Society and Multiculturalism

Abstract

Multiculturalism is a multidimensional term used to describe many aspects of an increasingly ethnically and racially diverse society. At an individual level, multiculturalism refers to how individuals shape their cultural identity and interact with others. At a national level, the term refers to how cultural groups organize themselves and how governments use policy to support or prohibit diversity. At an international level, multiculturalism becomes entwined with the issue of globalization and how changes in economic, political, and social activities will increase or reduce world diversity. This article explores some of the issues that are debated under the broad category of multiculturalism.

Overview

The history of people is one of movement. Whether it is hunters following the food to warmer climates, refugees escaping war and political corruption or explorers and immigrants seeking new economic opportunities, humans have always been on the move. In their migrations, people have taken their cultures to new lands and through contact with different peoples have exchanged ideas, languages, and customs. Yet cultural mixing around the world has not created one race of people. Rather, multiple distinct cultures have developed and have generally been divided by geographical and political boundaries.

For much of modern history, the world has been politically divided into nation-states defined by geographical borders and a perceived common cultural identity. While many nations, like the United States, are comprised of people from multiple cultural groups, feelings of nationalism and allegiance to the state have been thought to develop out of a shared sense of history, language, and culture as well as state autonomy (Kivisto, 2002). The result is that the world as it is has often been painted in a US geography class is one that can be envisioned as it is drawn on a globe. A multicolored mix of oddly shaped landforms which can be defined by major economic activity and a few cultural markers that are sometimes mistakenly assumed to apply to all the country's inhabitants, such as religion, food, and dress. This is the world as it has been known for a long time, but these conceptions are changing.

In the past several decades, two major trends have challenged the way the world has been conceptualized, and this has led to a redefining of local and world orders. First, within many nations, including the United States, minority cultural groups have advocated for greater recognition as ethnic or racial groups. In the United States, minority cultural groups in the 1960s and 1970s rejected assimilation theories (Griffin, 1998), which say the natural path when two cultural groups come into contact as the result of migration is for the groups to become more like each other (Kivisto, 2002). Eventually, through the process of amalgamation, or intermarriage, boundaries will be erased between the groups and a new shared identity will form (Park, 1950).

Assimilation vs. Cultural Pluralism. Rejecting this process as one that results in the loss of culture for minority groups (because they are expected to assume the ways of life of the dominant cultural group), minority groups argued in favor of a culturally pluralistic society. A culturally pluralistic society, it was theorized, would accept and tolerate many different cultures living together in one geographical space without requiring one culture to be lost to another (Kivisto, 2002).

At the global level, ethnic groups have also called for greater recognition, which has been described as a surge in ethnonationalism. Ethnonationalism refers to the desire by ethnic groups living within an autonomous nation-state for a recognized national identity that is separate from that state. Sometimes nationalist groups seek greater autonomy and control of affairs within the state (e.g., some Scottish nationalists in the United Kingdom) and sometimes they seek the creation of their own nation-states (e.g., Palestinians, Kurds in Turkey and Iraq)(Kivisto, 2002). The movement for recognition of minority groups around the world has been the impetus for one level of discussion on multiculturalism. That is, how can societies respect and preserve diversity within one political entity?

Globalization. A second trend is globalization. Globalization is the term used to describe economic, political, and social activities that have global impacts. In a globalized economy, for instance, corporations not only operate in their home countries, but also view the entire world as their marketplace. In global politics, the actions of one country not only affect the citizens of that country but have impacts that reverberate throughout the global community (Kivisto, 2002; Suter, 2006). Globalization can be symbolized by companies such as Coca-Cola, which sells its products in more than 200 countries and has 86% of its markets outside of the United States (Coca-Cola, 2008). In such multinational corporations, everyone in the world is a potential customer, and employees come from and live in every corner of the world. Globalization means that the world is becoming more interdependent. Problems in one country such as the weakening of an economy can rapidly affect the lives of individuals many thousands of miles away.

Globalization is also changing migration patterns and the political landscape. This is because with the world as its marketplace, a multinational corporation can locate manufacturing and operating facilities in countries where labor is cheap. Some countries have lost jobs while others have gained (Beck, 2000). One result is that individuals are moving to where the jobs are located, creating a new class of individuals known as transnationalists—individuals who hold citizenship in one country but who live and work in another (Kivisto, 2002). A second result is that the importance of national governments is diminishing while international organizations are becoming more prominent. This happens when local and national governments are weakened by the loss of tax dollars that occurs when corporate operations are dispersed. Multinational corporations no longer necessarily need national governments to successfully conduct business activities. At the same time, international organizations such as the United Nations, International labor organizations, non-governmental organizations, and transnational organizations are becoming more important in dealing with issues of international trade and the rights of a global citizenry (Beck, 2000; Suter, 2006).

