Even in our globalizing world, the question as to whether "human rights" is an essentially Western concept, which ignores the very different cultural, economic, and political realities of the South, persists. Can the values of a consumer society be applied to societies with nothing to consume? At the risk of sounding frivolous: When you stop a man in traditional dress from beating his wife, are you upholding her human rights or violating his?
Even in our globalizing world, the question as to whether "human rights" is an essentially Western concept, which ignores the very different cultural, economic, and political realities of the South, persists. Can the values of a consumer society be applied to societies with nothing to consume? At the risk of sounding frivolous: When you stop a man in traditional dress from beating his wife, are you upholding her human rights or violating his?