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Challenges of Migration
1. SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Social Inequality refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not
have equal Social Status, Social Class, and Social Circle. Areas of social inequality include
Voting Rights, Freedom of Speech and assembly, the extent of Property Rights and Access
to Education, Health Care, quality Housing, Traveling, Transportation, Vacationing and
other social goods and services. Apart from that it can also be seen in the quality of family
and neighborhood life, occupation, Job Satisfaction, and access to credit. If these economic
divisions harden, they can lead to social divisions.
Causes: The reasons for social inequality can vary, but are often broad and far
reaching. Social inequalities exist between races, classes and countries. The results of such
social inequalities can be seen around the globe in the history of all countries.
Social inequality is different from Economic Inequality, though the two are
linked. Social inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of economic assets and
income. While economic inequality is caused by the unequal accumulation of wealth, social
inequality exists because the lack of wealth in certain areas prohibits these people from
obtaining the same housing, health care, etc. as the wealthy, in societies where access to
these social goods depends on wealth.
Social inequality is linked to Racial Inequality, Gender Inequality, and Wealth
Inequality. The way people behave socially, through racism and other forms of
discrimination, tends to trickle down and affect the opportunities and wealthy individuals
can generate for themselves. Thomas M. Shapiro presents a hypothetical example of this in
his book, The Hidden Cost of Being African American, in which he tries to demonstrate the
level of inequality on the "playing field for blacks and whites". One example he presents
reports how a black family was denied a bank loan to use for housing, while a white family
was approved. As being a homeowner is an important method in acquiring wealth, this
situation created fewer opportunities for the black family to acquire wealth, producing
social inequality.
In many developing countries, the increase in NGO's has perpetuated social
inequality. The work of NGO's and their expatriate employees and volunteers has
"fragmented the local health system, undermined local control of health programs, and
contributed to the growing local social inequality." The work of the NGO's disrupts the local
health care system by taking control away from the local population. This in turn means
access to proper health care for the poor is inefficient, while those who have money can
pay for sufficient medical care. This increases the 'outcome gap' between the people,
thereby increasing social inequality. This inequality is the result of various NGO's putting
their interests and goals ahead of those of the people they are trying to help, along with
struggles between various NGO's working on the same issue.
Gender Inequality: One of the major forms of social inequality is in the form of
gender. The emphasis on gender inequality is borne out of the deepening division in the
role assigned to male and female in all spheres of human endeavor, particularly in the
economic, political and educational spheres. Women are less active compared to men in
political activities and decision making processes. Gender discrimination and women’s
development is a greatly discussed matter, even though awareness regarding this subject is
often ignored on the lower level. The gender and development approach through gender
analysis, seeks to understand the roles, responsibilities, resources and priorities of women
and men within a specific context, examining the social, economic and environmental
factors which influence their roles and decision-making capacity. The practice of malefemale differentiation results in structural deprivation of the female life.
It has been observed that world issues like HIV/AIDS, Illiteracy, and Poverty are
experienced more by women than men. Girls face problems to access good education,
which limits their opportunities to succeed. It is important to increase enrollment rates in
school for girls and ensure they have safe, stable and good quality education. Women’s
participation in work has been increasing globally. But women are faced with wage
discrepancies and differences compared to what men earn. This is true globally even in the
agricultural and rural sector in developed as well as developing countries. An important
concept related to this is the glass ceiling effect. It refers to the unseen, yet unreachable
barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate
ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements. This is still practiced by many
countries, lowering the chances of women to excel. It prevents women from succeeding and
making the maximum use of their potential, which is at a cost for women as well as the
society’s development. Ensuring they are entitled to women’s rights promotes a sense of
belonging that motivates women to contribute to the society. Once accessible to work,
women should be titled to job security, a safe environment and need to be protected
against gender based violence.
Racial Inequality is the result of hierarchical social distinctions between races of
people within a society, which are usually designated based on characteristics such as skin
color and other physical characteristics or an individual's place of origin or culture.