These trends, which in one way continue a long history of human movement and in another way challenge the way the world has come to be known, have raised questions and produced theories about multiculturalism.

Levels of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism, as defined within this context, refers to the social reality that people from different cultures are intermingling more often, and thus invites discussion about multiculturalism at the individual level. Such questions include:

• How should individuals define themselves in a multicultural society?
• What skills and level of awareness are needed to interact with individuals from different cultural groups?
• What does it mean to respect, preserve, and tolerate one's own or another's culture?

Within the United States and other countries incorporating multiple people under one political umbrella, multiculturalism refers to a kind of social organization that can be encouraged or prohibited by policy. Discussion of multiculturalism at a national political level in the United States includes:

• What does multiculturalism mean in relation to a common American identity?
• Should multiculturalism be encouraged by policy?
• What kinds of policies encourage multiculturalism?

At a global level, multiculturalism refers to the mixture of cultures and cultural symbols in the marketplace, where multinational corporations choose images to attract a diverse population of consumers. It also refers to the impact that a globalized society has on cultural identity and global political and social organizations. Questions at the global level include:

• How can individuals in a multicultural society improve communication?
• Does a globalized society preserve or destroy cultural identity?
• What political organizations can best serve a transnational citizenry?
• What new cultural boundaries and social organizations will form in the future?

Of course, these questions touch on only a few of the issues that can be debated, discussed, and dissected under a broad term like multiculturalism.

Further Insights

Identity in a Multicultural World. In a multicultural and globalized world, the question of identity formation involves many choices. This is because identity formation is believed to occur as the result of discursive and interactional processes embedded within sociopolitical contexts (Howard, 2000). How one identifies his or herself depends on many factors, such as parental and societal socialization (how other people have taught one to see one's self) and the diversity of groups and networks to which one belongs. For instance, being a member of a religious organization is more likely to make one identify as someone who is of a certain religion, or who is religious.

Although some might say that being a member of an ethnic group would appear to be self-evident, this is far from the case. Ethnic boundaries are socially constructed and often result from political realities (Howard, 2000). Take for example the case of the category, American Indian. American Indian is a category that describes individuals descended from an indigenous American Indian tribe, but there are many native tribes. The only reason to call American Indian an ethnic category is to differentiate those who are indigenous from those who are not (Niemonen, 1999). The problem is even more complicated for those, like most Americans, who are descended from one or more cultural groups. When an individual is ¼ Mexican, ½ Swedish, and ¼ Irish and lives in Spain, what ethnic identity should one claim? Because ethnic boundaries are socially constructed, they are fluid and changing. Population shifts, political events, and an increase in the multiracial population have all been found to affect how individuals construct ethnic identity (Howard, 2000).

Finding or accepting one's identity in a multicultural world involves making decisions about which cultures, cultural traits, nationalities, ethnicities, races, etc. that one wishes to identify with. However, the element of choice which has been found to be integral to identity development poses a problem for a multicultural perspective that is based on cultural pluralism. This is because one of the assumptions that underpins cultural pluralism is that the boundaries that separate cultural groups are static (Niemonen, 1999). In order for separate and distinct cultural groups to exist side by side, the boundaries of these groups must be identifiable. Therefore, cultural pluralism assumes that ethnicity and race are essential, unchanging elements and that individuals cannot disassociate from these elements of identity. Niemonen (1999) writes that the failure of cultural pluralism to account for changing cultural boundaries and for individual choices in identity development is one of the reasons that the theory fails as a science and becomes a problem in the "sociology of knowledge." As an alternative to cultural pluralism, Cosmopolitanism recognizes the value of maintaining ethnic diversity, but also contends that individuals have the ability to choose elements from multiple cultures when developing their identity (Kivisto, 2002).

Cultural Competence. A multicultural world adds new dimensions to communication in the workplace, school, and general society. When people from different cultural backgrounds interact, there is a greater chance of miscommunication. Those who are unaware of how cultural differences impact perceptions may have a tendency to become frustrated or to criticize those who are different, attributing unexpected behaviors to a lack of intelligence or to an inferior social status. These reactions indicate a level of cultural incompetence (Zander, 2007).

