The Australian National Identity in the 21st Century - Article Example

The focal point of this paper is to analyze and evaluate the Australian national identity in the 21st century. For the purpose it would be interesting reading the Chapters 3 and 4 of the book The West in The World where in the two chapters —“The Poleis Become Cosmopolitan”, where it is described how cosmopolitan face was achieved by the predominantly structural presentations of the poleis and the next chapter “Pride in Family and City”, where it is enumerated how the formulation of nationalism up to a certain degree was created within its citizens by the camouflage of pride of family and city. Both in the cases of the Greeks and the Romans, where Romans were more of an extended versions of the Greeks in respect of following their philosophy and culture, it has been seen that military campaigns are the chief source of prosperity and thus to sustain this prosperity it was important to develop causes for military campaigns. The best possible means would have been to segregate individuals under certain units like family and city and denote them by these identifying marks. (Sherman, 114) Similarly, Australia has been under the theoretical protective umbrella of the Queen of England till now. But the national identity is hugely manifested in every walk of life. It can well be stated that the issue of diversity in Australia is highly accepted and celebrated in the modern era. The evidence is clear and assertive. This is because there are a number of creed, race, language and color operating at the same time in the same fields all at a single time and space. This would not have been possible if the government was not in a true democratic mode and this true nature of democracy yields opportunity for all and as a result we can find the huge amount of diversity within the nation and this could well be stated as the most significant aspect of national identity of 21st century Australia. From the point of view of bilingual individuals it could also be ascertained that they have complete access to their native language. For example it can be stated that that the Asian and East European influx in the southern regions of the Australia are comfortable speaking their mother tongue and practice the same at their business. It is true that there are some sections who believe that there should be only English at least in the parameters of business but that intension is yet to be fulfilled. As a result it can be easily stated that bilingual individuals have no problem with their mother tongue and they are comfortable with it. (Lamb, 188) This specific intent of openness and freedom is the driving force that has turned into becoming so successful in uniting Australia and the credibility or the acceptance of all sections of the population has become the primary nature of the country. This success is highly celebrated and it can well be stated that the unification of diversity is the key ingredient of 21 century Australia. However, it can be stated that there are certain arguments related to Melting Pot vs. Salad Bowl phenomena in Australia. In melting pot all the elements are poured into a cauldron and a homogeneous stew is prepared where the individual identity of elements seizes to exist. However, in a salad bowl it is found that though all the ingredients are placed in the bowl each of the element tends to sustain its basic properties. In this respect we can state that Australia is more of a salad bowl than a melting pot because members of several communities with a number of creed, race, language and color operate together with their individual identity intact. However there are sections who believe that there should only be a single Australian culture and each individual must indulge in it and this culture is supposed to be mostly English flavored. (Kar, 227) As a president or a Congressional leader the policies that need to be initiated in order to limit the intolerance and racism in the Australia would be more freedom of religious and racial practices all over the country in spite of the recent case of discontent regarding the Glasgow bomb issue. These policies would empower all the cultures to practice their individual rituals without permission from the authority and should feel free to express themselves regarding their own identity in terms of dress codes and etiquette. It can well be stated that racism of any for is strictly avoidable and thus it becomes more important to celebrate the unification diversity in the Australia as it stands for the long termed success as a country. This is evident that when all the diverse races and religions are juxtaposed into the sense of a single nation with having to change their own individual way of life and likes it would only be beneficial for the country itself as each individual would feel responsible for the country. (King, 17-18) However, it can be stated that driving force of 21st century Australian national identity is backed by the aspects of globalization and its cultural homogeneous nature. Being a modern country with booming economy it is expected that there would be a huge amount of migration into Australia. Thus it could narrate the aspect of the basic issue globalization and hybridization is but a two way approach and where the basic maxims of capitalistic economy are taken into consideration at every step of formulating the strategies of marketing. It is obvious that the basic impetus of any business is to deal with the principals of profit and the methods of maximization of profit margin and this prospect is attracting the population of various nations all over the world into Australia. However, it can be always mentioned that the East has very intricate value systems which even today pose questions to the West. Particularly countries like Japan and China who base their belief in Confucian and Zen wisdom tend to react very differently than their Western counterparts. A thorough understanding is needed of their culture, perceptions and style of thinking in order to accurately predict their behaviour on Western understanding scales. Globalisation forces the West to interact with East on a very large scale and success of this interaction will be based on these crucial key points which determine the psyche of the Chinese modern manager. Ethical values and corporate social responsibility are fast gaining global priority. The corporate sector has, since long, behaved as an isolated entity, powerful enough to influence and dictate directions in the life of the common man, as well as governments. The emergence of environmental concern and sustainability issues has highlighted the role of ethics and social responsibility in the functioning of the corporate sector. Modernisation has brought in materialism and consumerism which by itself is not detrimental and people moving into Australia from these parts are carrying their philosophies with them thus giving a different but well blending shape to the Australian psyche and thus building the face of 21st century Australian nationality. (Lamb, 226-8) In conclusion it would be relevant to mention that it could thus be ascertained that the issue of globalization and hybridization would ultimately lead to a situation where there would be no specified local culture at all. Indications are bright about this possibility and there is no way but to agree with them in this respect. Thus the prospect of Australia in the 21st century is extremely brilliant it is evident that in due course this nationalist feeling of the country would be the driving force of the economy and develop an image that would be completely independent of any dominion status of UK or the Commonwealth Federation. Bibliography: Sherman, Dennis. & Salisbury’ Joyce E; The West in The World 2004, Ed 3, McGraw-Hill Kar, Pranab. History of Modern Australian life Kolkata: Dasgupta & Chatterjee 2005 King, Herbert. Australia Today Vol. IV Plymouth: HBT & Brooks Ltd. 2005 Lamb, Davis. Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata. Wellington: National Book Trust. 2004 Read More