Cultural Diversity in New York City - Essay Example

? Cultural Diversity in New York Cultural Diversity in New York It is often and popularly d that New York (NYC) is a hub of cultural diversity. In the context of urban sociology it plays a significant role in identifying the City’s eminence in the eyes of the immigrants from all over the world and even other states. This paper will survey a number of key roles that a place like New York City (NYC) offers to the people of different cultures to settle in various strata of the society within that region. It will also define the importance of cities in modern times when globalization and information technology are going way ahead of time to reach out to people all across the globe by letting them communicate from where they are; may it be a matter of business or economy. Urban Sociology is a discipline which deals with social aspect of city lives and the effect of different communities on the society. New York City is a culturally diverse center where there are people from all around the globe and this has an impact on the atmosphere and living in the city. America, in general is acclaimed for welcoming religion, race and culture without any barriers, which is a very controversial, yet a subject of interest for many scholars ever since it has gained super power. Hence, “melting pot” is a symbol associated with the vision of America that projects both its liberal as well as radical face. States of America have more or less encountered the same perception because of this symbol and it is due to this image that the term “Americanization” took its form (Hirschman, 1983). In order to study the structure of the New York City and its sociological processes and changes, one needs to inquire the existing cultures and the origins of the various immigrants who have been settled here for many years. Contemporary urban sociology also caters to the question of political and economic analysis of a particular region or community under study. It is through the study of economic changes taking place across the globe that one can evaluate the variety of urban communities that are born and governed. As stated by Flanagan and famous in the field of Sociology, Max Weber, believes that urban cities are dependent upon marketplaces (Flanagan, 1993). Immigrants from Korea started settling in the United States very slowly and gradually. They formed a strong hold by the 1970s especially in Los Angeles and New York. They settled as mostly businessmen in Koreatowns who attended to the needs of Koreans and other residents of the community as well. They own small family businesses and often revive the existing business areas by giving them a specialized co-ethnic resemblance. Usually such cultural diversity is welcomed by the cities (Flanagan, 2010). Greenberg raises an issue that New York has had to face in the past years. It encountered a major decline in the business arena due to financial crisis and this was projected by the media as the cause of racial influence on such a big City as New York. As a result of declining rates in bonds several businesses wrapped up and left the State. Several things happened all at once such as bad publicity and disinvestment thus ruining the image of NYC (Greenberg, 2008). What role do the immigrants have to play in the changing climate of the City is a question that media asks several critics. It was and is still unclear who is to be blamed for the decline in business and reputation of New York City but it can be said with confidence that the immigrants were a blessing in disguise for the nation and aided them in revitalizing the whole social structure (Greenberg, 2008). Another concern which might be raised here is the conflict between cultures that co-exist in the City at the same time. It has been observed by Flanagan that African Americans and the Koreans came into conflict with each other due to cultural misunderstandings and eventually mass rioting. In contrast to these two groups, there also exists an exemplary ethnic group, Asian Americans, who have been and still are a very successful race. This breaks the ice of the perception that immigrants are racially discriminated in the United States. Groups like the Southeast Asians, which include Vietnamese, Cambodians and Latinos, are the less privileged because of their background; low educational and income level (Flanagan, 2010). This piece of information enables one to figure out the mechanism of the City and the delicacy of the social matters that it may have to encounter on daily basis. Culture associates people to a community. This has what has made the people of New York City thrive upon in the recent years. The hard working immigrants have given a new dimension to the city and a cohesive image of the United States in general. Migration, therefore is not a bad influence after all. European immigration had made the city a diverse place of residence since the beginning but in the initial years of its birth, the city had seen only whites in the land. It achieved the status of a cosmopolitan state in the twentieth century. The job opportunities increased the attention it required from all over the world. The place became more livable in the years to come and people felt safe in their homes. This cultural diversity does not only affect the lives of the people but it also improves the educational and recreational sectors of the State and allows more competitions to take place (Flanagan, 2010). It is an optimistic vision of the city to