The Diversification of Society - Article Example

Over the years, society has evolved from something that encouraged discrimination, prejudice, and even slavery into a more diverse and tolerant entity. Despite all the progress that has been made, however, there are still many questions surrounding the issue. Many people see the diversification of society as creating more problems than it is solving. They believe that diversity give unfair advantages to the minority and that the majority now sees more discrimination than the minority ever did. This is based on the idea that other cultures, races, and genders should be feared because they are bringing about change to society. Despite this view, diversity is something that should be embraced because it creates opportunity for all, rather than simply focusing on the priorities that have put forth by certain groups. One thing that the diversification of the workforce has done is made for more opportunities for women. Often times, women are oppressed by society and while this oppression is not flagrant, it is rather a series of small privileges that are taken away from women in order to benefit other social groups. This supports the ideology that women live within a birdcage, where each of the individual wire is meaningless but when they are all put together, it is impossible for the bird to escape. This include situations where women are placed in positions of power where they hold a great deal of responsibility, but they are not given enough power to effectively use this position. Also, women know that they are limited in these positions of power, so they make sure that they do not exceed the limits that society has placed upon them. This is because “people can, within limits, change themselves to fit their understanding and views of gender. As part of this, people often adopt gender-typical behavior to form and fit with the identities that they construct. Identity is not just something we achieve, nor something that is just thrust upon us; it has elements of both” (Woodward, 2000, P. 53). What this does is create a situation where neither men nor women are pushing for diversity in their roles, as they have both been conditioned to simply accept the current ones. Despite this, however, women are gaining new roles in business, which is effectively adding diversity to the employment process, as “the economic activity rates for women in 1997 are on average 20 percent higher than they were in 1971” (Hughes, 2000, P. 56). Depending on the political views of a reporter, columnist, author, or news agency, the facts can be reported in a variety of different ways. This can often cause controversy regarding the truth, as different sources report differing things as being true. This is also true when speaking of historical events, as different people will speak differently of different events, depending on their political affiliation and beliefs. By slating the information in a particular way, the reporter can further his or her own political agenda, by making his or her beliefs seem like the right ones. If a person is a conservative politically, it would not make much sense for him or her to report the news in a manner that would support liberalism and vice versa. This is apparent in the way that many different news organizations report the news on a daily bases. There are clearly some political biases that distort the fact, in order to best serve the beliefs held by the people at these agencies. In a historical sense, it would not make much sense for a government to re-tell history in a manner that makes it seem tyrannical or even blood thirsty, so based on these political goals, the government can simply choose to leave certain aspects of history out. Therefore, the news is “best understood as (a) national rather than global phenomena; and as best characterized in terms of continuity rather than revolution;” (Held, 2000, P. 49). This makes it possible for them to manipulate public opinion in the manner that best compliments their objectives. Also, “in the contemporary era, culture has become increasingly mediated; and television-viewing is a major leisure activity in the Western world,” (Held, 2000, P.48) which allows for certain forms of cultural diversity to be manipulated through the television. By placing people of different cultural origins in popular roles on television, the media is able to change public perception of these cultures, which promotes choice and diversity in society. Choice in patterns of consumptions is the direct result of diversity, as new products are entering the marketplace in various locations, giving the population a choice. In Great Britain, an individual can choose to buy a car from any number of different country, giving him or her unlimited opportunities. The same can be said for things like Chinese food. This type of food is very popular worldwide because of the acceptance of diversity, which gives the population a great variety when choosing what to eat. This leads to things like “the maximization of production and consumption, high productivity, increased GNP, the industrialization of the Third World, expanded world trade,” (Goldblatt, 2000, P.100) which shows that this consumption is good for the economy. On the other hand, there are things that diversity is creating that create fear within certain parts of the population. India’s advancement due to globalization has less to do with manufacturing and more to do with the number of high paying jobs being outsourced there. India has an increasingly educated population, with many of these people being educated in science and information technology. This has made India into a viable place for corporate America to outsource its work. In fact, there is a major General Electric research facility in India that employs many people who have some from the Indian school system. This is causing many Americans to lose their jobs, since the workers in India can still be paid less than an American worker would generally work for and they are also not provided with the same benefits. India is being used more and more as a place to outsource work because of the education levels that much of the population is attaining.This is how India is benefiting from globalization, as new money comes into its economy as a result of American, and other, corporations hiring their workers. This, in turn, creates a stronger economy and can lead to Indian businesses improving their financial standing. Businesses like accounting firms and even the United States Postal Service have done some outsourcing in India and automobile manufacturers and drug research firms could be next as many corporations will look to take advantage of this new trend in business and “it may mean that we have increasingly little choice about how our economies are run and how our jobs are organized,” (Held, 2000, P. 13) since more and more jobs will be outsourced to countries with a lower minimum wage. Another worrisome side to this argument is that the experts cannot be trusted because there are so many unknown variables. While “a doctors expert diagnosis is based on experience and training,” (Goldblatt, 2000, P. 9) an expert on this situation has nothing to go on but vague trends that the world may or may not be following. While it can be argued that nothing bad can happen from diversity, it could also be argued that it will eliminate the stability that is currently present in society. It is a situation where we must wait and see what happens because there is no way to predict the outcome. Common sense says that everything will work out and that society will be better, but only time will tell if this is, in fact, true. This new diversity that is present will force people to change their identities. No longer will it be acceptable to live one’s life based on the age old constructs that are still present, but human beings will be forced to examine each situation individually. A man will not be able to walk into a room and assume that he is more qualified than the woman in the corner or the black person sitting at the table because diversity in the workforce will ensure that they are all equally qualified. This, however, could lead to problems because the man will have to re-define himself and his perception of society and the people within it. Class is another thing that factors into this, as “this them and us, rich and poor notion of social class is weakening but it is still influential and is fed by media images“ (Woodward, 2000, P. 94). This could be very difficult to eliminate, as these constructs have been around for hundreds of years and are engrained within our society order. Changes to this social order are very unpredictable. The balance of power between these two views is difficult to judge because the more diversity that is present, the more different the future will be. Diversity should be a situation that will create opportunities for people as it will lead to more choice and an all around better quality of life. Despite how things should be, however, there will always be the fear that these changes will cause more problems than they solve, which could make the transition period into a more equal society take longer than most wish for it to take. Works Cited Goldblatt, David. 2000. Knowledge and the Social Sciences: Theory, Method and Practice. London: Routledge. Held, David. 2000. A Globalizing World?: Culture, Economics, Politics. London: Routledge. Hughes, Gordon. 2000. Ordering Lives: Family Work and Welfare. London: Routledge. Woodward, Kath. 2000. Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation. London: Routledge. Read More