Unequal treatment and opportunities between racial groups is usually the result of some
races being considered superior to others. Stereotyping is when people form assumptions
about the tendencies and social characteristics of certain social groups, often including
ethnic groups. Content on television, newspapers and the internet has a large role in
promoting preconceived notions of race. This along with Xenophobia and other forms of
discrimination continue to occur in societies with the rise of globalization.
2. STEREOTYPES
A stereotype is a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or
certain ways of doing things, but that belief may or may not accurately reflect reality.
However, this is only a fundamental psychological definition of a stereotype. Within and
across different psychology disciplines, there are different concepts and theories of
stereotyping that provide their own expanded definition. Some of these definitions share
commonalities, though each one may also harbor unique aspects that may complement or
contradict the others.
Stereotypes, Prejudices and Discrimination are understood as related but
different concepts. Stereotypes are regarded as the most cognitive component, prejudice
as the affective and discrimination as the behavioral component of prejudicial reactions. In
this tripartite view of intergroup attitudes, stereotypes reflect expectations and beliefs
about the characteristics of members of groups perceived as different from one's own,
prejudice represents the emotional response, and discrimination refers to actions.
Although related, the three concepts can exist independently of each other.
According to Daniel Katz1 and Kenneth Braly, stereotyping leads to racial prejudice when
people emotionally react to the name of a group, ascribe characteristics to members of that
group, and then evaluate those characteristics. Possible prejudicial effects of stereotypes
are:
1. Justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance
2. Unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped group
3. Preventing some people of stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in
activities or fields
Social functions: Social categorization. When stereotypes are used for explaining
social events, for justifying activities of one’s own group to another group, or for
differentiating the ingroup as positively distinct from outgroups, the overarching purpose
of stereotyping is for people to put their collective self (their ingroup membership) in
positive light.
Stereotypes are an indicator of ingroup consensus. When there are intragroup
disagreements over stereotypes of the ingroup and/or outgroup, ingroup members will
take collective action to prevent other ingroup members from diverging from each other.
John C. Turner proposed in 1987 that if ingroup members disagree on an outgroup
stereotype, then one of three possible collective actions will follow: First, ingroup members
may negotiate with each other and conclude that they have different outgroup stereotypes
1
Daniel Katz (July 19, 1903, Trenton, New Jersey, – February 28, 1998) was a psychologist, born in Trenton, New Jersey, USA.
His academic career culminated at the University of Michigan (1947–74) though he was a professor at Princeton University's
Department of Psychology for a time. He produced classic studies of racial stereotyping and prejudice, and attitude change, and
his pursuit of the connections between individual psychology and social systems helped to found the field of organizational
psychology. An important methodological contribution was his open system theory, presented in The Social Psychology of
Organizations (1966, later revised), which was co-authored by Robert L. Kahn.
because they are stereotyping different subgroups of any outgroup (e.g., Russian gymnasts
versus Russian boxers). Second, ingroup members may negotiate with each other, but
conclude that they are disagreeing because of categorical differences amongst themselves.
Accordingly, in this context, it is better to categorize ingroup members under different
categories (e.g., Democrats versus Republican) than under a shared category (e.g.,
American). Finally, ingroup members may influence each other to arrive at a common
outgroup stereotype.
Stereotype threat occurs when people are aware of a negative stereotype about
their social group and experience anxiety or concern that they might confirm the
stereotype. Stereotype threat has been shown to undermine performance in a variety of
domains.
Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson conducted the first experiments showing that
stereotype threat can depress intellectual performance on standardized tests. In one study,
they found that black college students performed worse than white students on a verbal
test when the task was framed as a measure of intelligence. When it was not presented in
that manner, the performance gap narrowed. Subsequent experiments showed that
framing the test as diagnostic of intellectual ability made black students more aware of
negative stereotypes about their group, which in turn impaired their performance.
