Multiculturalism is not a new phenomenon in the world. With the emergence of neoliberalism and the development of new technology followed by globalization, free trade between nations has accelerated the immigration process around the world, making a multicultural society inevitable in modern life. The United States of America is one of the world’s largest multicultural societies in which black African, white European, and Asian people live together, and all of them originally migrated to the region with different goals, cultures and religions. Historically, there is evidence of conflict between different groups within multicultural societies, but the emergence of the liberal system has produced more equality between all members of society regardless of their culture, religion and identity, thus minimizing conflict between new arrivals and the host population. With regard to the causes and consequences of the multicultural system and the extent to which it threatens or encourages the social unity of society, politicians, sociologists and economists have introduced a variety of opinions and arguments. This essay examines these different arguments about whether the system of multiculturalism works in practice and has the ability to mobilize all groups and cultures to rally around a specific system or merely separates them. It will also examine the possible consequences should social cohesion be threatened by multiculturalism.
No precise meaning of multiculturalism has been suggested by sociologists and politicians. Hence, a variety of arguments have been put forward in order to examine the idea of multiculturalism, but a typical and more obvious definition of multiculturalism is “the belief that different cultures within a s...
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middle of paper ... ... Given that multiculturalism is a framework that says that anyone can sit at the table so long as they accept certain political and cultural divisions which ultimately work to make impossible your ability to change the basic structure of meaning in society, or which seek to extract any political potential from the things you say, the things you embody and the things you want. You can have holidays, but not your language. You can have a month of the year for your race, but no justice.
Turning now to Will Kymlicka’s article, I agreed with much of what Kymlicka says, however I find his ideas of multiculturalism over glorifying the Liberal accomplishments and success, as attributed to only Liberal success in making multiculturalism more popular. However, I find that the issue of multicultural...
It is true that the more people from different cultures that are in a given area, the more the cultures are diversified. However, with all realities, some claim that immigrants dilute the American culture. Indeed, they cause some changes to the culture. Nevertheless, these changes can bring a wealth of attraction and a source of beauty for the country that everyone should be proud of. It is obvious that every single immigrant in the US has his own culture and way of life. When all these are added together, they form a very rich culture. In addition, they bring various interesting aspects such as food, music, literature, etc. That makes the Americans rich in cultural knowledge. The importance of cultural diversity is that it teaches the people to understand each other’s views, interests, and ideas and helps people view the world in different ways. This would finally lead the society to work towards each other’s interest, mutual goals, and objectives. Tamar Jacoby in his article “Are Today’s Immigrants Assimilating in U.S Society, Yes,” he said that, “Those who are coming now are people who understand cultural fluidity, understand intermarriage and find that a natural, easy thing. This maintains unity and balances in the society” (411). Once this stage is reached, all the problems would be solved. Then it can be said that America has reached a true democracy, echoed by
This essay will discuss the intrinsic relationship between diversity conceptualization and social integration presenting a response against David Brooks’ essay entitled “People Like Us.” In order to do this I will discuss four crucial elements: the influences of different definitions of diversity in cultural unification, Brook’s ideas about social groups working together and social groups coexisting together, the importance of diversity, and the influence of diversity in social changes. I will examine why some people have the perception that our American society ignore or see as unworthy diversity. Thus, I will dispute Brook’s view stating that our society disregards diversity, and Americans just pretend that it is important to them.
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
It is important to understand first, Kymlicka’s take on multiculturalism in order to have a clear grasp on Kymlicka’s claim for the need for national minorities to have access to their cultures. In his book, Multicultural Citizenship, national culture is a central concept, used interchangeably wi...
The latent functions for ethnicity are assimilation, pluralism, multiculturalism, social solidarity, ideology, and affirmative action. David Corteau mentions that assimilation is when, “…Ethnic groups largely abandoned their distinct cultures and were absorbed into the nation’s dominant culture” (263). In the functionalist theory perspective assimilation is a process that minority groups have to go through for them to be able to adapt to the majority group standards. According to Hiromi Ono, “The results indicate that later generations of immigrant descendants’ are less likely to identify themselves as Mexicans, Mexican Americans, … and they are more likely to identify as Americans” (Assimilation, ethnic competition). The second and the third
In the U.S., it is projected that there will be no majority of a specific ethnic or racial group within the next several decades. The nation will undoubtedly become very diverse and there will be a new challenge to address the cultural needs of every member of our society. The country will need to become more culturally sensitive than it already is, which will bring both benefits and challenges. Benefits would include that our nation would be more united, while some challenges might include stubborn and disrespectful people.
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The very foundation of globalization, as Sramek agreed with Friedman, comes under influence of the United States, which he labels as “egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire”. The environment between multiple ethnicity, religions, and culture create an atmosphere conductive toward free exchange of idea. Contrary to many different places in the world, however, Sramek’s most important view in the article insists that distinct cultures in America not only peacefully exist next to each other, but also accept their mutual differences, take advantage on the dynamics of the modern society and create an efficient and diversified United States’ economic system. In order to back up his thesis, Sramek used the Index of Ethnic Fractionalization as the indicator for cultural diversity and Median Household Income, published by U.S. Census Bureau, as a proxy for economic performance. In both static and dynamic perspectives, Sramek found a significant connection between static levels of income and cultural diversity. Further analysis corporates the increasing numbers in median household levels in correlation with increases in cultural
In his article “The Failure of Multiculturalism”, Kenan Malik uses the diverse European culture to study and explain the irony of multiculturalism. He defines multiculturalism as “the embrace of an inclusive, diverse society” (Malik 21). Integration between cultures is practically inevitable, but several nations view this as a threat towards upholding their culture. Due to this, many countries have made attempts at properly integrating new people and ideas while trying to prevent the degradation of their own. This can result in unjust regulations and the reverse effect of an intended multicultural society.
What is a multicultural Society? A question, which is asked very often, an answer for it is sometimes very hard to define.
Recently we have observed that almost all of the countries around the world become a multicultural society. With the mixing of people from all cultures, background, religion, believe... So it is important for those people to know how to deal and communicate with each other, they have to have the intercultural awareness skill in order to avoid the misunderstanding and uncountable disasters. Every culture has its own identified value, so in order to live in peace and harmony in another society, it's necessary to get involve or at least have a brief background about them. So living in a multicultural society considered as one of the best ways to come over prejudice toward other cultures.so you tend to ignore the differences and focus more on how to get along with them.
The term multiculturalism coins a variety of customs and traditions that have evolved and the existence that brings them together in modern society, but what if some cultures are more advanced than others? This book emphasizes the value of Jewish, Confucius and Protestant cultures more than any other. However, the author argues that not all cultures are regarded as equivalent, but are respected as if they were. But despite everything, the author has spent a great deal of time getting to know different cultures through trips and research to evaluate his perspective. He believes that the differences in cultures are important and often undermined. The author uses different elements of social sciences (psychology, economics, e.g.) to describe that idolizes differences in our society. Economically speaking, most of our decisions and policies come from accommodating different cultures .United States for example has been known to strive to protect our nation from disputes within the country based on barriers and differences. Our well known border control for