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Importance of promoting cultural diversity
Multiculturalism in America
Importance of promoting cultural diversity
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Although living in a multicultural society might bring disadvantages like isolation and racial judgements, the benefits are more powerful resulting in an adapting society where individuals are free to live any culture. When an individual has a culture than the prevailing society they can be affected in either a positive way or a negative way. There have been in many instances were people change their culture due to joining the societies culture and others just use the culture for benefits like in Mukherjee's essay. In other occasions individuals have been exposed to racism due to them being from another culture that does not accommodate to their society. With all these diverse cultures in America individuals should respect every persons culture and look at the bright side not mattering culture.
Individuals tend to adapt to a societies dominant culture because they are the ones in another culture. As time goes by the individual starts to forget about their culture and start to be accustomed to other culture's habits. When people do change cultures it is sometimes because they have many benefits of joining that culture. In Mukherjee's essay, “Two Way to Belong in America” Mukherjee and her sister Mira come to the United States from a wealthy side of India to pursue their goals but Mukherjee ends up adapting to the society and loves it meanwhile Mira hates it and wants the benefits that it comes with, then depart to another culture is not noticeable and before you know it you are doing what others are doing. Mira just wants to become successful and after her retirement she seeks to go back where she was born in India and receive her Indian Citizenship meanwhile she became an American citizen to gain all the American benefits.
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... of them because people immigrate here for a better chance in life. Having a multicultural society brings us many opportunities to get to know others and where they come from. We also get to show others our culture and this can bring a great relationship between friends. There are many people that are now friends with others from another culture and they actually enjoy hanging around with them and sometimes even eating or doing activities from another cultures. People should see that having a multicultural society gives us more positive situations than negative ones. There has been many instances were people from other cultures do amazing things for the United States and if we treat them a bad way they will not try to do good in the society and flee back to their place. With respect to any culture you can meet really good people in the world causing a united world.
Meanwhile, multiculturalism in the United States has been part of their history, considering the fact that almost all its populations, including its founders are immigrants coming from different cultural backgrounds (Citrin, 2001). Due to globalization, there is no reason why other immigrants and new ethnic groups could have difficulty assimilating themselves into American life.
Some people may still think that being from a certain culture is strange due to the way that a person dresses, acts, or portrays themselves. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they may feel. They may be the only person out of all their peers from a different background. Culture should not be the foundation of life’s choices but, instead should be the opportunity to change minds for the good of
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
Roy A. Rappaport and Ruth Benedict both held very strong opinions regarding the subject of culture and ritual. They lived in slightly different overlapping historical time periods, Benedict being influenced by WWII in the 18th century and Rappaport growing up during the Great Depression in the early 19th century. Influences of Franz Boas carried through the theories of both of these anthropologists. Although Benedict never succeeded in conducting her own fieldwork, she wrote ethnographies based on fieldwork done by Boas, this particular case focusing on the Kwakiutl of the Northwestern Coast of America. The focus of Rappaport’s fieldwork in this context is the Tsembaga of New Guinea. Benedict displays a more idealistic view of culture and ritual as opposed to Rappaport’s exceedingly materialistic perspective.
As one can see, the United States is an important place of diversity and multiculturalism. Without immigration it would not be the place that it is today. The United States is dependent on immigration to help it flourish. Jobs that would normally not be filled, are filled and for less pay. Immigrants are passionate about what they do and want to have a better life. If we continue to allow them to come live in America, we will continue to see a positive cultural
America is known famously throughout the world with the nickname 'The melting pot.' The reason behind this is that America is extremely diverse and has many different people. Immigrants give America the chance to know the culture of many countries. They bring in their culture, religion, economic benefits, and ideology to America. I believe that the United States should allow legal immigrants from all over the world because they bring many benefits to it. Immigrants are a positive influence on United States of America.
It is human nature to see those who are different and group them into distinct categories. The distinction of Individualism versus Collectivism is one that is currently being studied extensively. On one side, individualism sees individuals as the fundamental unit of a society. Individuals are supposed to be unique, independent, and most importantly, willing to put their own interests above all others. On the other hand, collectivism views the basic building block of society as social groups, stressing the interpersonal bonds between people. Collectivist values dictate that group goals and values have higher precedence than an individual’s. Due to the seemingly polar opposite nature of these ideologies, it is inevitable that they will be compared to see which is more beneficial to the country and its people. Some might point to the success of the US, an extremely individualistic country, in support of individualistic values. They will point to the freedom of choice and diversity that individualism boasts of. Others stress the flaws of the US in response, and while both sides do have their truths, the costs that come with individualistic values are too great to be ignored. Highly individualistic attitudes have caused many large scale problems which have long been identified as difficult to resolve issues. These problems include, but are not limited to, promoting aggressive acts, creating an obsession with social power, and allowing a system of injustice to be born.
