Middle East

Effect of Modernization

Historically, truth-telling and honesty were necessary and respected values and traits in Middle Eastern cultures. Arabs have been nomadic and tribal since the dawn of history, living in harsh desert environments with limited resources. They had to rely on each other and social relations for survival. Within this context, honesty and truth-telling became essential because lies and deception could mislead and harm the group regarding the reality of their relationships, natural environment, and the capabilities of themselves and their enemies.

All three of the major Middle Eastern religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, prohibited lying and deception and encouraged truth-telling and devotion to keeping promises. Moreover, lying and deception were mostly ineffective as paths to advancement because social status was determined by tribal lineage and performance in trade or war. In a small tribal society, in which people know almost everything about each other since childhood, there is little room for lying and deception, and if it occurs, it can be detected and dealt with quickly.

With modernization, governmental centralization, and urbanization of the Middle East, there have been increases in individualism and mobilization, changes in political management and control, and the mixing of people from various backgrounds in urban areas. These kinds of macrosystem changes can produce social fragmentation, anomie, increases in self-interest, and the quest for personal wealth and power, all of which can increase levels of moral disengagement. As described by Albert Bandura and others, moral disengagement is an individual-level set of cognitive processes that allow individuals to morally disconnect from their own immoral behavior, so that they can behave inhumanely while continuing to view themselves as ethical people. Corrupt leaders can foster such moral disengagement in ordinary people in ways that lead these people to accept or participate in various forms of extremism.

Within many exosystems in the Middle East, such changes gave more freedom to some individuals to use lying and deception for personal or political gains without feelings of guilt and without the old fears of being caught easily or of loss of social status. A web of lies and deception creates an illusion of justice and development and a shared myth that “everything is okay.” In such circumstances, lying and deception are acceptable as long as they enforce the status quo and the dominant narrative, and truth-telling and honest opinion can be considered heroic or dangerous, if not illegal and naive. In addition, oppressive systems dictate what the “truth” is, enforce certain narratives, and silence any voice or opinion that might challenge that narrative. On the other hand, under oppressive and corrupt systems that deny some basic human rights and needs, and which are built on a fabric of deceptions and lies, lying and deception can become a way for individuals to assert their freedoms and get their legitimate survival needs met.

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