North South University

Course Title: Introduction to Anthropology

Final Exam
Sec: 02

Submitted To
Dr. Mohammad Bulbul Ashraf Siddiqi (BSQ)

Submitted By
Ziad-Al-Riza
1530090630

Submission Date: 4th JUNE, 2020

Answer to the question number: 1

Bangladesh is a conventional Muslim majority country and due to this the divorce rate is lower
here comparatively any other western county in the world. The reason behind low divorce rate
comparatively to other western country is most of the people still in Bangladesh stays in the
village. The scenario is different from the urban cities because divorce is not socially accepted
there. It deals with their reputations. If a women or man is divorce in the village it gives a
negative judgment about them in the society. Their lifestyles entail tremendous tension. Divorce
is the product and not the catalyst of social change. In the recent articles in the newspaper
showed that the divorce rate is getting higher gradually in the urban cities like Dhaka. Women
are filing as many as three-fourth of the applications for divorce.

There are plenty of reasons for divorce and it can happen due to domestic violence including
husband and wife quarrels, husband ill-treatment and in-law quarrels, wife infertility, wife's
unethical after marriage relationship, spouse's inability to meet her marital demands due to
illness and personal existence, etc. Divorce acceptance in society has made the decision to
divorce more comfortable now, a day. Divorce here was a dirty word, it was about time. The fear
of social isolation, a sense of responsibility towards extended families – who possibly arranged
the marriage first – and financial dependence, put almost intolerable pressure on couples to stay
together. Yet with rapid urbanization and rising social mores the static boundaries governing
traditional life are beginning to collapse. It is becoming increasingly common to date between
the twenty-something, love matches (as opposed to arranged marriages) do not cause the family
scandals they once did and divorce is no longer out of bounds.

In the urban cities like Dhaka couples don’t afraid of divorce anymore. They are well educated
and very few people are there to judge them. Most of the cases senior citizens like parents or
siblings don’t stay with them. So there are few chances that they will be judged. Now a days
couple don’t try to fix their relationship problems rather they are on their own. One of the reason
behind it is both the partner have their own income and they are not depended on each other. So
women are now at par with men financially – to some degree – and do not feel the need to rely
on their husbands for their financial needs. Once there were a time when couples stuck on a
unhappy marriage and they try to fix it by creating pressure on themselves. But now it has
become a very common practice in the society if the couples are not happy. They immediately
take the decision of divorce. Another problem was they have to think about the children’s future
but now it is not a big deal. They try to take the responsibility of the children equally even
though they are not together anymore. Al though society of urban cities has accepted this and
they sometimes encouraged the couple for divorce if they are not happy together. Their lifestyles
entail tremendous tension. Divorce is the product and not the catalyst of social change. There are
also several divorces arising from extramarital affairs, substance misuse and alcoholism.

One of the big drawbacks here is that in times of need there is usually no formal therapy or
mediation. There is a shortage of therapy for remarriage. The counseling / mediation task, if any,
is generally left to the immediate guardians / relatives of each side after marriage if there is any
problem or conflict. The choice is to go before the courts. However, in general, courts are there
to resolve disputes, not to offer therapy or mediation until the issue or conflict enters trial. Some
of the religious scholars and extremist argued that one of the reason of increasing divorce in the
society is rise of women employment. Because women are now going out for work so they
cannot give time to his husband and to the family so the relation bond with the husband is getting
weaker. They try to give all the responsibility to the women and try to mislead the husband and
their thinking that because of women are now working more in the outside that is not good for
their family. But the truth is Islam has given the right to the women to choose their fortune. They
have right of doing any halal work with the proper dress code. Even Islam supports women to
work outside and doing business. In Islam women can earn money and it is completely her rights
wherever she wants to spent her money. It is not necessary for her to spent her money for the
house hold. Women have complete right to hold her property on her name and she can even keep
her name in the property even after the marriage. Women have their right to give divorce any
time they want with a valid reason. If they are not happy with her husband they can give divorce.
Islam does not make divorce taboo for the women but the society does. And if you fear that the
two (husband and wife) may not be able to keep the limits ordered by Allah there is no blame on
either of them if she redeems herself (from marriage tie) Surah Al Baqarah.

Educated and financially dependent Bangladeshi women are aware of their rights and know how
to defend them. Divorce results aren't all negative. Staying in a poor marriage would be worse
than divorcing.

Marriage is a very important event to anyone’s life. Most of the time in our country big decision
like marriage took very early. Sometimes the couple even doesn’t know each other. Affair
mirage is still not highly accepted among the senior citizens till now. So, a huge number of
arranged 0marriages took place in Bangladesh. The couple got very few time to know each other
during this time or sometimes no time. This is a huge disaster some times. They don’t know
about the past or they don’t discuss about the future as well. So after the marriage when they
come to know each other already wrong decision have made. It's also really important to
demonstrate empathy for one another. The secret to any good marriage is patience. Forced
marriages and early marriages in Bangladesh are a fact and these must be prevented. In one's life,
marriage is a major decision, which should be made only when one is mature enough to handle
all that comes with it. Compromise is very necessary and no marriage will succeed without it.
When a couple gets married, they both reached an agreement. This arrangement is focused on
caring, affection, defense, social as well as financial security, understanding and reciprocal
compromise.
Answer to the question number: 3

Family: A family can be identified in any other form as a community of people connected with
blood or marriage that is recognized by the society or adoption that shares primary responsibility
for reproduction and care for members of society.

