Country Overview of Costa Rica - Essay Example

Culture and Communication SECTION RESEARCH Part Country overview. Costa Rica is one of those countries with the highest standard of living along with high level of education. In the year 2013, the entire population of Costa Rica was accounted to be around 4,695,942. The life expectance at birth rate of the total population of the country is 78.06 years. Accordingly, the male life expectancy rate is 75.43 years and that of females is 80.03 years. As per the estimate of 2011, the literacy rate of the male populaces of Costa Rica is 96% and that of the female populaces is of 96.5%. The average income of the households of Costa Rica ranges from the minimum of 1.5% to the maximum of 35.5% (Central Intelligence Agency, “The World Factbook”). The families in the country usually have 3 to 5 children on average in the urban areas, but in the rural areas the rate is observed to be higher. In the year 2013, it was found that the major diseases causing the mortality and morbidity comprised waterborne diseases such as bacterial diarrhea and dengue fever. It has also been observed that the poverty level of the country has been stagnant for the last twenty years, accounting up to 24.8%. If the country is to be compared to that of its nearest regional areas, its neighboring countries, i.e. Nicaragua and Panama can be selected. In Nicaragua, the life expectancy rate is quite lower to that of Costa Rica i.e. 70.32 years for males and 74.68 years for females. The literacy rate of Nicaragua is also lower at 78.1% for males and 77.9% for females in comparison to Costa Rica. However, the income level of the households in Nicaragua was higher to that of Costa Rica ranging from 1.4% to 41.87% in the year 2005. It has also been apparently observed that the poverty level of Nicaragua is much higher, accounting up to 42.5% in 2009, indicating a poor wealth distribution within the country in comparison to Costa Rica. The other nearest neighbor of Costa Rica is Panama. The life expectancy rate of Panama is quite similar to that of Costa Rica i.e. 75.35 years for males and 81.04 years for females as on 2013. Similarly, the literacy rate accounts to be quite similar within Panama (i.e. 94.7% male and 93.5% female as on 2010) and Costa Rica. The maximum level of income of Panama’s household is higher than that of Costa Rica at 40.1% for 2010 (Central Intelligence Agency, “The World Factbook”). Hence, from the above mentioned facts and figures, it can be assessed that Costa Rica is a country with better standard of living of the people. Part 2: Structured overview. Costa Rica is situated in Central America, surrounded on both sides by the Caribbean Sea and North Pacific Ocean. Its total area is 51,100 sq. km. and coastline of 1,290 km. The country possesses tropical and sub-tropical climatic conditions with cooler seasons in the highlands. The country usually experiences dry season and rainy season throughout the year. Apart from all these, the most spoken languages include English and Spanish, which is their official language. Other than Spanish and English, there are many other languages i.e. Bribri, Maleku or Guatuso, Cabécar, Ngäbere or Guaymí, Bocotá, Mekatelyu, Plautdietsch, French, Portuguese and Cantonese spoken in this country (Veinte Mundos, “Costa Rica – Spanish Language and Culture”). The majority of the population, i.e. almost 94% fall under the category of white people, 3% under black population, 1% Amerindian, 1% Chinese and the other 1% falls under the other ethnic groups. Among these ethnic groups in Costa Rica, 76.3% of the people are Roman Catholic, 13.7% Evangelical, 1.3% follows Jehovahs, 0.7% is Protestant and 4.8% follow the other religious groups. These religious groups have impacted the country with rich cultural traditions and heritage along with raising the living standard of the people. The marginalized member of the country is the black population who are believed to have been treated as slave in the historical period. Since then, the black people have been treated as the marginalized group within the Costa Rican community. On the other hand, the indigenous people, such as Cabecares and the Bribris, live in the isolated jungles near the southern border of Costa Rica and near to Panama. Compared to the rest of the population in the country, these indigenous people are mostly observed to be deprived from proper education, health care, clean drinking water and adequate supply of electricity on the basis of equality margin (Minority Rights Group International, “Indigenous Peoples”). In the historical period, Costa Rica had a male dominated society and biasness was done in the matter of women rights and independence. However, with the modernization and globalization, the participation of women in politics has proved that the rate of gender inequality has declined to a substantial extent in the country. In a Costa Rican family, men are the ultimate decision makers but share most of the responsibilities with the female members as well (UK College of Education, “Republic of Costa Rica”). Part 3: Historical overview. In the year 1948, witnessed a major political conflict, leading to a civil war in the country for a two months period. In the year 1949, a new constitution was formed in the country and the armed force was dissolved to prevent any kind of wars or political disasters in the country. Apart from these, the