Aneesh V. Appu*, Akhila Ajith and Midhuna U. M.
Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Mahatma Gandhi College, Trivandrum, India
*Email: [email protected]
Abstract: Indian culture has seen a tremendous and drastic change especially after the colonial rule. In the last century, one could witness India adopt umpteen number of western cultural practices both as part of the colonial rule as well as globalization. During the British rule, acceptance of western cultural element was not appreciated by Indians. But social reformers and activists introduced radical changes in Indian society by adopting western ideas and ideologies. After independence western cultural elements have gained social sanction and western values are rapidly being absorbed into Indian culture and life style. Westernisation has brought many benefits in the areas of public health, labour, education etc. which helped in the development of India. But certain sexist attitudes of people constitute one of the factors that does not allow optimum development of the country in many ways. To some extent, sexism has knocked down the economic growth of the country and also contributed in decreasing the per capita income. The present study examined the role of ambivalent sexism in westernisation. The sample of the study comprised of 60 participants who were individuals above 18 years from different parts of Kerala. The data was collected directly from the participants and online questionnaires were also circulated through online mode. The tools used were, the ‘Westernisation’ scale and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. For analysing data, correlation and regression have been used. It was found that ambivalent sexism (hostile sexism and benevolent sexism combined) and hostile sexism alone are negatively correlated to westernisation. Regression suggests that hostile sexism and ambivalent sexism influences the extent of westernisation.
Keywords: Westernisation; Ambivalent Sexism; Hostile Sexism; Benevolent Sexism.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.55032/ATSKj.psychol.2020.1104