Stereotype threat effects have been demonstrated for an array of social groups in
many different arenas, including not only academics but also sports, chess and business.
Discrimination and Stereotypes: Because stereotypes simplify and justify social
reality, they have potentially powerful effects on how people perceive and treat one
another. As a result, stereotypes can lead to discrimination in labor markets and other
domains. For example, Tilcsik (2011) has found that employers who seek job applicants
with stereotypically male heterosexual traits are particularly likely to engage in
discrimination against gay men, suggesting that discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation is partly rooted in specific stereotypes and that these stereotypes loom large in
many labor markets. Agerström and Rooth (2011) showed that automatic obesity
stereotypes captured by the Implicit Association Test can predict real hiring discrimination
against the obese. Similarly, experiments suggest that gender stereotypes play an
important role in judgments that affect hiring decisions.
3. PREJUDICES
The word prejudice (or foredeem) is most often used to refer to preconceived,
usually unfavorable, judgments toward people or a person because of Gender, Social Class,
Age, Disability, Religion, Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, Language, Nationality or other personal
characteristics. It can also refer to unfounded beliefs and may include "any unreasonable
attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence." Gordon Allport defined prejudice
as a "feeling, favorable or unfavorable, toward a person or thing, prior to, or not based on,
actual experience."
Sexism: The term sexism is generally linked to negative female sentiments that
derive from the belief that females are worth less or less capable than males. The
discussion of such sentiments, and actual gender differences and stereotypes continue to
be controversial topics. Throughout history, women have been thought of as being
subordinate to men, often being ignored in areas like the academic arena or belittled
altogether. Traditionally, men were thought of as being more capable than women,
mentally and physically. In the field of Social Psychology, prejudice studies like the “Who
Likes Competent Women” study led the way for gender-based research on prejudice This
resulted in two broad themes or focuses in the field: the first being a focus on attitudes
toward Gender Equality, and the second focusing on people’s beliefs about men and women
Today studies based on sexism continue in the field of psychology as researchers try to
understand how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence and are influenced by
others.
Nationalism: Nationalism is a sentiment based on common cultural characteristics
that binds a population and often produces a policy of national independence or
separatism. It suggests a “shared identity” amongst a nation's people that minimizes
differences within the group and emphasizes perceived boundaries between the group and
non-members. This leads to the assumption that members of the nation have more in
common than they actually do, that they are “culturally unified,” even if injustices within
the nation based on differences like status and race exist. Nationalism, during times of
conflict between one nation and another, is controversial since it may function as a buffer
for criticism when it comes to the nation’s own problems since it makes the nation’s own
hierarchies and internal conflicts appear to be natural. It may also serve a way of rallying
the people of the nation in support of a particular political goal. Nationalism usually
involves a push for conformity, obedience, and solidarity amongst the nation’s people and
can result, not only in feelings of public responsibility, but also a narrow sense of
community due to the exclusion of those who are considered outsiders. Since the identity
of nationalists is linked to their allegiance to the state, the presence of strangers who do not
share this allegiance may result in hostility.
Classism is defined by the World English Dictionary as, “...a biased or
discriminatory attitude on distinctions made between social or economic classes.” The idea
of separating people based on class is controversial in itself. Some argue that economic
inequality is an unavoidable aspect of society, so there will always be a ruling class. Some
also argue that even within the most egalitarian societies in history, some form of ranking
based on social status takes place. Therefore, one may believe the existence of social classes
is a natural feature of society. Others argue the contrary. According to anthropological
evidence, for the majority of the time the human species has been in existence, we have
lived in a manner in which the land and resources were not privately owned. Also, when
social ranking did occur, it was not antagonistic or hostile like the current class system.
This evidence has been used to support the idea that the existence of a social class system
is unnecessary. Overall, society has yet to come to a consensus over the necessity of the
class system, nor has society been able to deal with the hostility and prejudice that occurs
because of the class system.