To interact effectively with those who are culturally different requires a combination of cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, and cultural skills. Cultural awareness involves actively seeking to understand how culture impacts worldview, beginning with one's self. By becoming familiar with one's own values, beliefs, attitudes and practices, one becomes better able to explore the experiences of others. Cultural knowledge is gained through interactions with individuals of many cultures and in many settings. Individuals are unique, and though they may share the same culture, there is never a cookie-cutter mold that defines all of the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of members of that culture. Finally, cultural skills are those that allow one to effectively assess culturally influenced situations and to communicate well with those from many backgrounds (Zander, 2007).

Culturality. Abdallah-Pretceille (2006) writes that intercultural training requires a paradigm that emphasizes "culturality" not culture. Instead of thinking of cultural diversity in terms of categories and characteristics that individuals from those categories exhibit, individuals should emphasize the processes and interactions which define and unite people in relation to each other. In order to effectively deal with others in a multicultural environment, individuals must first define their own identity in terms of values, beliefs, attitudes, and other characteristics. Then they should be open-minded and mindful of others in order to experience and appreciate how others use their culture to create and express their individual identity. Culturality recognizes that not only are cultures fluid and changing, but individuals are too.

America: Melting Pot or Vegetable Soup?. One of the fundamental principles of a world organized into nation-states is that the people of each nation have something in common that holds them together as members of their nation (Kivisto, 2002). In the United States, for a long time, the tie that bound citizens together was the idea that America was a new kind of nation forged, as Griffin (1998) writes, "from immigration and the experience of radical change, mobility, contact with apparently unlimited land and the loss of contact with anything old" (p. 135). The metaphor that early Americans used to describe the birth of the American citizen was the "melting pot." The melting pot symbolized the idea that American identity was born out of a radical transformation. While immigrants from many countries may have comprised the population of America, the national identity they collectively forged was one that was different and better than any individual identity to which they could lay claim. The melting pot metaphor was buoyed by theories of assimilation, which said when two cultures come into contact there is a series of stages that the cultures move through that takes them from being separate and distinct entities to becoming a unified and unique cultural group (Kivisto, 2002; Park, 1950). Thus, many assumed that as the United States continued to welcome immigrants, those immigrants would continue to melt into the pot, adopting a new identity that could only be described as uniquely American.

However, in the 1960s and 1970s, the image of a unified American identity was challenged by political and social change. The civil rights and women's movements raised new awareness about how America had excluded particular segments of its population from the classically upheld model of the new American man. Writes Griffen (1998), the "new man of earlier centuries turned out to be very much a 'man,' very male, very white, very Anglo-Saxon, very Protestant and very Yankee" (pp. 138-139). In a rejection of assimilation and the melting pot, cultural pluralism became the model for American social organization. Under cultural pluralism, a society was envisioned where individuals could maintain their cultural identity and still be part of the national culture. New metaphors arose to represent this position, including the mosaic, tapestry, rainbow, salad bowl, and vegetable soup. In each of these, the individual pieces of the whole do not need to lose their distinctiveness in order to contribute to the creation of the unique whole. (Griffin, 1998). Therefore, Chinese Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and other ethnic Americans could lay claim to two important aspects of their American identity.

The Politics of Multiculturalism. The United States does not have a multicultural policy. However, for a society to be inclusive usually entails government involvement in some form (Kivisto, 2002). Many US policies reflect a multicultural orientation in that they promote and teach respect for cultural diversity, reject assimilation as a norm and advocate for preservation of ethnic identity and equality for all groups (Bass, 2008).

Bass (2008) describes four different ways that multiculturalism manifests itself in US policy. These she terms the politics of:

• Celebration;
• Harmony;
• Facilitation;
• Parity.

Policies of celebration include official recognition of diverse cultural heroes and histories such as Martin Luther King Day or Hispanic Heritage Month. Policies of harmony enact laws that make discrimination and hate a crime. Policies of facilitation, such as those which support bilingual education, make it easier for people to learn about one another and to interact within society. Finally, policies of parity attempt to give equal access to government such as through affirmative action or majority-minority congressional districts.

Multicultural policies are not without controversy. Some people argue that if assimilation does not occur, America will lose its national identity, and this will in turn lead to the 'balkanization,' or break up of America into smaller ethnic groups. These perspectives reflect the view that grants the organization of society into nations with a common culture as a necessary and important form of organization.

Viewpoints

Globalization: Threatening Cultural Identity or Creating Diversity?. Whether economic, political, and social globalization will lead to a more diverse or homogenized world society is a question very much in debate (Dubner, 2008; Muller, 2000). On the one hand, the increased speed of communication, availability of computer technology, and the Internet are making the world smaller. Entertainment and news media from any country can be easily accessed from anywhere in the world. Young people in almost every country can watch the same movies, listen to the same music, and play the same video games. This could lead to a global youth culture that shares similar tastes in fashion, style, and slang.