The first basic issue confronting all societies is to define the nature of the relation between the individual and the group. This dimension is frequently labeled as individualism versus collectivism (Hofstede, 1980, 1991). In cultures at the Conservatism pole of the dimension, Schwartz (1994) noted that the person is viewed as embedded in a collectivity, finding meaning in life largely through social relationships, through identifying with the group and participating in its shared way of life. Schwartz (1999) noted that this value type emphasizes maintenance of the status quo, propriety, and restraint of actions or inclinations that might disrupt the solitary group or the traditional order. Exemplary specific values are social order, respect
Immigration keeps America diverse; there is a lot of value in such diversity. It teaches citizens to respect and bond with one another regardless of differences. However, America has a dark history as it pertains to immigration. Our ancestors removed Native Americans when all they wanted was this: "Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself- and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty" as Chief Joseph stated in For the Record: An Indian's Perspective, (51-53). Even though there are many great things about being and becoming an American, there are a lot of difficulties for immigrants to face when arriving in the United States. For example you would hope that tension does not just arise randomly between people that have never met before. However, that is the case between the newly immigrated and native born Americans. This is because of ignorance and immigrants being labeled as "outsiders" trying to steal the so called native’s jobs. There are many obstacles taken for granted by non-immigrants. Some current Americans do not truly appreciate the struggles their ancestors had to endure so that they would not have to.
Furthermore, people have the urge to better themselves by becoming educated. In doing so they tend to move from one place of residence to another for a variety of reasons. Such as for greener pastures, a sense of adventure, and in the case of some African nations it is because of frustration, as a result of deliberating economy, and others just want to change their lifestyle. However, people tend to struggle when it comes to being culturally fit. Everyone wants to fit in and look the part when it comes to how we dress, look, act, talk and even walk. Culture defines us and defines who you are as a person. Those characteristics are the way people are perceived when it comes to their culture and personality.
Learning about the different culture we have is vital in bringing people together as it can make known aspects in our lives that are important as well show the common practices we may share thus the need to treat people differently based on what they believe. It is also important to note that when dealing with diversity issues, people will be more willing to deal with tough issues when presented with hope rather than when they know that or feel like there is no hope with regards to a certain condition (Ng & Metz,
By having so many cultures and different racial groups in the U.S, opportunities and choices increase for everyone. The melting pot helps America to bring more people to this country, people that can help this country to become stronger than already is, to help this country to regain the same power it had before, not just power to be strong in war, but power of knowledge. Cultural pluralism is going bring smart people who can compete around the world representing the U.S that includes athletes, lawyers, teachers, and all these intelligent and strong people. The image that this country is going to have for having a melting pot is has increased and is going to increase much more in the future. Other countries are going to be jealous of America just by knowing that there is a little bit of every race or ethnicity. The impact that the “melting pot” has generated had been so big that not only the Mexicans want to come here, but now everyone around the world wants to come here. Thanks to the Melting pot these people can see that opportunities that they want are here with lots of things surrounding them. By having so many people immigrating to America not only the image of the country is going to increase, but also its economy. Cultural pluralism is bringing all the necessary to make of this place the best place on earth. In the article Ethics, Cultural Competence, and the Changing Face of America Terri Laws explains that “Cultural competence acknowledges strengths in all cultures, and its goal of service improvement focuses on members of four target minority groups: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American and Native American” (176). It seems that all this specific group minorities are growing really fast and that in one future they are going to become the majority, if they do not disappear during that time, because they can disappear if they keep mixing which is good, having
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
At some point in our lives we experience a culture as an outsider by moving from one culture to another.In the world today there are so many different cultures and not one of them is found to be the same.Instead they all have something that makes them unique, whether its language or even the clothes they wear and their behavior as well.The differences they have is what separates them from one another and who ever joins that particular culture must get accustomed to their way of life.In the society today we have many people immigrating to the United States to start a new and better life but what they soon begin to realize is that it’s a whole new world out there and in order to survive they have to get accustomed to the new way of life which is much different from their lives before.
Recognizing the influence of culture is an important aspect for social workers when working with diverse populations. The client is a 30-year-old single African-American (AA) single woman with a child. Culture identifies a set of values and beliefs in a community and its corresponding worldview. As the AA culture has been forced to assimilate into the dominant culture, their own culture has been slowly forgotten. The client has deep roots to her ancestors and has mainstreamed into a new dimension. The client is reconnecting with her Baptist faith as she has lost the support from spiritual leaders. “African-Americans have developed abilities and coping mechanisms to deal with racism, and they rely on their social systems that have been perfected over the generations” (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p. 187). The client represents a very diverse cultural group and the intersection of social class and gender which contributes to her oppression. The client is a single AA female with a son, living in poverty, lack of education, unemployed, with a felony charge, and receiving cash assistance from the state to support her son.