Diversity in Racial, Ethnic and Cultural History - Essay Example

Diversity in racial, ethnic and cultural history submitted Diversity in Racial, ethnic and cultural history What information about diversity in the U.S. has helped you better understand or relate to others in ways that you m ay not have in the past? America is said to be a melting pot wherein men of different races and cultures are accepted as immigrants. So diversity is about colors and races of individuals that composed American identity. Even when integrated, these immigrants retain their cultures that make them distinct from the others. I have understood that because of this myriad background of people, the diversity of people must be learned so that we will be aware of why they behave differently. By knowing their culture, we become guided so we can harmonize and live in equality with them. There is a growing need for the government agencies and leaders, businessman, educators, and the society in general, to look at these racial differences that are not thought of in the past. Because of globalization, we come to accept this diversity, and for economic reasons, we realize the interdependence of each others lives. The growing economic system that is due to globalization .and advanced technology has accelerated the need to understand cultural differences and accept it as a way of life. Have you learned something new about your own racial, ethnic, or cultural history? I am a Caucasian by race with a French background. Being a Caucasian, I am proud of my ethnicity. The whiteness of the skin or being fair skinned as a passport to the American culture, is something new to me. Caucusus, the land where we lived, is blessed by nature, and for a long time, supplied the Russians with oil. Because of this relation, Caucasians developed a racial communist background, but we now belong to the ex-communists world. It is only now that I learned that the cohesiveness of my people is an influence of the Soviet system, and with the collapse of the system, people became closer because they feared of the uncertainty of their future, and “they have fallen back to ethnic solidarity to counter feelings of insecurity”(Henze, Paul, n.d.) Caucasus, is home to forty ethnic groups for many years, so its culture and ethnicity is a mixture of all these. Dr. Takvul, Ufuk, who made a sociological analysis of the Caucasia culture, said this race is characterized by ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is a tendency to view groups or cultures different from its own perspectives. It is an attitude that tends to believe of its own superiority. But having a French background makes my identity more colorful. Like the U.S., the immigration laws of the French country are tainted with racial prejudices. The existence of several laws makes the lives of minority groups difficult because of xenophobic attitude. Xenophobia is the extreme hatred for foreigners, and based from article “Racial Discrimination, The Record of France”, this attitude still exists today. According to this study, there is a new wave of xenophobia over France that is exploited in politics. When these two cultures are combined into my own being, who could blame me for having a different attitude because both cultures are embedded in me as part of my cultural upbringing and this is what I learned from my cultural history. Trends in immigration will continue to shape the demographics of the U.S. What will the population look like in year 2050? Why do you think so? The population of US will take a different shape in 2050 because the projections of the Bureau of Census shows minority groups will account for 49 percent of the population.(Shrestha, Laura and Heisler, Elaine, J.. Sept 25, 2009). The population of the U.S. is expected to grow by 411 million by 2050 and big part of this will be caused by the high rate of immigration. Projections of the census Bureau shows immigrants estimated at 1.10 million annually wherein the leading source of legal immigrants comes from Asians and Hispanics. The whites constitute 81% of the total population but their growth will slow down because of aging, low birth rate and immigration. Projections state that they will fall by 74%, by year 2050; they will grow only by 7 % or 210 million or by 50.1 percent of the population in 2050. The number of Asians is expected to more than triple to 33 million by 2050 while that of the Hispanics will increase its ranks by 188 percent, or by 102.6 million or roughly one-fourth of the projected number of population. The demographics also will show older people. The proportion of white population is decreasing yearly since 2000. In 2000 it is 81.0 %; in 2010, it is79.5%, projection in 2020 is 78.0%, going down further to 76.6% in 2030, 75.3% in 2040 and finally to 74% in 2050. This decline is contradicted by the percentage rise of blacks, Asians and other races. Blacks have the highest percentage increase from among the group What challenges does the U.S. face due to diversity of its people? The above scenario means more mixes of ethnic and culture, and the challenges to the government will be the transformation of education, and welfare institutions. The 2000 census and projections show the growing role of Hispanics in the United States. There will be a growing concern for this group, because they have been characterized “with low levels of education, disproportionate concentration in low skill, low-wage jobs” (Congressional Research service). Another concern is the coming of second Hispanic generation that will replace the aging whites. This will come as a challenge for the government to create a special program that will enhance their progress and productivity. The diversity of its people offers more challenges to the government particularly in health healthcare, and health spending. Bureau of Census cited the likeliness of non-whites to visit doctors in office set-up, while non-Hispanic blacks prefer to seek care in emergency rooms. Furthermore, there are different expectations of cares sought and utilized by different races. For this reason, a wider budget is needed to give them full coverage and protection. What are the benefits of such diversity? It is important to realize that there are benefits of diversity. All over the world, diversity is accepted in homes, organizations, and business places and we can see that it gives valuable benefits to everyone. Today, diversity has become an element of society because of its benefits. When an organization hires a group of diverse people, they are promoting humanistic values. This means that they think their contribution to the company is valued so they are motivated to become more productive. Diversity develops a pool of talents because each of them learns from the exchange of information. The diversity in the past contributed to the progress of the nation. The labor of immigrants from different places hastened the industrialization and mobilized the growth of the United States. Cultural diversity leads to development of economic growth. It paves the way to a more fulfilling and satisfying life. Therefore cultural diversity is one way of reducing poverty reduction and achieving sustainable development How can we foster a climate of acceptance and cultural pluralism in the US? Cultural pluralism is defined as a condition in