditory localization. These effects always lead from our sensory systems. In terms of distance, when we see something from far away it looks relatively smaller than what its actual size would be. As it comes near us our perceived view about it changes. Similarly, objects influence our perceptions to a great extent. An object may seem different from one view and completely strange from another.
This research paper mainly focuses on the flaws of our society which are based on mindset, perception and behavior. There have been a lot of cultural changes throughout decades. Culture is seen as the identity of a nation and Pakistani culture defines Pakistan for how it is as a nation. Pakistan’s culture portrays its standards, morals and, overall conducts. Pakistan is known as the second largest Muslim majority nation. The religion Islam teaches its followers to greet an individual by saying ‘Salaam’. However, it is seen all around the country that people greet with a ‘Hello’. Such cultural gaps display how foreign societies have an effect over the values of the Muslims of Pakistan. There are many other flaws in the cultural practices of the eastern world. For instance, English Language is given more priority in the field of education, people follow western fashion trends more than eastern fashion trends. A person is only considered educated if they are capable of having a conversation in English fluently. The way of eating food has completely changed from what the religion Islam teaches its Followers. All of these generation gaps that have been created due to changes in cultural practices can have a huge impact on the society of Pakistan.
As much of a huge role culture plays in influencing the Pakistani society, religious disputes have created a lot of differences among Muslims and people from other minority groups as well. The biggest question always arises when it comes to talking about the differences of the Sunni and Shia. In the previous years, there has been a lot of bloodshed between these two sects because of which an argument over this matter can never be won. These religious disputes and terror attacks due to extreme criticism have built up fear among the minority groups. Islam has always taught its Followers that all men in this world are equal and should treat each other fairly towards every aspect. While, Muslims of Pakistan head extremely against this important teaching. Even the founder of this nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wished to watch his country prosper by the help of these set goals which would bring all members of the Pakistani society together. There are many different tribal groups in Pakistan. According to the 1998 census, 96.14 percent of the population consists of Muslims and 3.86 percent are non-Muslims. In the light of recent events, an example of terrorism using religious accusations can be seen with the Hazara community in Quetta. In 2013, sectarian killings had approximately been counted to 1200 by Pakistan Institute for Peace studies and in the same year more than 80 Christians were killed in a suicide bomb blast on a church in Peshawar. Such events have developed a fear among the minorities of the Pakistani society. All these occasions occurred due to such beliefs of groups who target these minority groups. They consider these groups lower in status and value.
There is less exposure of education for the deprived. As they have do not own sufficient resources to facilitate their own education they mostly remain where they are. This is solely for one very important reason. The people who are the backbones for running Pakistan’s economy live with a mindset that if all the working class individuals become educated, who will do the work for them? Due to this perception they keep the lower class in the dark in order to avoid them from attaining resources that would provide them a helping hand in furnishing their lifestyle. The ones who strive hard have to strive hard because they are familiar with the fact that if they do not, they would not be able to achieve even a little amount of what they are gaining now. Even if younger boys who belong from the lower class are able to gain sufficient education to an extent the girls from the same class are completely deprived of education and in small homes they are trained to be working women in houses only. This mindset of Pakistan’s society is the most degrading factor of the values of these people. Their expenses are too much that they cannot afford to admit their children in private schools. While the education services of the government schools have completely fallen down as the government is never ready to improve their government education sector. Due to this reason lower class individuals require more jobs and unemployment rate is high to an extent in Pakistan that they always have to look for other odd ways of earning.
Marriages have completely taken a new face in Pakistan. Child marriages rate has increased to a great degree and this is seen most commonly only with girls. Twenty one percent girls are married before the age of eighteen and three percent girls are married before the age of fifteen. There comes a halt over the question of marriage when the concept of dowry intervenes. Dowry is whatever the bride’s family gives away to the groom’s family in the form of money, property or goods. Over centuries the payments of dowry have been normal. In modern day, the demands for dowry have increased over time and this has turned out to be a burden financially for families who intend to get their daughters married. If families are not able to pay a certain amount of dowry, the marriage ceremonies do not continue. This has become a very common practice in today’s world and has increased a huge rate of girls who have not been married for a long time. Such beliefs and practices have a negative effect on our perceptions and mindsets and these causes make the flaws in our society very clear and prominent.
If problems like these were to come to a fall during the modern day in Pakistan, many solutions may come out. The whole purpose of this subject is to highlight the flaws we face in our society that are negatively affecting our values, cultures, mindsets, beliefs and, behavior. These problems not only describe Pakistan’s society for what it is but it also states how the society tends to stick to these if a solution was not provided. Even if solutions are given implementation is the most vital step. All our society needs is reinforcement. People can not only just burst out and try to prove themselves victorious among brawls or arguments but patience if adopted, can bring a solution to almost every problem. Pakistan’s society needs to understand that if they cry for change, change can only occur if it is initiated through them. One person is always capable of making a difference. All that one person requires is unity. The founder of the nation’s motive for the success of this country was based on only three words: Unity, Faith, and Discipline. Follow this and prosperity will come itself in our nation.