Cultural Diversity in Morocco - Essay Example

? Cultural Diversity in Morocco Multiculturalism has been hailed as one of the greatest concepts of our century, thus, throwing the global fraternity into a spin with intellectual discourses emerging with the aim of understanding the extent to which this concept can be applied in societies. Cultural diversity has been a common phenomenon in societies all over the world, thus, raising concerns over the best ways of achieving harmony and integration of populations for the proper functioning of these societies. Naturally, multiculturalism has been debated for long as the most effective method of achieving harmony and integration in societies, as an approach of solving social conflicts between groups (Xanthaki, 2010). This paper examines evidences of multiculturalism in Morocco, in addition to evaluating the concept of multiculturalism as seen from four different views, including the feminist perspective, the conflict perspective, the symbol interactionism perspective, and the functionalism perspective. Additionally, the paper will also highlight new insights gained from a thorough examination of the concept, and the ‘common sense’ views or misconceived notions that will be settled because of further understanding. Morocco is a country that has been known for its cultural and linguistic diversity in the world (Ennaji, 2010); some of the main cultures in morocco include Berber, Arab, Jewish, Muslim, African, and European. Morocco has a broad history that stands significantly in the politics of the world, especially because the Moroccan empire was a major player. Despite the rapid changes taking place in the Moroccan society due to modernization and democratization efforts, its diverse cultures are deeply rooted in the countries age-old customs that stress on communal life. Morocco’s rich multiethnic society, rich culture, civilization and etiquette can be attributable to the fact that the country has been a host to many people in the past, besides the indigenous Berbers, who have significantly influenced the social structure of the country. Additionally, the country has interacted with many kinds of faiths or beliefs including Paganism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and its wholesome national culture is a blend of the diverse uniqueness that is evident in each region. Morocco has a population of about 30 million people with a half of them being under the age of nineteen; a large proportion of the country is Islamic, nearly 99%, something that greatly affects the population. The national government of Morocco recognizes the diversity of its population and one of its top priorities is to protect its diversity and to preserve its cultural heritage, a practice that has lasted for decades. The official language spoken in Morocco is Arabic but nearly one third of the country’s population speak Berber, and French is taught in its schools, in addition to being the mode of transacting commerce and business in the country; part of the population can also speak Spanish due to the proximity of Spain and involvement around Tangier. The feminist perspective is a feminists’ theoretical construct that explores the nature of gender inequality by examining the roles of women in society, their experiences, interests, and feminist politics in other fields such as sociology and psychoanalysis, among others. The feminist perspective is based on the premises that women are often subordinated by mechanisms designed by society, thus, the research of this perspective is focused on the state of women in society. The Feminist perspective has often been accused of undermining multiculturalism, which aims to promote the co-existence of multiple cultures either as distinct territories within western societies or as separate societies with national borders, despite the fact that the feminists focus on diversity and liberation. The main ball of contention between the feminists and multiculturalism is the fact that whereas Multiculturalism promotes and tolerates certain religious or traditional practices that might oppress or disadvantage women on the premises of cultural sensitivity; such practices undermine human rights (Herr, 2004). The feminist perspective on religious and cultural practices that oppress or undermine women is very rigid yet according to multiculturalism, these practices must be respected despite that they violate the fundamental human freedoms or liberty. For instance, some communities engage in cultural aspects such as arranged marriages and genital mutilation, practices that are not in tandem with the feminist ideals, thus, a constant claim that multiculturalism promotes gender inequalities (Song, 2005). The conflict perspective, on the other hand, examine the inequalities that are inherent in all societies around the world in general, with a particular focus on the various aspects of master status in social interacts, which is a fundamental identity of individuals in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, among other things. The conflict perspective contents that every society is beleaguered by all forms of inequality based on parameters such as social differences between the dominant group and the rest of the groups in that particular society. The structures of wealth, power and status, often maintain socio-economic, political, in addition to, coercive power of the dominant group, while the rest are left out at the edge. To the conflict theorists, multiculturalism is a conscious campaign by the elites to secure approval to maintain the customary position of power, privilege, and property (Spevack, 1997), because after all, the elites prefer to remain in power and privileged positions of influence. Nonetheless, even if the elites relinquish part of their power, the minorities