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15 Soc. Change 3 (1985)

handle is hein.journals/sclcnge15 and id is 1 raw text is: Social Change : March 1985 : Vol. 15 No. 1 Non-Violence as an Attitude- Behaviour Principle and Modern Life* H.C. Ganguli** Abstract This paper draws attention to the need for development of serene and benevolent persons as the ultimate solution to the problem of social tension and in this context presents the ancient Indian concept of non-violence of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. It is suggested that violence and non-violence may not constitute a single bipolar factor and the related concepts of anger, hostility violence and aggression as are now being empirically developed in contemporary psychology are discussed. The major thrust of this paper is that non-violence is not only a relentless ethical code to be practised solely for transcendental goals but that it has various subsidiary principles that can be meaningfully applied in personal and social life of contemporary India. The paper ends with a discussion of some life experiences demonstrating the application of these principles. *Paper presented at the U.G.C. sponsored Seminar on Intra-Societal Tension and National Integration :Psychological Assess nI held at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh between February 26-28, 1984. **Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, DELHI-110007 3 A Point of View Over the last 25 years Indian psychologists have studied intergroup prejudice, discrimination and social violence. They have studied psychological variables in an analytic fashion and have thereby enriched psychology. But direct transition from psychological research to a practical understanding of intergroup enomenon has not always been possible. The latter as an applied field demands a synthetic, interdisciplinary approach. Non-psychological variables belonging to sociology, anthropology, ecoinomics, religion etc. require to be synthesised with psychological variables before intergroup propositions can be validated. It is not surprising therefore that in spite of learned papers published by psychologists, adminis- trators have found little use for these from the application point of view. There are differing views about the place of psychology in the study of intergroup relations. One school asserts that the study of psychology is the study of man and hence there is no limitations to the contribution psychology can make for the understanding of intergroup relations. Her groups are treated as if these are larger versions of persons. This position which we would like to call the umaximalist' position, is quite different from tlft 'minimalist' approach which doubts the relevanoce of studying intra-personal or inter-personal conduct for understanding intergroup behaviour. The minimalist position is that economic sociological forces including those belonging to religion, culture etc. are what really matter here and psychological factors are at best of marginal importance. A third and intermediate position would be that psychological variables are real and account for a significant part of variance of intergroup phenomenon, but the non-psychological variables are of equal importance and the major methodological problem lies in relating the different sets of variables with reference to the nature of generalizations made The present author is of the opinion that for best results in the applied field, the intermediate position is most promising. However methodological issues are formidable. For a psychologist or a sociologist to make recommendations for handling of problems of prejudice and intergroup violence on the basis of study of only psychological or sociological parameters, while cautioning the administrator that oither factors also exist and that these factors have been held constant in these studies, is not a viable approach. There should be a genuine multivariate, interdisciplinary approach, involving independent and intervening variables belonging to these different areas. The term integrated study rather than interdisciplinary study seems more appropriate. We recognise the design difficulties of such studies and really have no ready-made answers. A second point to which we draw attention is the time frame. One may design short-term goal studies or studies with relatively long-term goals. Each has its own value. Fire highting equipment are as much a necessity as fire proofing of buildings through appropriate choice of architectural designs and selected building materials. Studies of short time- frames are like the former: these attempt to restore control over an unbalanced situation. Studies with long time-frames are more preventive rather than therapeutic in nature. This difference, so obvious, nevertheless deserves reiteration for many solutions in psychology have a long time-frame and it is not proper to compare the utility of these studies with economic solutions many of which can be carried out within a shorter time period. Implicit in the discussion of the concept

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