Sexual Discrimination: One’s sexual orientation is a “predilection for
homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.” Like most minority groups, homosexuals
and bisexuals are not immune to prejudice or stereotypes from the majority group. They
may experience hatred from others because of their sexual preferences; a term for such
intense hatred based upon one’s sexual orientation is homophobia. Due to what social
psychologists call the vividness effect, a tendency to notice only certain distinctive
characteristics, the majority population tends to draw conclusions like gays flaunt their
sexuality. Such images may be easily recalled to mind due to their vividness, making it
harder appraise the entire situation. The majority population may not only think that
homosexuals flaunt their sexuality or are “too gay,” but may also erroneously believe that
homosexuals are easy to identify and label as being gay or lesbian when compared to
others who are not homosexual. The idea of heterosexual privilege seems to flourish in
society. Research and questionnaires are formulated to fit the majority—heterosexuals.
This discussion of whether heterosexuals are the privileged group and whether
homosexuals are a minimized group is controversial. Research shows that discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation is a powerful feature of many labor markets. For example,
controlling for human capital, studies show that gay men earn 10% - 32% less than
heterosexual men in the United States, and that there is significant discrimination in hiring
on the basis of sexual orientation in many labor markets.
Racism is defined as “the belief that races exist, that physical characteristics
determine cultural traits, and that racial characteristics make some groups
superior.” By separating people into hierarchies based upon their race, it has been argued
that unequal treatment among the different groups of people is just and fair due to their
genetic differences. Racism can occur amongst any group that can be identified based
upon physical features or even characteristics of their culture. Though people may be
lumped together and called a specific race, everyone does not fit neatly into such
categories, making it hard to define and describe a race accurately.
Scientific racism began to flourish in the eighteenth century and was greatly
influenced by Charles Darwin’s evolutionary studies, as well as ideas taken from the
writings of philosophers like Aristotle; for example, Aristotle believed in the concept of
“natural slaves.” This concept focuses on the necessity of hierarchies and how some people
are bound to be on the bottom of the pyramid. Though racism has been a prominent topic
in history, there is still debate over whether race actually exists, making the discussion of
race a controversial topic. Even though the concept of race is still being debated, the effects
of racism are apparent. Racism and other forms of prejudice can affect a person’s behavior,
thoughts and feelings, and social psychologists strive to study exactly that.
Religious Discrimination: While various religions teach their members to be
tolerant of those who are different and to have compassion, throughout history there have
also been instances where religion has been used to promote hate. Researchers have done
various studies explore the relationship between religion and prejudice; thus far, they have
received mixed results. A study done with US college students found that those who
reported religion to be very influential in their lives seem to have a higher rate of prejudice
than those who reported not being religious. Other studies found that religion has a
positive effect on people as far as prejudice is concerned. This difference in results may be
attributed to the differences in religious practices or religious interpretations amongst the
individuals. Those who practice “institutionalized religion,” which focuses more on social
and political aspects of religious events, are more likely to have an increase in prejudice.
Those who practice “interiorized religion,” in which believers devote themselves to their
beliefs, are most likely to have a decrease in prejudice.
Linguistic discrimination Individuals or groups may be treated unfairly treatment based
solely on their use of language. This use of language may include the individual's native
language or other characteristics of the person's speech, such as an accent, the size of
vocabulary (whether the person uses complex and varied words), and syntax. It may also
involve a person's ability or inability to use one language instead of another. In the mid1980s, Linguist Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, captured this idea of discrimination based on
language as the concept of linguicism. Kangas defined linguicism as the ideologies and
structures used to, "...legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce unequal division of power and
resources (both material and non-material) between groups which are defined on the basis
of language."
4. ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of
one's own culture. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or
her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior,
customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve to define each
ethnicity's unique cultural identity. Ethnocentrism may be overt or subtle, and while it is
considered a natural proclivity of human psychology, it has developed a generally negative
connotation.
