Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiculturalism in UK - Assignment Example

Advantages and disadvantages of multiculturalism in UK Introduction Multiculturalism is a highly debated all over the world at present because of the advantages and disadvantages it provides to a country. After 9/11, people all over the world started to look suspiciously at foreigners. America and Britain are two countries in which people from different countries and cultures are staying and working together. Some people argue that multiculturalism should be encouraged, especially in this globalized world, whereas others are of the view that it should not be encouraged because of the possibility of repetition of 9/11 like incidents.

Brighton (2007) mentioned that “examining the history of multiculturalism in Britain and the tradition of living and acting ‘together’ raises a set of questions about the society into which integration is supposed to occur”(Brighton, 2007, p.1). This paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages multiculturalism brings to UK people. Advantages of multiculturalism in UK According to Wilson (2010), multiculturalism helps “the preservation and transmission of tacit knowledge within a cultural paradigm--between host and surrogate cultures” (Wilson, 2010, p.220). It should be noted that no country can develop properly in the current globalized world without seeking help from external sources.

The UK is a country which is struggling to find enough manpower resources to fill the vacancies in some employment sectors. For example, in many of the British hospitals, many Indians and Pakistanis are working as doctors and nurses because of the lack of availability of domestic healthcare professionals. There are plenty of other segments in the UK such as education, construction, real estate etc, in which people from other parts of the world are contributing heavily. It should be noted that India, like many Asian countries, has surplus manpower whereas Britain is facing shortage of manpower.

Multiculturalism helps the UK to exploit the services of skilled people from overseas countries. Multiculturalism improves the awareness of British people about other cultures. Plenty of British people are currently working in overseas countries, especially in Middle East. Awareness about Islamic culture, Hindu culture etc will help British people while they work in overseas countries. It should be noted that majority of prominent organizations are currently working in a multicultural environment.

In other words, prominent organizations are keen in keeping a diverse workforce at present to exploit the possibilities of globalization. While working in such organizations, awareness about other cultures will help British people immensely to adapt themselves to the environments. In educational sector, multiculturalism helps UK people as well. Proper interactions between students of different cultures in British colleges and universities will help British students to get more awareness about the cultural norms and traits of foreigners.

This knowledge will help them in future while they forced to work in a multicultural environment. Disadvantages of multiculturalism in UK Werbner (2009) pointed out that South Asians, especially UK-based Pakistanis, have followed an entirely different trajectory, one of ‘hybridity’, fun and mass popular South Asian culture, the other ‘pure’ and Islamic (Werbner, 2009, p.22). In other words, some Pakistanis in the UK are giving more importance to their religious beliefs and customs and they are trying to create a separate Islamic community within the UK.

It should be noted that after 9/11, British people have many doubts about the activities of foreigners, especially Muslims in the UK. Under such circumstances, the attempts of some Muslims to create a separate culture within the UK may create clashes and conflicts between the local culture and Islamic culture. Mason & Dandekar (2009) mentioned that “the participation of British-born Muslims in the 2 July 2005 attacks in London has raised new questions about the relationship between formal citizenship, identity, rights and duties” (Mason & Dandekar, 2009, p.393). In short, multiculturalism is causing many social problems at present in the UK.

“Multiculturalism in nation-states, such as the UK, has frequent references to bilingualism” (Block, 2007, p.66). People from other cultures in the UK are interested in protecting their cultural identity. They use their own languages for communication among their community in Britain. For example, Indians in the UK communicate through the Hindi language whereas Pakistanis like to communicate through the Urdu language. Thus, the importance of a local language or English could be diminished in the UK.

In short, multiculturalism may cause many damages to local culture. Conclusions Multiculturalism brings lot of advantages and disadvantages to British people. It helps British people to know more about other cultures. Knowledge about other cultures is necessary in this heavily globalized world since workforce exchanges across the borders are common nowadays. At the same time, multiculturalism raises many challenges to the protection of local culture in the UK. Foreigners in the UK like to communicate in their own languages and they are trying to establish a separate culture within British one.

References Block, D., 2007. Bilingualism: Four Assumptions and Four Responses. Innovation in Language Learning & Teaching, 2007, Vol. 1 Issue 1, p66-82. Brighton, S., 2007. British Muslims, multiculturalism and UK foreign policy: ‘integration’ and ‘cohesion’ in and beyond the state. International Affairs, Jan2007, Vol. 83 Issue 1, p1-17. Mason, D. & Dandekar, C., 2009. Evolving UK Policy on Diversity in the Armed Services: Multiculturalism and its Discontents. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Nov2009, Vol.

47 Issue 4, p393-410. Werbner, P., 2009. Revisiting the UK Muslim diasporic public sphere at a time of terror: from local (benign) invisible spaces to seditious conspiratorial spaces and the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ discourse. South Asian Diaspora. Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2009, 19–45. Wilson, J.A.J., 2010. When in Britain, Do as the British Do: If Anyone Knows What that Means: Multiculturalism in a "British" University Business School. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, v4 n4 p220-233.