Social And Cultural Influences Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Social And Cultural Influences?

Human rights are an essential part of our lives and the development of them is largely due to social and cultural influences. Social and cultural influences have played a critical role in the history of human rights, from the establishment of basic inalienable rights to the promotion of equality. This essay will explore how these influences have shaped the development of human rights throughout history. The most influential social and cultural factors that have helped shape human rights are religion, philosophy, law, politics, economics, education and culture. Religion has for centuries been influential in protecting basic human dignity by setting moral standards for society. Christianity was instrumental in establishing principles such as equality before God regardless of race or gender that were later enshrined into international covenants such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). By using religious teachings to create ethical codes that protect individual dignity it created an international standard for what was considered acceptable behavior within society. Philosophy has also had a significant impact on modern human rights discourse. In particular philosophers such as John Locke who argued for natural laws that gave people certain inherent freedoms that could not be taken away by any government or ruler set the foundation for many aspects found within today’s legal documents regarding human rights. Philosophers like Immanuel Kant who argued for universal morality based on respect for others also provided valuable insight on how individuals should treat each other regardless if their beliefs were different or not which further reinforced existing protections against discrimination found within many modern day legal documents concerning human rights. Law has also been instrumental in protecting and advancing human dignity by creating laws at both national and international levels which forbid certain types of discrimination between individuals or groups whether racial, religious or otherwise; as well as outlawing practices like slavery which had previously been considered socially acceptable despite being morally reprehensible.