country had not faced any kind of regional differences within its geopolitical boundaries. The history of Costa Rica narrates that the country faced its colonial period when Christopher Columbus had invaded it in 1502. During that colonization period, Costa Rica fell under the province of Spanish Empire. It was not allowed to go under free trade with the neighboring countries and subsequently, the country became one of the poorest nations in the Spanish Empire. None of the colonization leaders took the responsibility of developing the economic situation of Costa Rica. Since, then the country followed the ideology of a social democracy (The Trustees of Princeton University, “History of Costa Rica”).With the invasion of Costa Rica by Christopher Columbus, the Costa Rican culture was largely influenced by the European culture. The people of the country had been influenced by the European culture in terms of their lifestyle and the trading operations, apart from family structure and racial practices. Currently, majority of the workforce of Costa Rica constitute the female members, which can also be considered as the blessing of the trends that are forwarded from the historical period. All these aspects have been developed in the country due to the various aspects such as the introduction of globalization in the Costa Rican communities along with modernization in the thoughts and opinions of the people (The Trustees of Princeton University, “History of Costa Rica”). Part 4: Infrastructure. Costa Rica has a police force of 10,000 officers and a civil guard of 4,500 people. Costa Rica’s police force is the strongest force in terms of availability of equipments and trained skills, as compared to that of the other Central American Provinces. The police forces of the country provide the public with safety and security with greater assurance towards promoting favorable working environment (Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “Costa Rica: An Army-Less Nation in a Problem-Prone Region”). Costa Rica is also believed to have few of the best health care centers in the entire Latin America. In the present day, constant improvements are being made in the health care sector of the country by establishing newer equipped hospitals. It has also been observed that the cost of treatment in the health care sectors of Costa Rica is much lower than other places in Europe and USA. The private health care sector of the country is much cheaper irrespective of the fact that they are quite efficient in maintaining a high quality of care as compared to other countries of Latin America (International Living Publishing Ltd, “Health Care in Costa Rica”). Costa Rica is also rich in transportation infrastructure and has proper and well developed facility of airways, roadways, railways and also the waterways. It has total road length of 39.018 km and waterways of 730 km. Few of the major seaports of the country are Puerto Limon in Atlantic Ocean and Caldera in Pacific Ocean. All these facts and figures describes that the present economic, social and political situation of the country is stable and due to this, it has been successful in providing a standard lifestyle to its people. The evolution of globalization has further brought about a wider prospect for the technical and skill based jobs in the nation (Central Intelligence Agency, “The World Factbook”). SECTION 2: INTERVIEW From the historical times, the male members of the Costa Rican family are found to be the ultimate decision makers but also share many of the responsibilities with the female members. As per the comments of the interviewee “dinner is the most important family meeting”. The other comment received by the interviewee is that there are “nuclear families, extended & both common families.” Due to the effects of globalization, most of the people in the country have been successful in building up of global interdependent communities. Due to the globalization, the workforce of the country could include the female members and enhance their skills by providing them with ample job opportunities. Similarly, the interviewee asserted that “women are now becoming more independent and men share their responsibilities for business with their female partners, while remaining the ultimate decision-maker in the family”. Such developments apparently contributed to the development of the skilled as well as the unskilled labor forces by raising their productivity level. It has been considerably observed that within the past few decades, globalization has aided two of the major factors of the Costa Rican society i.e. the education sector and the cultural sector. Due to the globalization effects, Costa Rica has been observed as one of the countries with the strongest system of public education as compared to that of the other places of American continent. It has also been observed that the people of Costa Rica are successful in maintaining their tradition of greeting people. As per the comments of the respondent, people greet females by kissing on their cheek, while male members greet each other through a formal handshake according to their traditional culture. They also maintain their customs and celebrations through the various occasions such as Independence, Day of Culture, etc. On the other hand, due to the higher level of literacy rates, the cultural heritage of the country is also regarded to be the strongest in the continent. All