The Vague Concept of ‘Primitive’: The Change in Perceptions from Barbarism to Wisdom

This study focuses on the usage and effect of the ‘primitive’ concept in social sciences. This concept, which is used to express both people who lived in the deep past and people who did not come into contact with modernity, has a rather ambiguous world of meaning. It is possible to say that non-Western societies are coded as ‘primitive’ in this approach, which is basically based on the Western and other dichotomy. The Western mind, which sees itself at the top of the line of progress, people who did not come into contact with modernity as irrational, unaware of his surroundings, and lacking many values and institutions. It can be said that the ‘theory of primitive society’ plays a dominant role in the background of transferring democracy and prosperity to ‘developing societies’. This article also discusses the transformation of the ancient human, coded as barbarian and savage, under the influence of the progressive approach, into a creature with knowledge and wisdom, with the effect of romance over time. The concept of ‘primitive’, which continues to find a place for itself in the literature despite some criticisms, has a influence of domain beyond what is thought. The criticism of the ‘primitive’ contributes to the correct understanding of both the ancient human and the traditionally expressed contemporary societies.

Introduction to the First Special Issue on Pandemics

This issue of the Journal of Developing Societies is the first of two special issues addressing key pandemic developments from around the world. This issue focuses on COVID-19, especially looking at the impact on developing societies. The articles analyze events in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Norway, South Asia, China, and the Philippines.

Observation of Youth in Sociological Context

Sociology as a science of society evaluates the youth from different perspectives. Youth as one-fifth of population in most societies are facing new needs and services. In more developed world, they are almost fulfilled because of the availability of infrastructures, whereas in many developing societies because of such a vacuum, many youth are deprived of their required services and essentials of today's life. However, achievement of modernity has to a large extent provided the youth with new opportunities in many countries. Such a transition has led the youth to growing awareness. When the conditions are favorable, young people will be able to use their ability and capacity much better, or in other words, they will perform their functions/ duties satisfactorily. In such a situation, the society as a whole moves in a positive way. Many have not yet been able to provide their youth to access to education to be used in future creativity and development. Improving the quality of basic education has been highly emphasized by scholars. In many developing countries, many of those who drop out of school in early stages become child-labor; a phenomenon affecting their entire life in a negative manner. Developing societies have a wide need for different skills in various fields, which must be provided by the youth in any society.

The Roles of Bacterial Products, Lipopolysaccharides and Bacteriocins, in Obesity and its Related Complications

The expanding problem of obesity is becoming a very serious issue in developed and even developing societies.

Psychiatric Stigma in Developing Societies

Stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with mental syndromes are prevalent in the general population and even among mental health professionals, a problem that may result easily in public avoidance, constant discrimination, and declined help-seeking behavior. The effect of stigma is twofold: Public stigma is the response that the public has to people with mental disorder. Self-stigma is the bigotry which persons with mental disorder turn against themselves. The WHO has advised that stigma is one of the largest barricades to treatment engagement, even if management is operative, even in low-income nations. While before and according to a series of researches the outcome of severe mental illness is generally better in developing societies than in developed countries, and it has been suggested that stigma is less severe or non-existent in unindustrialized nations, the current studies and observations do not confirm such an optimistic hint and the idea that stigma attached to mental illness is a global phenomenon seems a reasonable inference. In the present article, the issue of stigmatization, deinstitutionalization, national goal setting, and real situation of various modules of psychiatric rehabilitation, in the context of social or public psychiatry, especially in developing countries, is discussed, from a practical point of view.

Content analysis of living historical memory around the world: Terrorization of the Anglosphere, and national foundations of hope in developing societies

Recently, researchers have endeavored to extend cultural perspectives of collective remembering by examining communicative or living historical memory (collective memories that emerge from informal communication between ordinary people). The current study examined the content and subjective evaluation of living historical memory from open-ended nominations of historical events provided by samples from 39 societies. Results showed that Western societies were dominated by living memories of terrorism, reflecting a distinctly negative climate. By contrast, many developing societies displayed a more positive climate in living memory that was rooted in events related to their nation’s foundation. The current study opens up avenues for conceptualizing the role of collective remembering in shaping emotional climates that influence (or may be part of) national political culture.

Religious Factor in Forming a National Modernization Model

The problem of the religious factor influence on the process of forming a national modernization model in developing societies, where institutions and elements of Western culture are borrowed, is actualized. The decline in the influence of Westernization, which contributes to the revival of traditional culture and religion in modernizing countries, is studied. Specifics of the religious factor and institutions influence on further changes in the state and society in line with the formation of a national model of modernization are analyzed.