Family varies from culture to culture. There are a lot of types of family but one thing is common
in all of the culture that is “Social Institution”

There are some functions of a family without this function a family can never be formed

Reproduction

Protection.

Socialization

Regulation of sexual behavior.

Affection and companionship.

Provision of social status.

These six things are the fundamental to form a family.

Types of a Family: there can be two types of family nuclear family and extended family.

Changes of family structure in Bangladesh

A family structure can be changes in many ways. Throughout the world, family, the basic unit of
society, has undergone many structural changes and profound transformations due to rapid socio-
economic growth and technological advances. Several thing cause changes in the Bangladesh
family such as dowry and divorce and of course marriage age is playing a yuge role here. People
are now getting more into job new opportunities of employment. Now in Bangladesh education
system are getting better people are now more in to educational institution and every member of
the family are now are educated now then don’t rely on the family lands or any family related
agricultural activities. They are traveling in to the urban cities from rural cities for education job
and other financial activities. Not only for the positive issues but there are also some negative
issues that causes changes in family patter in our country. Most of the case scenario is that now
the break-down of the joint family is one of the causes. Now people are more into nuclear
family. Each and every growing family member has their own choice have their own rights and
other family related issues. They think if they are in a joint family their independence might get
affected by the senior members of the family. So they try to get married and want establish a new
family where they will be on their own. So marriage is one of the reasons of changes family
pattern in Bangladesh. Secondly Chances of education and jobs, implementation of advanced
training increased access to development services such as self-employment through micro-
finance, health, education and social awareness, economic and political empowerment among
family members in the region, technologies in agriculture and other production sectors. On the
other hand most of the young generation are now firstly date each other then they get married if
nothing goes well in to their family life the get divorced which I very easy now so the family
structure get change again but in the previous time getting divorced was socially very insulting
and society judgment over it was very bad. So if they try to fix their relation anyway but now it
is socially accepted and so family structure get changes very frequently. Dowry is also one of the
reasons for changing the family structure. Mostly the groom demand high amount of financial
benefit groom the bride’s family and if they are unable to full fill it they get divorced or even if
go up to family violence. So these factors are changing the family structure in Bangladesh
gradually.

Family patterns are different from society to society. It is actually different in Bangladesh
perspective. In Bangladesh it actually based on in which society you belong and a difference can
be viewed in the rural area and urban area. In the rural are authority patterns are mainly
patriarchy. In the rural area male domination can be seen very clearly and women are mainly
busy with the house chores. They very rarely take participation in familial decision or other
decision on the other hand in the urban area of Bangladesh we can see egalitarian power
distribution among the family. This mostly happened because most of the gamily in the urban
society are educated and they are more into nuclear family. So most of the time both the male
and female takes any decision which is good for their future.

If we see the past history the family bonding in Bangladesh is very tight and for many several
years they have lived in a joint family. Culturally and socially bonding took the bond to kinship
but in the recent times this bond are getting looser and the family bond are not strong as it was I
previous. Surprisingly this is not the case only in the urban areas but also in the rural area but the
percentages is minimal comparing to the urban areas. All the causes mention above are mainly
the reason for this structural change in the family. It is not that the society is not accepting this
structural change but the families are not always found now in any kind of bad situation..
members are now busy with their own schedule and which now visible in the current society of
Bangladesh mainly in the urban cities but there are also joint family example in the urban cities
which is very rare to find.

In the recent time for the global pandemic COVID-19 there might be a change in the family
pattern as well. It is seen that it is not a gender problem. It can affect both male female member
of the family. So it is understandable that if the male member of the family is affected by the
virus the authority automatically goes to the female member of the family. In the rural area
where the most of the family are male dominated most of the changes will be shown there. And
statically it is already known that the male are getting more affected by the virus and the death
rate is higher among the male. So in the rural area the authority will be changed. On the other
hand in the urban area most of the family shares equal domination over the family so the preent
situation will not affect the family authority pattern that much. So in Dhaka is the capital city of
Bangladesh and it is a urban society and most of the family here are nuclear and being educated
and most of the family follows egalitarian authority if the male member died during this
pandemic the family will automatically transfer to matriarchy authority system. In the recent
scenario there are huge affected people and death rate of Dhaka is increasing day by day and
most of them are male members of the family even though if a family has a patriarchy power
distribution among the family soon the power will transfer to the female member of the family.

Answer to the question number: 5

Religion: Religion is a kind of behavior and practices or morals of a social-cultural system that
requires different kind of spiritual activities, believes, norms that relate human in to something
supernatural aspect. Religion is one of the most old activities that are be done by the human for
many years. From the beginning of the mankind religion was always there but in a different
form. The religion we follow today was not same at the beginning. People have always
worshiped to the thing they believe.

