The Positive and Negative Impact of Cultural Diversity - Assignment Example

Running Header: The positive and negative effect of diversity in culture Student’s Name: Course Code: Instructor’s Name: Date of Submission: Table of Contents Running Header: The positive and negative effect of diversity in culture 1 Student’s Name: 1 Course Code: 1 Instructor’s Name: 1 Date of Submission: 1 Table of Contents 2 Multiculturalism in the contemporary Western community 7 Multiculturalism as an origin of monoculturalism 8 Origins 12 Effects of Ethnocentrism 13 Introduction Multiculturalism as a concept has number of meanings. At some level, the concept refers to appreciation, concur or elevation of multiple traditions, applied in the demographic set up of a specific region, especially in the organizational levels, e.g. schools, businesses, towns, nations or neighborhoods. In regard to this sense, multiculturalism relates to respect for cultural diversity. The concept can also describe people that have more cultural items in them (meaning people who were brought up in areas where there was cultural identities in some situations called bicultural as illustrated by Philippe van (2004). In a political scene, the term is meant to refer the advocacy of promoting equitable status in different ethnic and religious settings without enhancing any kind of ethnic, religious or even cultural community practices. Multiculturalism is a cultural mosaic that is often compared with the term assimilations and social cultural integration and for that reason; it has been defined as “bowl and not a melting pot as argued by Ankerl (2000). The figure is a picture which shows how multiculturalism can be used to tackle political divisions that may be created by differences in culture In contemporary context of the society, different understandings given to the term has produced two inconsistent strategies that are not similar: The first strategy focuses on how interaction, relating and communication among different cultures occur. Interactions of people of different cultures gives opportunities for different people who have cultural differences to relate, interact and communicate freely thus creating what is called multiculturalism. The second strategy deals with cultural diversity and its uniqueness. Cultural differentiation can preserve the uniqueness in a given local culture of a given county or locality and thus contributing to international cultural diversity. The policy of “Cultural exception” that was introduced in France concerning by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) discussions in 1993 is a good example of preserving somebody’s culture against any erosion as argued by Philippe van (2004).The picture below indicates the concept of multiculturalism and its importance in appreciating each other’s race and culture. Multiculturalism is considered by many of its followers as the best system that provides people with the opportunity to express their feelings about how they are perceived in the society, it creates opportunity for people to relate them selves with the culture in the society. The practice has seen many people embracing different cultures as a result of change in technology. The culture of multiculturalism has supported new cultures that came into existence after the Second World War 11. It has seen many changes in the fight for human rights to better recognition within the society. The culture has promoted understanding between different races and encouraged the practice of doing away with ethnicity. In the United States, multiculturalism has caused the rise of civil rights organizations, which criticized the ideals concerning assimilation. This often caused prejudices against those people who were not acting according to the Anglo-American practices. This caused the establishment of academic studies based on ethnicity programs as a means countering the ignoring of contributions made by racial people who were the minorities’ classes. It has had more successes combating racism in the western counties in order to protect those who are a minority among all communities. In the process of doing this, multiculturalism has outdone policies that ignored the minorities from accessing all the opportunities freely and equality as expected the liberalism leadership as argued by Bidmead (2010). Multiculturalism is a valuable tool because it allows the use of several disciplines in order to state neglected areas of life in the society. For example, women and other minority groups now have respect and dignity in the society and their voices can always be listened to. Multiculturalism is a timely tool that is necessary since it can used as a form of integration that best fits the best ideas of egalitarianism. It has also caused success in the postcolonial world as well as creating moderate society. Equate multiculturalism has caused the topic on minorities thus calling demanding special human rights and promoting a society racism free through proper terms used in creating relationships among different cultural groups. This means that standards by which communities resolve differences have gone higher, e.g. through the principles of justice where openness and equality dialogues are allowed between communities. Negative effects of multiculturalism Multiculturalism is distinguished two different forms. The term multiculturalism is used different ways, namely descriptive and normative. In descriptive manner, it used to mean cultural diversity. Normatively, multiculturalism means a positive promotion and even celebration of a community’s diversity, mostly on the rights of different sets of people to be respected and recognized Multiculturalism incase of social trust reveals that when data is adjusted for the purpose of class, and other elements, the more the loss of trust when a community is racially diversified. People living in diverse communities do not have any trust for their local leaders meaning that they do not believe in the local work. They do not trust even the policies that are put in place. People who do not look alike believe that they are different and need to be handled differently as illustrated by Ankerl (2000). Relatively homogeneous