Using the case of female genital cutting (FGC), the article addresses the question of when local attitudes and practices conform to international norms. One theoretical perspective links attitudes in developing countries to control over the physical environment, arguing that greater control over nature is associated with the rejection of traditional authority and the acceptance of modern science. A competing perspective emphasizes the importance of western scripts as a source of individual identity. The authors use hierarchical models to analyze Demographic and Health Survey data on attitudes toward, and the practice of, female genital cutting in five African countries with anti-FGC policies. They find that institutions that carry `modern' scripts - education, college, mass media and female employment - all reduce the probability that women will favor the continuation of FGC or `circumcision' of their daughters. The effects of factors associated with control over nature were more mixed. The study also finds that Christian women are more likely to express negative attitudes toward FGC.
An-Na'im, Abdullahi (1990) Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law. New York: Syracuse University Press.
2.
Arjomand, Saïd Amir (2000) `International Sociology into the New Millenium: The Global Sociological Community and the Challenge to the Periphery', International Sociology15: 5-10.
3.
Assaad, Marie Bassili (1980) `Female Circumcision in Egypt: Social Implications, Current Research, and Prospects for Change', Studies in Family Planning11: 3-16.
4.
Bell, Daniel (1973) The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books.
5.
Bell, Daniel (1976) The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic Books.
6.
Berkovitch, Nitza (1999) From Motherhood to Citizenship: Women's Rights and International Organizations. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
7.
Berkovitch, Nitza and Bradley, Karen (1999) `The Globalization of Women's Status: Consensus/Dissensus in the World Polity', Sociological Perspectives42: 481-498.
8.
Bibbings, Lois (1995) `Female Circumcision: Mutilation or Modification?', in Jo Bridgeman and Susan Millns (eds) Law and Body Politics: Regulating the Female Body, pp. 151-170. Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth.
9.
Boddy, Janice (1991) `Body Politics: Continuing the Anti-Circumcision Crusade', Medical Anthropology Quarterly5: 15-17.
10.
Boli, John and Thomas, George M. (1997) `World Culture in the World Polity', American Sociological Review62: 171-190.
11.
Boli, John and Thomas, George M., eds (1999) Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations Since 1875. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
Boulware-Miller, Kay (1985) `Female Circumcision: Challenges to the Practice as a Human Rights Violation', Harvard Women's Law Journal8: 155-177.
13.
Boyle, Elizabeth Heger and Meyer, John W. (1998) `Modern Law as a Secularized and Global Model: Implications for the Sociology of Law', Soziale Welt49: 213-232.
14.
Boyle, Elizabeth Heger and Preves, Sharon (2000) `National Lawmaking as an International Process: The Case of Anti-Female-Genital-Cutting Policies', Law and Society Review34: 401-435.
15.
Boyle, Elizabeth Heger, Hoeschen, Andrea and Carbone, Kristin (2000) `International Master Frames and African Women's Explanations for Opposing Female Genital Cutting', unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota.
16.
Brennan, Katherine (1989) `The Influence of Cultural Relativism on International Human Rights Law: Female Circumcision as a Case Study', Law and Inequality7: 367-398.
17.
Bryk, Anthony S. and Raudenbush, Stephen W. (1992) Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
18.
Bulbeck, Chilla (1998) Re-Orienting Western Feminisms: Women's Diversity in a Post-colonial World. New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Carr, Dara (1997) Female Genital Cutting: Findings from the Demographic and Health Surveys Program. Calverton, MD: Macro International.
20.
Central Intelligence Agency (1999) World Factbook, 1 January 1999; available at: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
21.
Charlesworth, Hilary (1995) `Human Rights as Men's Rights', in Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (eds) Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives, pp. 103-113. New York: Routledge.
22.
Coleman, Doriane Lambelet (1998) `The Seattle Compromise: Multicultural Sensitivity and Americanization', Duke Law Journal47: 717-783.
23.
Cook, Rebecca J. , ed. (1994) Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
24.