Culture: Culture is a knowledge, characteristics behavior or gesture of a group of people. It

gives a understanding of what the society is about. It gives an clear idea about their food, arts,
religion, music, way of celebration and other important identity of the society. Culture varies
from society to society. Every group of people has their own culture that gives an understanding
about them. Culture are different in the different nation there are a lot of culture such as Africa
have tgeir own culture westerns countries have their own culture Asia and Middle East countries
have their own culture. Sometimes culture varies with in the countries because of society and
religion. All the religion have not the same culture

Religion and culture is inseparable. They are both social construct. Religion and culture both
influence each other. Religion is the worship or faith and culture is the physical activities that are
the basic difference but it vary from society to society. It is seen that the same religion has a
different form of worship in a different culture. 'The cultural function of religion is both
conservative and dynamic: it consecrates a culture's tradition and also provides the common goal
which unifies the various social elements in it .But, over the centuries, religion is often subject to
changes in society. 'The relationship between Religion and Culture is often dual. The way of life
affects the approach to religion, and religious mindset determines the way of life'

However, culture and religion is interrelated but it has a complex relation. It plays a vital role in
the society and it sometimes depend how the society is shaped. It may vary to society to society.
Being the same religion it can be occupied differently in a different society. Now a society
identifies its culture. Because of cultural difference the gesture and other worship of a religion
can be do differently in a another society. But religion has a control in culture. If religion does
not support the culture it might not be seen in the society. For an example if we tell about Islam
does not support singing dancing and other sort of “Haram” entertainment. So it is prohibited in t
many Muslim countries especially in the Middle East. They can do it but as per the rules of
Islamic guideline.

In addition if we look back to the history of this Sub- continent religion has great impact on the
culture. Religion has changed the culture of this sub- continent for a longest period time. From
the very early of 500th century when this area was controlled by the non-Muslim leaders the
culture was different they were mainly Hindu and Buddhist based culture. They have a different
culture than the Muslim and they have done it on their own way. Pala dynasty is one of the
examples of that. After the arrival of Mughal and Afghan the culture stared changing in this sub-
continent. The culture was influenced by their religion. They have drastically change the culture
here. So we can say religion have a huge impact in the culture

Religion is a very vast thing and it has a lot of functions

In Durkheim point of view religion has a power of unity. He believes in social solidity of the
society. If we think in the cultural point of view culture also unite a society and bring people
together and it is very important for the society to be united. So because of religion people come
together and share their cultural views.

Religions have a control over society it is one of the fundamental function of religion. Religion
controls the society and its culture. Religion can control the society from disffrent types of
aspect. Religion can defines how the society should be run what culture it can acquire what not
to be done and how it should be done. So religion gives shape to culture over controlling the
society.

Religion gives an emotional support to the people of the society which is one of the functions of
religion. Though this emotional supports vary from culture to culture. All the culture has not
same rituals but all the religion have the same support. Religion plays a huge over culture in this
emotional culture.

Religion lifts the identity of a society and its culture. By understanding the religion of a
particular group of people anyone can get an idea about the culture. It may vary in different
nation or society but basic will be pretty much same all over the nation. So religion gives shape
of culture when identity is in concern.

Religion has the power of changing the society. It is a function of religion. Spirituality is one of
the parts of religion. And it has a great impact in society. Many great people have changed the
society based on spirituality and so does the culture. If the culture goes religion takes the
responsibility to make it right. Great people like Mahatma Gandhi based on their spirituality they
tried to change the society and its culture in a positive way.

Finally religion has control over sexuality. If any culture promotes sexuality or they don’t mind
to have open sex religion has always put a full is top there. As an example we can say about
 Middle East country it doesn’t matter form which culture you are sexuality is prohibited in Islam
without marriage so where ever you go in the Middle East sexuality is prohibited. Same goes
with drinking alcohol. Like western culture has sexuality drinking alcohol is legal but where
ever you go to Middle East they don’t allow you to do it. So in this case we can see the religion
view gives a shape of culture.

So in the conclusion we can say religion and culture is inseparable but they have conflict and
religion is the one to give the shape of culture.

References:

The changing Bangladeshi family. (n.d.). The Changing Bangladeshi Family. Retrieved from

https://www.thedailystar.net/online/celebrating-shape-shifting-families-1224184

International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice 157

Vol.3. No.4 October, 2015, pp. 155-161

Religion and Culture. (2014, August 20). Retrieved from

https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures/religion-and-culture

Religion: 3 Most Important Functions of Religion. (2014, March 25). Retrieved from

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/religious-institutions/religion-3-most-

important-functions-of-religion/31380

The Daily Star. (2018, June 20). Divorce Rate in Dhaka City. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from

https://unb.com.bd/category/special/divorce-rate-marks-a-sharp-rise-in-

khulna/27344#:~:text=Of%20the%20total%20divorces%2C%201020,came%20from

%20women%2C%20he%20said.

Word count: 3433

Originality reports: 7% Plagiarism