communities invest more on public goods, affecting a higher standard of public mistrust. For example, the level of community homogeneity correlates well with the leadership’s share of the gross domestic product and the average state wealth of the citizens. Case studies in the United States, Africa and South-East Asia show that multi-ethnic communities are not charitable and therefore less cooperate to development of public infrastructure. Moscow beggars get many gifts from their fellow ethnics unlike from other communities as illustrated by Ankerl (2000). A recent study of different municipals spending patterns on public services in the United States discovered that ethnically diversified cities spend a less portion of the budgets on public commodities than the homogenous cities. Former Democratic governor of the US state of Colorado, Dick Lamm in his essay wrote "I have a plan to destroy America", "Diverse peoples worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, calm, or firm community is against the majority past precedent." Multiculturalism in the contemporary Western community Multiculturalism practice has been made an official policy applicable in many Western nations since the 1970s, for purpose varying from nation to nation, not forgetting the fact that a majority of the big cities in the Western world are commonly made of cultures related to mosaic. Orthodox Cathedral in Paulo, Brazilian megalopolis is good example for multicultural city. Various world leaders have raised their concerns on the effectiveness of multicultural structures about integrating the immigrants. Such leaders include the: The Prime Minister for the United Kingdom David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australia's ex-prime minister John Howard, Spanish ex-premier Jose Maria Aznar and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as illustrated by Ankerl (2000). Western countries speaking English have taken multiculturalism to be an official policy starting with Australia in 1973. Thereafter it was adopted as a government policy by many member countries in the European Union. The figure below indicates how different countries have come together as one thing to support multiculturalism and unionism Multiculturalism as an origin of monoculturalism Multiculturalism, as commonly understood, it means a theoretical approach to policies adopted by Western states, which have seemingly gained de facto independent national identities in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many country states across Africa and America are actually culturally diversified, and they are 'multi-cultural' in terms of descriptive sense. In many, communalism is the main political issue. The policies followed by these countries often show parallels to multicultural-list policies that are found in the Western nations but the background is always different, and the agenda may be a mono-cultural nation building policy (Waldo & Castellanos, 2005). The picture below, is a cultural matt that demonstrates the power that is their in culture and how beneficial it can be to a society. Multiculturalism in Australia Multiculturalism in Australia has raised so many issues concerning its effectiveness in promoting the culture of the country. First, the concept of multiculturalism needs to provide the element of national values as well as individual values. It’s expected the government of Australia that multiculturalism will promote the agenda of the government policy. Some of the of the concerns is about the appropriateness of the culture among the people who live in Australia. National culture and believes have also formed the basis of questioning the importance of multiculturalism Ankerl (2000). The picture below shows how people of different cultures can appreciate one another through multiculturalism. Importance of Multiculturalism to the government of Australia The multicultural commission of Australia has commented that the concept of multiculturalism in the country has promoted positively to the national building through cohesiveness of different people who are of different origins. The concept has also promoted the national culture by promoting indigenous languages and religions among the many millions of Australian people. Multiculturalism in Australia has made important strides because of its unity among the Australians and the immigrants. All people live as one people regardless of the origin and race where one comes from Bidmead (2010) Different organizations in Australia have promoted the agenda of being a multicultural country in order to promote the international policy on the fight against racism. This has led to more immigrants moving into the country thus bringing in new ideas which have led to the country’s development in terms of the economy. Multiculturalism has helped the country to fasten its fabric on culture and managed to create cohesiveness among different people. Because of this reason people in Australia now feel more secure and comfortable because of the adoptable environment which is conducive to many people Fowers and Davidov (2006). This has created a chance for the visitors to participate in various activities within the country more freely like any indigenous Australian. The picture below indicates how multiculturalism can be used to bring together different people from different cultural diversities. Ethnocentrism It is the culture to believe that somebody’s ethnic or community group is the most important, than that rest of the groups and it is measured in regard to one's own. The ethnocentric person will assess other groups relatively to his or her own ethnic group or culture, especially in regard to, behavior, religion, customs, and language. These ethnic characteristics and sub-groupings serve to describe each ethnicity's character, cultural and identity (Xenia, 2004). The picture below shows how people who are ethnocentrism believe themselves and always trust they are right. Origins The term ethnocentrism is defined by William G. Sumner, after observing the character for persons to differentiate themselves with the in-group and rest. He described it as "the technical word for view of the things that are in one’s. Group