Question

• Can you think of Indians who are very western in their clothes and appearances but who do not have democratic and egalitarian values that are part of modern attitudes? We are giving two examples below. Can you think of other instances from both real and reel life?
  We may find people who are Western-educated but holding very prejudiced views about particular ethnic or religious communities. A family can adopt external forms of Western culture, like the way the interiors of houses are done up, but may have very conservative ideas about women’s role in society. The practice of female foeticide combines discriminatory attitudes towards women and the use of very modern technology.
• You should also discuss that whether this contradiction is only true for the Indians or non-western societies. Or is it not equally true that racist and discriminatory attitudes exist in Western societies?

Answer 1

In real and reel life, the disconnect between Westernized appearance and democratic values shows up clearly when individuals adopt external lifestyles while holding onto deeply conservative social hierarchies. In real life, a striking example occurs within corporate offices or elite educational institutes, where professionals fluent in English and dressed in Western formal business suits still rely strictly on caste networks or match birth charts for their children’s arranged marriages. In reel life, popular Indian cinema often portrays wealthy, Westernized, foreign-educated family patriarchs such as the characters in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge who operate multi-national businesses abroad but hold deeply rigid, non-egalitarian views regarding a daughter’s lack of autonomy in choosing her own life partner.

Crucially, this cultural contradiction is not unique to India or non-Western societies, as racist and discriminatory attitudes exist deeply within Western nations themselves. While Western countries pride themselves on being the birthplace of modern scientific rationalism and institutional democracy, they frequently struggle with systemic racial discrimination, anti-immigrant sentiment, and severe economic disparities. For instance, highly educated, modern Western individuals frequently harbor strong biases against racial minorities, proving that wearing modern clothing and utilizing cutting-edge technology does not automatically guarantee an egalitarian mindset. Therefore, the mismatch between superficial material modernity and actual democratic values is a universal human phenomenon rather than an issue unique to developing countries.