The Impact of Culture on Perception of Gifts

Since time immemorial corruption through the use of gifts on public officers has been used to deceive or affected the decisions making process on issues affecting masses. Thus, the need to come up with a universal code of ethics to control to guide public officers on the acceptance of gifts.  However different cultures have a different view on gifts thus affects the perception and compliance with the code of ethics. Most states in the united states have advanced laws on giving gifts. Different countries have peculiar laws on gifts although they all prevent public officers from using their offices to acquire wealth or be influenced by the one giving gifts. Culture and religion play a role on the perception of gifts, for instance, the Islam hold gifts with high regard (Erie Matthew S., 2016). As a result, most of the people will accept the gifts by faith. The united states being one of the most diverse cultural nations in ethnicity and religion, is also affected by the influence of culture on people interpretation of the law.

The limitations on gifts differ from one states to another in the united states. As the “Legislator Gift Restrictions Overview,” (2017) indicates, Arkansas only restricts persons elected or appointed to some offices and members of the general assembly from receiving gifts from lobbyists and people acting on their own. On the other hand, some states like Arizona have a comprehensive law on gifts indicating that an employee should not accept any gift that might influence his decision. Unlike Arkansas there where the restrictions are limited to a few offices and political offices. Concisely all the laws are aimed at preventing people from using public offices to enrich themselves or work in favour of some people.

References

Erie Matthew S. (2016). Sharia, charity, and minjian autonomy in Muslim China: Gift giving in a plural world. American Ethnologist, 43(2), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12307

Legislator Gift Restrictions Overview. (2017, November 7). Retrieved April 12, 2018, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/50-state-table-gift-laws.aspx