is the area of everything, and the others are rated with guidance to it. He further identified it as often causing .pride, vanity and beliefs of somebody’s superiority, and in contempt of immigrants. Anthropologists like Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski defended that any human science is to move the ethnocentrism of the researcher. Both indicated that anthropologists’ need to carry out ethnographic fieldwork so that to overcome .their ethnocentrism. Boaz developed the criteria of cultural relativism while Malinowski established the theory related to functionalism as procedures for producing non-ethnocentric report of different groups. The books The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia, by Malinowski, Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict and Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (two of who were Boaz's students) are good examples of anti- ethnocentric anthropology. The figure below is a demonstration on how the concept of multiculturalism can be used to discriminate people by separating from other people. Effects of Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is a tendency that makes one believes that his ethnic or community culture group is most important, and it’s above all other cultures and it’s measured by individuals in regard to one's culture. The ethnocentric person can judge other people relative to her own ethnic grouping and culture, more so with regard to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic characteristics and sub-groups serve to describe each ethnicity's special cultural identity( Bailey & Harindranath, 2006) This concept in most cases can be said to be the basis of many communism regimes. It provides people of getting setting to do their own things without seeking any intervention from outside. This is more because the people under this context believe in themselves and actually do not recognize any effort that any other intruder or foreigner can make towards their success. In other words, ethnocentrism if not well monitored can be a cause of hatred among people of different settings (Arizaga, 2005). The bin shown below is a picture showing how important cultures can be ignored just because of ethnocentrism. However, this culture can be used to promote fare competition among the communities. Since one believes to be superior to the other, there is a tendency that each member will strive to outdo the other in order to dominate above him by showing his superiority (Kathlyn, 2008). On the hand, ethnocentrism has caused a lot of resistance on immigration to non-citizens of a given country. Many group settings that do practice this culture do not appreciate the role played by the immigrants to their territories thus making it difficult to exchange ideas for common purpose in terms of development. The immigrants instructions are informed by the deception that the visitor because of their inferiority that do not have anything good to share. Ethnocentrism being a culture whereby individuals belonging to a certain group believes to be superior to the rest, it creates an environment whereby people are going to hate each other through a process of trying to outdo them and superiorly dominate over them. The concept of ethnocentrism in a normal society is something that can be applied as a tool for creating divisions among different groups of people living in a given environment. However, ethnocentrism can also be used positively through the process of creating awareness among people of different groupings and how it be applied affectively to propel the group forward. It can be used as a means of getting income by promoting those activities that they believe are important and are not found anywhere (Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver,. 2003). The picture below indicates how negative cultures can be very costly to lives since they can not assist individuals to fight poverty among themselves. Conclusion Multiculturalism and ethnocentrism are two important concepts of culture. From our review its evident these two concepts are related in a way that each of them in one way or the other influences the behaviors, believes and practices of a person or a group of individuals found in a certain setting (Fowers and Davidov, 2006). Multiculturalism as described in our discussion, it is a concept that defines how individuals practice more than one culture while ethnocentrism defines the culture where people of a given setting practice a culture that that they believe is superior to any other culture. These two concepts can be of essence to a society depending on how they are used. They can be a cause of problem or success in the community. They are positive cultures if they are well applied in life. References Ankerl, G 2000, Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. INU Press, Geneva . Ankerl, G 2000, Global communication without universal civilization (Coexisting contemporary civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western). INU societal research, INU Press, Geneva.  Arends-Toth, J & Van de Vijver, F 2003, Multiculturalism and acculturation: Views of Dutch and Turkish-Dutch. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 249-266. Arizaga, M et el 2005, Multicultural sensitivity and interpersonal skills training for preservice teachers. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, vol. 44, no. 6, 198-208. Bailey, G., & Harindranath, R 2006, Ethnic minorities, cultural difference and the cultural politics of communication. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 2, 299-316. Bidmead, A 2010, 'The Last of England', Legend Press, London. Fowers, B. and Davidov, B 2006, The Virtue of Multiculturalism: Personal Transformation, Character, and Openness to the Other. American Psychologist, 61, 581-594. Kathlyn, G 2003, Cultural diversity: conflicts and challenges: the ultimate teen guide, Michigan, Scarecrow Press. Philippe van, P 2004, Cultural diversity versus economic solidarity: proceedings of the Seventh Francqui Colloquium, Brussels, De Boeck Superieur. Xenia, C 2004, Cultural diversity: its social psychology, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Read More