The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Summer, upon observing
the tendency for people to differentiate between the in-group and others. He defined
it as "the technical name for the view of things in which one's own group is the center of
everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it." He further
characterized it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one's own group's superiority,
and contempt of outsiders. Robert K. Merton comments that Sumner's additional
characterization robbed the concept of some analytical power because, Merton argues,
centrality and superiority are often correlated, but need to be kept analytically distinct.
Anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski argued that any
human science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist. Both urged
anthropologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their
ethnocentrism. Boas developed the principle of Cultural Relativism and Malinowski
developed the theory of functionalism as guides for producing non-ethnocentric studies of
different cultures. The books The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia, by
Bronislaw Malinoswski, Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict, and Coming of Age in
Samoa by Margaret Mead (two of Boas's students) are classic examples of antiethnocentric anthropology.
People born into a particular culture that grow up absorbing the values and
behaviors of the culture will develop a worldview that considers their culture to be
the norm. If people then experience other cultures that have different values and normal
behaviors, they will find that the thought patterns appropriate to their birth culture and the
meanings their birth culture attaches to behaviors are not appropriate for the new cultures.
However, since people are accustomed to their birth culture, it can be difficult for them to
see the behaviors of people from a different culture from the viewpoint of that culture
rather than from their own.
Examples of ethnocentrism include religiously patterned constructs claiming a
divine association like "Divine Nation", "One Nation under God", "God’s Own Country,"
"God’s Chosen People" and "God's Promised Land."
In Precarious Life, Judith Butler discusses recognizing the Other in order to sustain
the Self and the problems of not being able to identify the Other. Butler notes 'that
identification always relies upon a difference that it seeks to overcome, and that its aim is
accomplished only by reintroducing the difference it claims to have vanquished. The one
with whom I identify is not me, and that 'not being me' is the condition of the identification.
Otherwise, as Jacqueline Rose reminds us, 'identification collapses into identity, which
spells the death of identification itself.' However, Butler's understanding of Self and Other
is Eurocentric itself because she writes that one cannot recognize Self unless it is through
the Other. Therefore, Self and Other are limited through a language of binary codes.
Considering that language is essential to culture, individuals will know themselves through
the result of language plus culture. Dichotomous language is embedded in English and
similar languages; however, dichotomous language is not universal. Indeed, there are few
dichotomies in many Indigenous and non-European languages (Battiste and Henderson
76). It is by looking into the language of a culture that one will be able to see oneself in
relation to one's environment and one's place in the world.
5. ACCULTURATION
Acculturation explains the process of cultural and psychological change that results
following meeting between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple
levels in both interacting cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes
to culture, customs, and social institutions. Noticeable group level effects of acculturation
often include changes in food, clothing, and language. At the individual level, differences in
the way individuals acculturate have been shown to be associated not just with changes in
daily behavior, but with numerous measures of psychological and physical well-being.
As Enculturation is used to describe the process of first-culture learning,
acculturation can be thought of as second-culture learning. The concept of
acculturation has been studied scientifically since 1918. As it has been approached at
different times from the fields of Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology, numerous
theories and definitions have emerged to describe elements of the acculturative process.
Despite definitions and evidence that acculturation entails a two-way process of change,
research and theory have primarily focused on the adjustments and adaptations made by
minorities such as immigrants, refugees, and indigenous peoples in response to their
contact with the dominant majority. Contemporary research has primarily focused on
different strategies of acculturation and how variations in acculturation affect how well
individuals adapt to their society.
The earliest recorded thoughts towards acculturation can be found in Sumerian
inscriptions from 2370 B.C. These inscriptions laid out rules for commerce and interaction
with foreigners designed to limit acculturation and protect traditional cultural practices.
Plato also said that acculturation should be avoided as he thought it would lead to social
disorder. Accordingly, he proposed that no one should travel abroad until they are at least
40 years of age, and that travelers should be restricted to the ports of cities to minimize
contact with native citizens. Nevertheless, the history of Western civilization, and in
particular the histories of Europe and the United States, are largely defined by patterns of
acculturation.