these improvements of the present day scenario in Costa Rica are the consequence of the globalization factor in the country’s economy. From a general perspective, it can be asserted that globalization was possible due to the richness of the Costa Rican historical culture and the standard of the level of education within the nation. From the ancient times, Costa Rica has been successful in adopting the advanced technology and communication channels. In the historical period, there were very few modes of communication followed in the country. However, with the passage of time and increased level of education, people have been able to invent various modes of communication within the Costa Rican community. As mentioned in the above sections, globalization has contributed to advanced technology innovation to the people of Costa Rica. In the present era, 6.77 million of the population of the country is availing the facility of cellular mobile phones. All these developments are considered to be the blessings of the European culture prevalent in the Costa Rican society since the invasion by Christopher Columbus (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel and Roy 6-8; Central Intelligence Agency, “The World Factbook”). In the historical period, the interaction between the male and female members was considered restricted. Very few females used to come into direct interaction with the male members outside their family circle. However, with the passage of time and development of the social situation, it has been often observed that both males and females have become free to communicate with each other. This aspect can be recognized as the influence of the culture on communication system within the country. The history of Costa Rica has imposed a strong influence on its culture and tradition. In the Costa Rican culture, people are believed to give immense significance to education and knowledge owing to their ideology that knowledge is the base of better life. In the historical period, the black populations were found to be treated as slaves and were also disregarded from obtaining quality medical care and housing facilities. Due to this reason, the crime rates among them had gradually increased. But in the present scenario, it has been observed that they have been relocated to the Province of Limon so that they are not deprived from availing the basic facilities. The major intention of the Costa authority to relocate the black population was to provide them with the facilities along with bringing urbanization in the country through equality in wealth distribution. Thus, this improvement can be considered as the impact of the advanced technology, which is also the part of Costa Rica’s culture. The other evidence is the improvement of the gender equalities. With the development of the communication and technology as well as with the strong influences from the globalization trends, males and females are being able to interact directly and freely with each other obtaining equal benefits on humanitarian grounds. Unlike most of the Latin American countries, Costa Rica witnesses a very weak presence of individualism. Thus, it can be termed that the society presents a collectivist culture (International Business Centre, “Costa Rica Business Etiquette & Culture”). This implies that the country emphasizes the development of the society and the nation’s growth and development. The recent development in the transportation and communication field of the country also proved that all the members of the country are highly responsible for the nation’s development. In the similar manner, the family structure of the country is regarded to be a collectivist one. The prevalence of collectivist society can be better understood with the example of the President Rafael Angel Calderon, who was responsible for the civil war. Due to his misconduct, the members of society decided to develop the nation on their own. This feeling of group participation in the development can be termed as the prevalence of collectivism in the society. Works Cited “The World Factbook.” Central Intelligence Agency. No Date. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. “Costa Rica: An Army-Less Nation in a Problem-Prone Region.” Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. < http://www.coha.org/costa-rica-an-army-less-nation-in-a-problem-prone-region/> “Costa Rica Business Etiquette & Culture.” International Business Centre. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. < http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/costa_rica.htm> “The Economy in Costa Rica.” International Living Publishing Ltd. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. < http://internationalliving.com/countries/costa-rica/the-economy-in-costa-rica/> “Health Care in Costa Rica.” International Living Publishing Ltd. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. “Indigenous Peoples.” Minority Rights Group International. 2005. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. Samovar, Larry., Richard Porter., Edwin, McDaniel., and Carolyn, Roy. Communication between Cultures. United States: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. “History of Costa Rica.” The Trustees of Princeton University. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. “Republic of Costa Rica.” UK College of Education. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. Read More