Dallmeyer, Dorinda G. , ed. (1993) Reconceiving Reality: Women and International Law, Studies in Transnational Legal Policy No. 25. Washington, DC: American Society of International Law.
25.
Dobbin, Frank (1996) Forging Industrial Policy: The United States, Britain, and France in the Railway Age. New York: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Dorkenoo, Efua (1994) Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation, the Practice and its Prevention. London: Minority Rights Publications.
27.
Edelman, Lauren B. and Suchman, Mark C. (1997) `The Legal Environments of Organizations', Annual Review of Sociology23: 479-515.
28.
El Dareer, Asma (1982) Woman, Why Do You Weep? Circumcision and its Consequences. London: Zed Press.
29.
El-Zanaty, Fatma , Hussein, Enas M., Shawky, Gihan A., Way, Ann A. and Kishor, Sunita (1996) Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 1995. Cairo: National Population Council.
30.
Enquête Démographique et de Santé du Mali (1995-6) Bamako: Centre pour la Population et la Santé, Direction National de la Statistique et de l'Information.
31.
Enquête Démographique et de Santé du Niger (1998) Niamey: CARE International, Mali.
32.
Etienne, Margareth (1995) `Addressing Gender-Based Violence in an International Context', Harvard Women's Law Journal18: 139-170.
33.
Festinger, Leon (1964) `Behavior Support for Opinion Change', Public Opinion Quarterly28: 404-417.
34.
Frank, David John and McEneaney, Elizabeth (1999) `The Individualization of Society and the Liberalization of State Policies on Same-Sex Relations, 1984-1995', Social Forces77: 911-943.
35.
Frank, David John , Meyer, John W. and Miyahara, David (1995) `The Individualist Polity and the Presence of Professionalized Psychology: A Cross-National Study', American Sociological Review60: 360-377.
36.
Frank, David John , Hironaka, Ann and Schofer, Evan (2000) `The Nation-State and the Natural Environment Over the Twentieth Century', American Sociological Review65: 96-116.
37.
Geiger, Susan (1997) Tanu Women: Gender and Culture in the Making of Tanganyikan Nationalism, 1955-1965. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
38.
Gluckman, Max (1955) Custom and Conflict in Africa. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
39.
Gruenbaum, Ellen (1991) `The Islamic Movement, Development, and Health Education: Recent Changes in the Health of Rural Women in Central Sudan', Social Science Medical33: 637-645.
40.
Herman, Edward S. and McChesney, Robert W. (1997) The Global Media: The New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism. London: Cassell.
41.
Information Please Almanacs (1999) Almanacs-World-Country; available at: www.infoplease.com
42.
Inglehart, Ronald and Baker, Wayne E. (2000) `Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values', American Sociological Review65: 19-51.
43.
Inkeles, Alex (1971) `Continuity and Change in the Interaction of the Personal and the Sociocultural Systems', in Bernard Barber and Alex Inkeles (eds) Stability and Social Change, pp. 265-284. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
44.
Inkeles, Alex (1996) `Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries', in Alex Inkeles and Masamichi Sasaki (eds) Comparing Nations and Cultures: Readings in a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective, pp. 571-585. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
45.
Inkeles, Alex (1998) One World Emerging: Convergence and Divergence in Industrial Societies. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
46.
Inkeles, Alex and Smith, David (1974) Becoming Modern: Individual Changes in Six Developing Societies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
47.
James, Stanlie M. (1998) `Shades of Othering: Reflections on Female Circumcision/Genital Mutilation', Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society23: 1031-1048.
48.
Jepperson, Ronald (1991) `Institutions, Institutional Effects, and Institutionalism', in Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio (eds) The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, pp. 143-163. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
49.
Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA/UNDP Statement (1995) `Joint Statement on Female Genital Mutilation, First Draft'.
50.
Keck, Margaret and Sikkink, Kathryn (1998) Activists Without Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
51.
Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (1998) Nairobi: National Council for Population and Development, Central Bureau of Statistics.
52.
Kenyatta, Jomo (1962) Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu. New York: Vintage Books.
53.