are always satisfied and they never question why they cannot have the whole. The Symbolic interactionism perspective analyzes the patterns of communication, interpretation, and adjustment between different individuals in society and it looks for relationships that can help interpret from the meanings of symbols, how individuals interact with each other and within the society. From a symbolic interactionism perspective, people define situations according to their own interpretations of multiculturalism; in this regard, the term multiculturalism becomes a fundamental meeting point, a basis for interaction between different people with distinct viewpoints. Diversity meets at a point of compromise and different people intermingle to form a truly multi-cultural lifestyle that is governed by shared social values and ideals of mutual co-existence. The functionalist perspective perceives society as a complex system of interdependent parts, which work together concurrently to achieve a harmonious functioning, or equilibrium of the whole system; in this regard, social institutions such as the government, the school, and the church are the different parts of the society that function interdependently to maintain stability in society. This perspective, therefore, takes a macro-level, broad-area approach by focusing on the social structures that make up a society, and the specific functions of its constituent elements including, but not limited to norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. From the functionalist perspective, consensus, cooperation, and control are the fundamental principles to a successful, balanced, and stable society; assimilation and integration is the practical way in which all members of the society can achieve the desired harmony by internalizing the core ideals and values of society. The functionalists view the distinct parts of society as playing very crucial role in maintaining stability in society, thus, each one of them must be filled for society to function properly (Nemetz & Christensen, 1996). To the functionalists, multiculturalism plays a very significant role in creating a stable and all-inclusive society that is strongly grounded on socio-cultural values and ideals that promote the harmonious co-existence of people. I strongly agree with the functionalism perspective, that multiculturalism promotes harmony and stability in the functioning of society because it encourages cooperation, consensus, and control, which are the fundamental principles to a balanced and stable society. All the constituent parts of society must cooperate with each other regardless of social differences on the bases of gender, race, or any form of discriminatory criteria to achieve a balance in the functioning of society. In this regard, multicultural societies can take advantage of their unique differences to work cooperatively towards achieving harmony rather than forming divisions. However, a thorough examination of this topic has revealed new insights, and among them is the realization that multiculturalism is a complex concept that goes beyond the simplistic conventional understanding that is both narrow and limiting (Jura, 2012). In this respect, multiculturalism, as examined from the four different perspectives and the disharmonies inherent in these theoretical perspectives, is a concept that never means what it says and never says what it means. This is so because there is no consensus in the conceptualization of multiculturalism from the four theories, and in fact, the feminist and conflict perspective give conflicting explanations of multiculturalism all together. Moreover, the pervasive common sense conceptualization of multiculturalism as undermining emigrant socio-political integration does not hold ground (Wright & Bloemraad, 2012), multiculturalism does not in any case impede engagement within the society, and/or with the government, and contrary to this popular opinion, it does, in many cases, promote or foster these interactions. Nonetheless, multiculturalism propagates tolerance of others yet there are certain aspects of cultural practices in other communities, in addition to structural positions, which might undermine other people’s fundamental freedoms and rights. In this respect, multiculturalism is still a tricky concept that still needs to be debated further before being shoved down the throats of nations as a global policy for implementation. Multiculturalism is a complex concept that does not merely confuse, but is also hard to implement in practice because different societies have different values that may not fit in with the rest of the groups in society today. References Ennaji, M. (2010). Multiculturalism, gender and political participation in morocco. Diogenes, 57(1), 46.  Jura, C. (2012). Multiculturalism - A confusing european approach. Journal of Politics and Law, 5(2), 107-115.  Song, S. (2005). Majority norms, multiculturalism, and gender equality. The American Political Science Review, 99(4), 473-489. Herr, R. S. (2004). A third world feminist defense of multiculturalism. Social Theory and Practice, 30(1), 73-103. Nemetz, P. L., & Christensen, S. L. (1996). The challenge of cultural diversity: Harnessing a diversity of views to understand multiculturalism. Academy of Management.the Academy of Management Review, 21(2), 434-462.  Wright, M., & Bloemraad, I. (2012). Is there a trade-off between multiculturalism and socio-political integration? policy regimes and immigrant incorporation in comparative perspective. Perspectives on Politics, 10(1), 77-95.  Spevack, E. (1997). Racial conflict and multiculturalism: Bernard malamud's the tenants. MELUS, 22(3), 31-54.  Xanthaki, A. (2010). Multiculturalism and international law: Discussing universal standards. Human Rights Quarterly, 32(1), 21-48,251.  Read More