which minority groups participate fully in the dominant society, yet maintain their cultural differences( Dictionary.com). The idea of fostering cultural pluralism is when the minority group values are accepted by the dominant ones. We can foster a climate of acceptance by education , understanding each other’s culture and promoting a continuous dialogue. Cultural dialogue is encouraged by the United Nations. Cultural pluralism is also defended by inter-marriages. We foster it by learning or experiencing other’s people’s culture and tradition, so makes it easy to appreciate culture. For instance, by bringing martial arts, yoga and Irish dances to the United States, people understand and embrace it instead of fearing it. Embracing cultural pluralism preserves tradition and cultures. Technology ushers a desire for people to travel and leave their cultures behind, as they learn and adopt new cultures. Accepting cultural pluralism preserves its own tradition. By education, I mean, is to open up and create awareness of the society’s beliefs. Some society would profess that their culture is more powerful than the other or they have different beliefs, thus resulting to clashes, violence, or terrorism. By knowing that it is an inherent belief in their tradition, violence can be avoided, and misunderstandings could be responded through dialogue. In what ways do the media perpetuate stereotyping and prejudice? Provide examples to support assertion. Media stereotyping and prejudice is perpetuated by media thru entertainment, news and advertising because they need a wider audience. Stereotyping gives the audience quick information about people relating to their class, their gender, sexual orientation, or occupations. It perpetuates prejudice because most often, they are not represented and cannot justify themselves. It is easy to promote because people are ignorant and the y have no prior knowledge on the subject. Foe example, media portrays women as “femme fatale, sex kitten, supermom, or typically thin”. Media portrays masculinity of male and its male authority. Elderliness is portrayed as frail and forgetful. Being stereotyped results to prejudices in beliefs, emotions, and behavioral dispositions. Stereotyped beliefs lead us to say for example:”All Muslims Are terrorists”; all Indians are alcoholics, or all African-Americans are gangsters: or it could be expressed in emotions when we say “I hate Asians”, I do not like Jews”; or it would lead us to behavioral dispositions by saying: “ I do not trust African-Americans.””I will not deal with deal with Jews because they are cheaters”. These are examples only, and not necessarily true. In what ways do the media help foster appreciation for diversity? Provide examples to support assertion. Media and telecommunications play an important role in bringing news and information to the people. It is a key factor in spreading global cultures and multi-culturism. It is now easy to read news and know what happens everywhere because of interconnections and modern technology. The world has become anyone’s neighbor and a global city. So, media can play major role in the creation and promotion of the multi-cultural race system. The media should have a goal of promoting multi-cultural values, tolerance and peace. Media can do this by covering positive and constructive aspects of society. Recognizing that media is a valuable link of information, the Organization of American States declared a mandate that states: “Encourage media self-regulation efforts, including norms of ethical conduct, to address the concerns of civil society with regard to, inter alia, reducing the dissemination of extreme violence and negative stereotypes of women and ethnic, social and other groups, contributing in this way to the promotion of changes in attitudes and cultural patterns through the projection of pluralistic, balanced and non-discriminatory images.” (Plan of Action Québec, 2001 cited in OAS) Through its network, media can produce positive attitudes on cultures of people. How might individuals and US. work together to reduce prejudice and increase appreciation for diversity? There are many ways wherein people and the government can work together to appreciate diversity. The views expressed here is based on an independent thinking on how to reduce racial prejudices, One of these is to recognize that cultural diversity is an instrument of economic growth. Talents of immigrants when put together contributed to development and sustainable growth. Labor and skills of Asian immigrants when combined contributed immensely to the industrial revolution and development of America. We should encourage organizations, government institutions, experts, leaders, and the people to support seminars to enhance partnerships and exchange of information in order to promote better acceptance of the region. This could be the work of the United Nations or Congress, or the media. We should also encourage institutions, both public and private universities, art colleges and museums to recognize the value of cultural diversity and promote this thru education, exhibits and presentations. How might you change your own behaviors to be more inclusive and pluralistic? An astronaut once said: “a single step today, is a giant step for mankind”. Taking this as signal for change, changing my own behavior will have a little influence today in my community and to the organization I am working for; but the effect to individual will be lasting. For example, by observing and respecting the business behaviors of Indians, or Chinese, I will earn their respect and friendship. Some cultures do not allow handshakes and recognizes hierarchy in business which is quite different in Americans. Giving simple gifts is allowed, and some rituals are observed, like opening the gift in front of guests. Dressing properly in meetings is a form of respect; and there are others that should be dealt with in understanding individual culture. In a circle of diversified workers and if I were the head, understanding their language is the key to a better communication. As a leader I should realize their importance in the organization and should find ways to understand them. Talking, dancing and eating with them means appreciating their culture. This way I become to be more inclusive and pluralistic References Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cultural+pluralism Henze, Paul, (n.d.). Conflict in the Caucasus: Background, problems, and prospects for Mitigation. Retrieved 01 April 2012 fromhttp://www.circassianworld.com/new/north- caucasus/1182-conflict-in-the-caucasus-phenze.html# http://www.summit-americas.org/sisca/oas.html Organization of the American States. 2010. Follow up and implementation: Mandates. Summit of the Americas.Retrieved 03 April 2012 from “Racial Discriminaton:The Record of France” retrieved 02 April 2012 fromhttp://academic.udayton.edu/race/06hrights/georegions/Europe/France01.htm Shretha, Laura, B. and Heisler, Elayne J. (25 September, 2009).The Changing Demographic Profile in the United States. Congressional Research Service. CRS report for Congress. . Retrieved 02 April 2012 fromwww.crs.gov Takvul Ufuk (n.d.) The Sociological Analysis of the Caucasian Culture. retrieved 02 April 2010 fromhttp://kcr.narod.ru/sociol/analysis.htm Summit of the Americas Secretariat. Read More