Lancaster, John (1995) `Top Islamic University Gains Influence in Cairo; Al Azhar Reflects Revival of Fundamentalism', The Washington Post11 April: A14.
54.
Lane, Sandra D. and Rubinstein, Robert A. (1996) `Judging the Other: Responding to Traditional Female Genital Surgeries', Hastings Center Report26: 31-40.
55.
Leonard, Lori (1996) `Female Circumcision in Southern Chad: Origins, Meaning, and Current Practice', Social Science and Medicine43: 255-263.
56.
Lightfoot-Klein, Hanny (1989) Prisoners of Ritual: An Odyssey into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa. New York: Haworth Press.
57.
Lipman-Blumen, Jean (1972) `Role De-Differentiation as a System Response to Crisis: Occupational and Political Roles of Women', Sociological Inquiry43: 105-129.
58.
Mackie, Gerry (1996) `Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account', American Sociological Review61: 999-1017.
59.
Macro International Inc (2002) `Demographic and Health Surveys', http://www.measuredhs.com
60.
March, James G. and Olsen, Johan P. (1989) Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics. New York: Free Press.
61.
Meyer, John W. and Jepperson, Ronald L. (2000) `The “Actors” of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency', Sociological Theory18: 100-120.
62.
Meyer, John W. , Boli, John and Thomas, George M. (1987) `Ontology and Rationalization in the Western Cultural Account', in George M. Thomas, John W. Meyer, Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli (eds) Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual, pp. 12-38. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
63.
Meyer, John W. , Boli, John, Thomas, George M. and Ramirez, Francisco O. (1997) `World Society and the Nation-State', American Journal of Sociology103: 144-181.
64.
Murray, Jocelyn Margaret (1974) `The Kikiyu Female Circumcision Controversy, with Special Reference to the Church Missionary Society's “Sphere of Influence” ', unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
65.
Narayan, Uma (1997) `Contesting Cultures: “Westernization”, Respect for Cultures, and Third World Feminists', in Linda Nicholson (ed.) The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory, pp. 396-414. New York: Routledge.
66.
Peters, Julie and Wolper, Andrea, eds (1995) Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives. New York: Routledge.
67.
Ramirez, Francisco O. and Boli, John (1987) `Global Patterns of Educational Institutionalism', in George M. Thomas, John W. Meyer, Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli (eds) Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society, and the Individual, pp. 150-172. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
68.
Ramirez, Francisco O. , Soysal, Yasemin and Shanahan, Suzanne (1997) `The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of Women's Suffrage Rights - 1890 to 1990', American Sociological Review62: 735-745.
69.
Sanday, Peggy Reeves (1981) Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins of Sexual Inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
70.
Smith, Jaqueline (1995) Visions and Discussions on Genital Mutilation of Girls: An International Survey. Amsterdam: Defense for Children International.
71.
Stevens, Guy H. (1996) `Translating Human Rights into Women's Rights', Peace Review8: 411-415.
72.
Sudan Demographic and Health Survey (1989-90) Khartoum: Department of Statistics, Ministry of Economic and National Planning.
73.
Sutherland, Edwin Hardin (1936) Principles of Criminology. Madison, WI: Lippincott.
74.
Swidler, Ann (1986) `Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies', American Sociological Review51: 273-286.
75.
Toubia, Nahid and Izett, Susan (1998) Female Genital Mutilation: An Overview. Geneva: World Health Organization.
76.
US State Department (1998) Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998: Africa; available at: www.state.gov/www/global/human.rights/1998_hrp_report
77.
Weil, Frederick D. (1985) `The Variable Effects of Education on Liberal Attitudes: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of Anti-Semitism Using Public Opinion Survey Data', American Sociological Review50: 458-474.
78.
Williams, Lindy and Sobieszczyk, Teresa (1997) `Attitudes Surrounding the Continuation of Female Circumcision in the Sudan: Passing the Tradition to the Next Generation', Journal of Marriage and the Family59: 966-981.
79.
World Health Organization (1997) `Female Genital Mutilation', Fact Sheet No. 153, April. Geneva: World Health Organization.
