Discuss about the perils and promise of pluralism in America - Essay Example

Pluralism in America The term pluralism stands for the coexistence of diverse beliefs and observations within a society, which vali s every faith and practice by culturally distinct groups. And as for the society, it rests on the belief that such a condition is desirable and beneficial for the greatest number. America is such a society with huge diversity in its people in terms of religious, cultural, ethnic and political orientation. In fact in a practically pluralist nation it is believed that reality is composed of multiple truths, which are self-validating and do not have a referential status.

In such a plural state as America is, every individual have the right to choose “what part of the multiplicity he wants to have or to belong to” (Johansson and Lynoe, 2008, p.245). In such a circumstance the stability of society depends on a ‘power balance’ (Johansson and Lynoe, 2008, p.245). Although this pluralism tries to ensure the greatest good, it is not a totalitarian principle and it has certain negative effects for individual and for society at large.The first effect of pluralism is that it gives rise to deferent interest groups in the politics.

As America is probably the largest democracy in the world, the pluralistic view poses the question of whether having various interest groups is good for creating a policy. One of the major challenges that have arisen in the wake of this century is ensuring the national security from terrorist attack. America’s democracy promotion policy in the Muslim countries has been resisted by the Muslim Americans. Even a lack of clear definition of democracy allowed the Muslim Americans to question the basic presumption of democracy.

The Judeo Christian tradition of America made it possible to create a society based on the shared values of catholic, protestant and Jewish religion. It was possible because certain denominations of the values of these religions were supported by the American life style. The 1965 Immigration Act was pivotal in creating a congregating identity of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. With the widening of democracy, these culturally diverse groups have been able to lobby the administration and influence the social and cultural life of America.

Within the diversity, there are cultural groups who feel marginalized and it is due to the tension between cultural groups who are struggling to monitor the values and institution for desired reformation (Machacek: 2003, p.1)Cultural pluralism in America tends to denigrate certain social groups in regards to language, social practices and race. This denigration is manifest in the behavior towards children in the public schools, workers and other common people. For example the children of immigrant groups lack the knowledge of the dominant culture.

As a result they cannot assimilate in the cultural discourse. The participation of the peripheral groups in the traditional American cultural becomes difficult. This same phenomenon can be noticed in case of immigrant workers. On the other hand these migrant groups try to incorporate and retain or revive their cultural identity and community. As a result of this effort sometimes the government initiatives in policy making aimed at cultural assimilation fail. The dominant American English or Spanish also poses serious problems.

These issues involve the political as well as educational interests if multiple interest group communities (Fuller: 2007) References1. Fuller B. (2007), Cultural pluralism Language and Education policy, available at http://gse.berkeley.edu/faculty/BFuller/EDUCXXX.pdf (accessed on August 3, 2010)2. Johansson I. and N. Lynoe (2008), Medicine and Philosophy, Ontos Verlag3. Machacek D. W. (2003), The problem of pluralism – ‘new religious pluralism’ in the United States, Reference Publication available at http://findarticles.

com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_2_64/ai_104733006/ accessed on August 3, 2010