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Culture and Diversity If globalization is a fact of life, so human diversity is. The management of national, cultural and religious variety is a high priority for the national policymakers in the twenty-first century. Because more and more people are brought together; willingly and unwillingly, by the integration of markets in the wake of globalization and the continual advances in telecommunications and transportation, many persons encountered confusion and conflict in adopting to a multicultural experience that for them is new. Whether people are enriched or disoriented by their contacts with the "multiculturalism of globalization" depends to a considerable extent on how their fears are addressed, what is done to make them feel less vulnerable to forces over which they have little or no control. Worldwide social changes are inspiring psychologists, demographers, sociologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists to reconsider issues of cultural diversity both within and across national boundaries. Of course, there is a precedent for the social scientists to consider as valid what appear to be incompatible models of the same phenomena.
Globalization has led to an increased awareness of the differences and similarities both within and across cultures and a search for the new models of culture. In the physical sciences, compelling empirical evidence supports validity of viewing electrons as both particles and waves. Similarly, social scientists in the multicultural nations increasingly view culture as both stable and dynamic, shared by various groups and disputed within and across borders, and operating within multiple levels of analysis. The tendency of diversity to be expressed as group self-identification and difference, often labeled "multiculturalism, " is welcomed by many who perceive that the more homogeneous American culture of previous eras imposed itself on minority groups in ways that not only were unjust but that also erased the cultural enrichment of the whole society. From this perspective, some kind of politically self-conscious development of groups defined by separate identities would be necessary to prevent the conformist requirements of "coercive pluralism " in Lawrence Fuchs's apt phrase imposed on blacks, Latinos, and immigrants as the price for participation in the wider society. Historian David Hollinger, who agrees with the multiculturalism claims that racial and ethnic minorities have been subordinated and muscled into conformity with the norms of the dominant classes, nevertheless worries that the affirmation of separate subcultures actually undermines the social justice it seeks to promote.
In Postethnic America he argues that the self-identification as separate groups common in the 1990 s will ultimately contribute to further marginalization and loss of status of their members. There are many conflicting perspectives on multiculturalism. Minority groups's elf-assertion in terms of their group identity will be viewed positively by some and negatively by others as fragmenting a presumably common, American culture. Religious organizations of all faiths produce and reproduce cultural forms that both incorporate and influence the ethnic and racial identities of their people.
This process defines and enforces both geographical and symbolic boundaries that distinguish the insider from the outsider, ethnically and racially as well as religiously. At the same time, these religious cultures express values and attitudes about the people, communities, and society beyond their boundaries. Today, teachers are faced with a growing number of diverse students in the classroom, each with their own ethnic and cultural background that influences the way each student learns. By the year 2015, the Anglo population will be in the minority in this country. Research statistics concur this fact therefore; teacher candidate preparation must be aligned with this knowledge.
By definition, multicultural education is education that values cultural pluralism. It rejects the view that schools should seek to melt away cultural differences or the view that schools should merely tolerate cultural pluralism. It affirms that cultural diversity is a valuable resource that should be preserved and extended. It also should be established that people everywhere have the same needs although they may meet them in different ways. An awareness of a variety of cultures in the classroom can help children appreciate similarities and differences among cultures. By exposing students to various cultures, we help them to learn about other people and their ways of life.
This awareness in turn may alter negative stereotypic thinking, reduce intolerance, and promote cooperation. These kinds of materials and teaching strategies can result in students choosing more friends from outside racial, ethic, and cultural groups. The emphasis is that we are alike in some ways, and we are different in other ways- but we are all special and unique. Culture doesnt deal just with the world around you now, but with the past, present, and future. Each day people do things a certain way because of the what they were taught by their family, but they continue to adapt to the changes of our ever growing world in order to be able to teach the latest cultural customs and traditions to their relatives in the future. Culture is a way of life, but to each individual it is different depending on the root of their ancestry, where they live at the present time, and what values and traditions they plan on passing down to future generations.
Bibliography: 1. "Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Neighborhoods, " Cityscape: A Journal of Policy and Research 4, no. 2 (1998): 23 - 24 and 131 - 60. 2. David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism (New York: Basic Books, 1995). 3. Nathan Glazer, We Are All Multiculturalists Now (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1997). 4. Fried, J. "Bridging Emotion and Intellect: Classroom Diversity in Progress. " College Teaching, 41, no. 4 (Fall 1993): 123 - 128.
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Research essay sample on Cultural Pluralism Cultural Diversity
