Difference between ideal and

real culture of Pakistani

society

Registration No: 2020-LLB-025

Teacher name: Amna Afzal
Subject: Sociology
Pakistani Culture:
Defining what Pakistani culture comprises of would first involve settling on a yardstick and that is a
contentious debate in and of itself. It demands a study and acknowledgement of a history that pre-
dates partition and locates itself in the ‘land’ of Pakistan as well as the ‘idea’ of Pakistan.

This involves embracing the myriad of languages spoken, local dances and poems that do not ascribe
to a religious denominator and unequivocally demands embracing our artists and artisans.

Above all, it means accepting that Pakistani culture is a composite of the events and people that
have shaped this land, not just since 1947, but also before it.

Real and ideal culture:

Real culture:
The standards and values a society tries to have or pretends to have.

Ideal culture:
The standards and values a society actually has, instead of pretends or tries to have.

Difference between ideal and real culture:

Ideal culture refers to the practices, values or norms that society is supposed to follow or desires to
achieve. It refers to those goals that a society considers ideal, or worth aiming for. We see what we
want to see and we say what we want to say instead of what the actual interpretation of the society
can be like. For example, when we say that crime and violence rates are decreasing, we are seeing
only what is positive. However, a true or real picture will tell us that in reality, it has been increasing
due to the advancement of the society and the consequent competitiveness and complexity it has
brought about.

This can be distinguished from the real culture which refers to practices and norms that culture
actually follows. They can be the same at times, but the ideal culture seems to be more ecstatic,
optimistic and glowing, distinguishing itself from the real culture, which is the actual picture of the
society. The gap between the ideal and real culture is wide. While ideal culture involves an idealized
and resolute value system that controls perfect behaviour, real culture involves a value system which
is adaptable and serves as a set of preferred guidelines. . For example, a country which desires to
achieve secularism. If it does achieve it completely, which is highly unlikely, it can be called as an
ideal culture; otherwise, it is the real culture where somewhere or the other events of communal
riots will take place occasionally.

The difference between ideal culture and real culture can also be explained through the example of
marriage. While in the Hindu society, marriage is considered to an auspicious, divine and
indissoluble occasion. So, in theory, the ideal Hindu society should not have divorces and the
marriage ties should be maintained forever. However, in reality (real culture), in contemporary
society there are numerous instances of divorces happening in the country with marriage becoming
a contract from a sacrament. An ideal culture can never be realized because people preach what
they never practice. Taking into consideration the concept of ethnocentrism, we often tend to
idealize our own culture or consider it as the ideal culture. When we are ethnocentric, we consider
our own culture as the superior or the better culture than any other culture. For example, America
considers itself as the hegemony, the superior nation. However, when looked carefully, there lies,
inequality, the poor lack proper education, and it has still not been successful in providing its entire
population with equal opportunities. Poverty still exists, gun violence threatens the public, people
lack good jobs, and environmental conditions are degrading.

The conflict between real and ideal

culture of Pakistan:
•Pakistan’s lagging non-material culture:
Culture is imprinted in human psyche to guide individuals’ thoughts and actions. It is broadly divided
into material and non-material traits. Material aspects of culture are its technology, instruments of
economic production, consumption and household goods. Non-material are beliefs, values, norms,
laws, symbols, religion, literature, arts and folklore, and morals. For example, a car is an item of
material culture but it carries with it non-material norms of driving skills, traffic rules and ethics of
road behaviour. Pakistan’s traffic chaos is a symptom of its lagging non-material culture.

Socially and culturally Pakistan is not the country that it was in 1947, 1960 or in the 1970s and 80s. It
is no longer a predominantly agricultural country. Almost every rural household has one or more
members working, studying, and living away in cities. Despite grinding poverty for about a third of
the population, materially and economically Pakistanis are three times better off now in constant
per capita income than they were in 1947.

More importantly, Pakistan has become an urban country. About 36 per cent of its population lives
in cities, but by the UN threshold of urban density of 1000 persons per square mile, about 60 per
cent of Pakistan’s population lives in urban conditions. Furthermore, Pakistan has taken to material
modernisation readily. In May 2011, Pakistan boasted 118 million mobile phone subscribers. Even
videos and the TV-smashing Taliban have no hesitation in using cell phones, western medicine, FM
radio stations, dollars and rockets. Similarly, motorised vehicles have transformed even in the village
life where agriculture has been largely commercialised.

•Urban moral order:

Urban living demands collective goods such as water supply and waste disposal, universal literacy,
traffic control, police and fire services. The need for these services affects our behaviour. Their
defining characteristic is that many of these needs cannot be provided for some without providing
for all because their effects are indivisible. Urban life is based on a social contract, i.e. everybody’s
well being is connected with the welfare of all.

The moral order of urban life is different from that of agrarian and tribal societies. Urban life
necessitates intricate division of labour and coordination of activities. It brings everybody in daily
encounters with strangers or at least with those unrelated by blood and marital ties. It creates
pressures for impersonal dealings and requires rules and mutual trust. Ibn Khaldun in the 14th
century observed that tribal mores are not transferable to cities, which breed their distinct society
and culture.In times of rapid cultural change, the balance between material and non-material
aspects of cultures breaks down. In Pakistan, something more is happening. Its non-material culture
is not only lagging but is actively moving towards orthodox Islamic mores. Here lies the dilemma:
Pakistan’s material culture is modernising and non-material culture is Islamising. The result is that
the values and norms that we espouse, offer little guidance for the behaviours necessitated by our
material and urban ways of living. We are in a state of moral conflict.

Islamisation in Pakistan has been a process of inventing traditions. Islamisation cultivates notions of
right and wrong based on women’s segregation, religious observances, sexuality, personalised
evidence, retributory justice and demonstrable piety. Yet, urban living requires impersonal
organisations, trust of others, women’s participation, freedom of expression, individual rights,
empirical logic and transparency.

•Islamisation:
The divergence between our lived culture and imagined culture is turning into a gaping chasm.
Islamisation of narratives has diverted the public discourse and channeled social energies into
reinforcing the imagined culture. It diverts us to moral discourses that do not conform to the lived
reality of our urban livelihoods.

Pakistanis urgently need alternative narratives that may compete dialogically with the orthodox
Islamic thought. But it is not just the narratives that will bring the imagined culture in line with the
lived culture. There has to be social movements for tolerance, rationality, freedom to think, cultural
diversity, and gender equality. It is not an easy task. It will take the form of long drawn out
arguments and political struggles in streets, schools, the media and homes for the Pakistani mind. It
has to begin by wresting the self-assumed ‘Fatwa’ authority from the Mullahs.