welcome more and more immigrants but it may at one point have to undergo the crisis of identity where the New Yorkers will fade in comparison with the international invasion, which will remain harmless because it needs to survive in one place for many generations. Sassen points out, however, that a metropolitan city confronts challenges as the “macro-social trends” emerge in the forefront. These trends include globalization, mania for new information technologies, the growing national and local melange also known as transnational phenomenon, and the rise of certain socio-cultural diversity over others (Sassen, 2000). Globalization and telecommunication are an indication that the concept of cities may soon dissolve in terms of economic units because firms and workers would continue to be in touch wherever they are across the globe through information industries. America has a multi-polar urban system and it is because of this that some of the largest cities in the world, such as New York cannot be a primate city (Bryant, 2007). Transnationalism, on the other hand, continues to emerge in different forms to raise questions regarding the immigration. One of the core processes of globalization, it remains unknown to many creating disparity within cities along with global capital. The national urban system is usually affected by the increasing power of transnational urban system making way for post-colonialist discourse. A few places that have been bound by transnational’s influence, preview culture as “reterritorialized” in these locations which include “New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London and recently Tokyo” (Sassen, 2000). Diversity, the author argues, re-emerges through marketing and merchandise into the economic space of an urban locality. Modern culture remains in a state of flux because of its topographical challenges. This might be the reason why cities can more conveniently build and materialize such diversities. As mentioned initially, when New York City faced the problem of conflict among the immigrant communities, several researches proposed the idea of intermarriages amongst them. This generated a possibility of reduction in violence and tension prevailing within communities. This act would eventually “weaken their prejudices and stereotypes” and reach out to the members of the groups through the two partners signing the contract. This leads to a metamorphosis of culture and economy at large. It is an indication that the two groups have accepted each other as their equal leading to socioeconomic revolution. Intermarriage does not solely depend on the size of the group but also its geography. Jewish-Americans are group that is found in New York in minority, yet it is large group in a specific region. Hispanic and Asian intermarriages are common in New York City (Kalmijn, 1998). It has been happening for a long period of time. This may have caused several conflicts to arise but at the same time, the results have led urban sociologists to believe that intermarriages play a strong role in developing bondage amongst national and transnational communities. Most people consider cultural differences as a positive sign for the City. It became a problem when immigrants were forced to give up on their ways and adopt the American or the English cultures. They were encouraged to learn English language. The ethnic culture seems to be reappearing in every generation with a new force each time it is suppressed (Hirschman, 1983). In the United States, it is historical to view the ethnic and racial inequality as a change agent in multiple communities it is made up of. Many scholars of sociology challenge this topic because it plays an eminent role in the molding city structures which constitute politics and economy. New York City, as an international business center gives away the above mentioned benefits through the efforts of the immigrants. This becomes essential to discuss and bring up in the study of urban sociology because it gives access to the current mobility of the State and also allows statisticians to analyze how much more space could be covered to improve the present structure of the City (Bryant, 2007). The cultural diversity has been studied in this paper as a positive role that brings fruit to a growing metropolitan city as NYC. It may have caused several downfalls and failure to achieve the target in the business sector in the past years but the people of New York have assured the globe that it will find solutions to its problems. Many problems have been resolved through the efforts of sociologists as well. They have put theory into practice and given way to a better living standard. References Bryant, C. D., & Peck, D. L. (2007). 21st century sociology: A reference handbook. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, pp 476-486 Hirschman, C. (January 01, 1983). America's Melting Pot Reconsidered. Annual Review of Sociology, 9, 397-423. Flanagan, W. G. (1993). Contemporary urban sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Flanagan, W. G. (2010). Urban sociology: Images and structure. Lanham: Rowman& Littlefield. Greenberg, M. (2008). Branding New York: How a city in crisis was sold to the world. New York: Routledge. Kalmijn, M. (January 01, 1998). Intermarriage and Homogamy: Causes, Patterns, Trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 395-421. Sassen, S. (March 01, 2000). New frontiers facing urban sociology at the Millennium. The British Journal of Sociology, 51, 1, 143-159. Read More