At the same time, transnational corporations are rapidly disseminating their products to every corner of the globe. McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Toyota are brands with global name recognition. The domination of world markets by a few transnational corporations could eliminate small, local competitors and change local behaviors (Muller, 2000). A globalized economic world calls for an international language so that everyone can participate in the marketplace. Currently, that language is English, and linguists debate whether more people learning English will lead to even more languages going extinct or whether more people will choose to learn multiple languages (Dubner, 2008; Wilford, 2007). A globalized economy creates workers who move easily across national borders and may lead to a citizenry that defines its rights and responsibilities by world standards instead of national ones (Kivisto, 2002). These potential impacts of globalization could reduce world diversity and lead to a society based on a one planet, one people mentality.

On the other hand, globalization could spur a greater awareness of cultural differences and create an environment that is more tolerant of individual variety. When individuals are isolated within their own cultures, there is a tendency to lean towards ethnocentrism, the perspective that places one's own culture at the center of one's knowledge. People with an ethnocentric perspective tend to believe that their perspective is the right perspective and that their values, beliefs and attitudes are the ones by which all other cultures should be measured (Zander, 2007). A multicultural world that encourages people to learn about others' differences could reduce ethnocentrism and invite greater tolerance of variety.

This has already occurred in the world of global marketing where businesses have discovered that respecting cultural differences is an important ingredient in marketing to an international audience. What works with one population will not necessarily appeal to another. For instance, advertisements featuring pigs may be acceptable to Christian Americans, but in a country with a large population of Muslims, such advertisements could be offensive (Fairclough, Fowler, Feng, Tang, & Juying, 2007). As a result, transnational businesses take steps to create products that appeal to cultural preferences and to market them appropriately. For example, the Islamic Bank of Britain was founded specifically to provide services to Islamic customers who must adhere to sharia (Islamic) law. This law prohibits individuals from receiving interest or from investing in certain kinds of companies (Williams & Sharma, 2005). If, as many global businesses have done, the world's people discover the value of respecting and preserving cultural differences, then globalization may provide a path for creating greater tolerance for diversity and perhaps even a more peaceful planet.

Conclusion

Multiculturalism is a term that encompasses a broad range of issues and theories related to cultural diversification. However, all of the issues raised, whether at the individual, national, or global level, share in common the idea that living in a multicultural world presents unique challenges. To understand, grapple with, and overcome these challenges, a multicultural perspective requires that individuals know themselves, be willing to explore and accept new ideas, and accept that the challenges of the world are part of what make it uniquely interesting.

Terms & Concepts

Assimilation: Refers to the processes that take place when two cultures come into contact as a result of migration and which result in the two cultures becoming more alike and eventually forging a new identity. The first assimilation theories purported that amalgamation or intermarriage was essential to this process.

Cosmopolitanism: A theory of social organization that recognizes the value of preserving diversity but also emphasizes individual choice in creating cultural identity.

Cultural Pluralism: Refers to a form of social organization that is built upon respecting and preserving cultural boundaries.

Globalization: Refers to economic, political and social activities that occur worldwide.

Ethnocentrism: A perspective that places one's own cultural at the center of one's knowledge, and sees that knowledge as superior to the perspectives of others.

Transnationalists: People who hold citizenship in one country but may live and work in another.

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Kwon, R., Mahutga, M. C., & Admire, A. (2017). Promoting patriarchy or dual equality? Multiculturalism and the immigrant household division of labor. Sociological Quarterly, 58(3), 373–404. Retrieved March 5, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Sociology Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sxi&AN=124435748&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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Suggested Reading

Carruthers, A. (2013). National Multiculturalism, Transnational Identities.Journal Of Intercultural Studies, 34, 214–228. doi:10.1080/07256868.2013.781984 Retrieved October 30, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=87554815&site=ehost-live

Kivisto, P. (2002). Multiculturalism in a global society. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Laden, S., & Owen, D. (2007). Multiculturalism and political theory. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Robinson, A. (2007). Multiculturalism and the foundations of meaningful life: Reconciling autonomy, identity, and community. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Zapata-Barrero, R. (2017). Interculturalism in the post-multicultural debate: A defence. Comparative Migration Studies, 5(1), 1–23. Retrieved March 5, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Sociology Source Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sxi&AN=125034254&site=ehost-live&scope=site