Standards of living are defined by the family background as to the political and ideological heritage. The children of revolutionaries (those who died in the Korean War) are given special educational opportunities at an elite school called the Mangyndae Revolutionary Institute. However, the children and descendants of those who were in collaboration with the Japanese or the "exploiting class" are considered to be 'bad elements' in the society. North Korea supports equality in aspect of the genders. The employment of women is expected and demanded by the South Korean government and those working with children under the age of four are expected to put the children in permanent nurseries if there is no family to take care of them while the mother works. However, the women are paid less than are men and still does most of the house work. The t'agaso, or the school system takes on most of the childrearing responsibility in the North Korean society.

VIII. Contemporary Culture in Turkey:

The most important social unit in the society of villages in Turkey is the nuclear family. Kinships are expressed through permanent relationships established in groups in the Anatolian villages. There is much fighting among the villages in Turkey and the government. The women in the urban and upper middle class are more likely to be educated than the working class of women in the country. The women in the upper class generally are employed in the fields of medicine law or teaching. Media in the country is state owned radio and television as well a privately own press and broadcasting companies. Media is not 'officially' censored but confiscation of 'offensive' material is known to happen quite regularly. There are two clearly defined cultures in Turkey. The first is that of an 'elitist' culture defined by the progressive and modernernistic and the second is a 'mass ' culture that is patterned by Islamic influence.

IX. The Culture of Islam:

The Islamic nations, Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, as well as many others in the same region of the world lives in a culture that is defined by the 'Qur'an. The Qur'an is a religious document that set out the type of lifestyle expected to be lived by the Muslim adherent. In a work written by Asma Barlas entitled "Believing Women in Islam": Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an" in a book review by Paul Williams, Univerisity of Nebraska in his interpretation states concerning the Muslim female that:

Although she is well versed in and directly engages in feminist literature and thought and the questions she raises are central to feminist discourse, especially feminist literature and Biblical criticism, she clearly distances herself from Western feminists in a variety of ways."

Islam culture holds the man responsible for protection of the woman which includes every woman within his family and surprising to some individuals the Qur'an does not "sexualize moral agency." Barlas [2002] Further stated by Barlas is that: "both women and men have the same capacity for moral agency, choice and individuality" and reveals that the Qur'an "appoints women and men each other's guide and protection." Barlas further reveals that Muslim men pervert the religion by acquiring harems as that is not part of the religious belief in Islam. However, strange to some and hard to accept after all the media hype since the 9-11 event, the Qur'an holds the Islamic people to the code of treating others, even of other religious beliefs, as they would like themselves to be treated which sounds suspiciously close to what Jesus called the 'Golden Rule' in Biblical scripture.

Summary:

It appears that in today's world that multiculturalism is causing many cultural norms to change or at least be reconsidered throughout...

There are those that believe that multiculturalism is robbing many nations of traditional values, beliefs and history. Others dislike multiculturalistic thinking because they believe it tends to criminalize the Western world. In a work entitled "What's so Great About America?" written by Dinesh D'Souza stated in a book review is that the author attempt to teach students to 'despise' Western civilization and put it at the same level as other civilizations." The multiculturalism that is spreading throughout the world and headed by the European Union, backed by the International World Court is likely to cause great shifts in the cultural aspects of many nations in the years to come. Although there are still countries such as North Korea under harsh rule at the present time communism is not an overt threat but still runs strong in the undercurrents throughout the globe.
Conclusion:

The agents of cultural change are clearly known to be inclusive of the factors in contemporary society of the media, literature, arts, ecological, political, religious movements, social and economical factors. Although this brief work was not able to cover the entirety of what is considered culture in the global environment the conclusions that resulted from the study of literature can be expressed first by stating that the nuclear family is just as ever important to the structure of society as it ever was. Secondly, it may said that although the gender equality hope for by this point in time most assuredly has not progressed as far as might have been wishes, yet still the women of the world have made progress in establishing themselves in the political and societal realms from which they were barred not so many years ago. In the countries that are multicultural in nature the prejudice before experienced has lessened and initiatives in trade and in social reform are making headway in many parts of the world. The key words which express the cultural shifting and trends throughout the world at large are those of 'diversity' 'equality', and 'multiculturalism'. However multiculturalism may be addressed it appears that the countries adhering to the meanings within the word have come to the realization that the human race has one thing that is absolutely in common in the belief that human beings are all in this together and the only way to make this experience better for all involved is to allow each individual and each nation the privilege to simply 'be'.

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