J. W. Powell is credited with coining the word "acculturation" in 1880, defining
it as "the psychological changes induced by cross-cultural imitation." The first
psychological theory of acculturation was proposed in W. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's
1918 study, "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America." From studying Polish immigrants
in Chicago, they illustrated three forms of acculturation corresponding to three personality
types: Bohemian (adopting the host culture and abandoning their culture of origin),
Philistine (failing to adopt the host culture but preserving their culture of origin), and
Creative-Type (able to adapt to the host culture while preserving their culture of origin). In
1936, Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits provided the first widely used definition of
acculturation as "those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having
different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the
original cultural patterns of either or both groups…under this definition acculturation is to
be distinguished from…assimilation, which is at times a phase of acculturation. Since then
scholars in different disciplines have developed more than 100 different theories of
acculturation.
Although numerous models of acculturation exist, the most complete models take
into consideration the changes occurring at the group and individual levels of both
interacting groups. To understand acculturation at the group level, one must first look at
the nature of both cultures before coming into contact with one another. A useful approach
is Eric Kramer's theory of Dimensional Accrual and Dissociation.
6. ENCULTURATION
Enculturation is the process by which people learn the requirements of their
surrounding culture and acquire values and behaviors appropriate or necessary in
that culture. As part of this process, the influences that limit, direct, or shape the
individual (whether deliberately or not) include parents, other adults, and peers. If
successful, enculturation results in competence in the language, values and rituals of the
culture.
Enculturation is related to socialization. In some academic fields, socialization refers
to the deliberate shaping of the individual. In others, the word may cover both deliberate
and informal enculturation.
Conrad Phillip Kottak in Window on Humanity writes: Enculturation is the process
where the culture that is currently established teaches an individual the accepted norms
and values of the culture or society where the individual lives. The individual can become
an accepted member and fulfill the needed functions and roles of the group. Most
importantly the individual knows and establishes a context of boundaries and accepted
behavior that dictates what is acceptable and not acceptable within the framework of that
society. It teaches the individual their role within society as well as what is accepted
behavior within that society and lifestyle"
Enculturation can be conscious or unconscious; therefore can support both the
Marxist and the hegemonic arguments. There are three ways a person learns a culture.
Direct teaching of a culture is done; this is what happens when you don't pay attention,
mostly by the parents, when a person is told to do something because it is right and to not
do something because it is bad. For example, when children ask for something, they are
constantly asked "What do you say?" and the child is expected to remember to say "please."
The second conscious way a person learns a culture is to watch others around them and to
emulate their behavior. An example would be using different slang with different cliques in
school. Enculturation also happens unconsciously, through events and behaviors that
prevail in their culture. All three kinds of Enculturation happen simultaneously and all the
time.
Enculturation helps mold a person into an acceptable member of society. Culture
influences everything that a person does, whether they are aware of it or not. Enculturation
is a lifelong process that helps unify people. Even as a culture changes, core beliefs, values,
worldviews, and child-rearing practices stay the same. How many times has a parent said
"If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" when their child wanted to fit in with
the crowd? Both are playing roles in the enculturation. The child wants to be included in
the subculture of their peers, and the parent wants to instill individualism in the child,
through direct teaching. Not only does one become enculturated, but also makes someone
else enculturated.
Enculturation is sometimes referred to as Acculturation, a word recently used to
more distinctively refer only to exchanges of cultural features with foreign cultures. Note
that this is a recent development, as acculturation in some literatures has the same
meaning as enculturation.
7. RACISM
Racism is usually defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief
that humanity is divided into distinct biological groups called races and that
members of a certain race share certain attributes which make that group as a whole
less desirable, more desirable, inferior or superior.
The exact definition of racism is controversial both because there is little scholarly
agreement about the meaning of the concept "race", and because there is also little
agreement about what does and doesn't constitute discrimination. Critics argue that the
term is applied differentially, with a focus on such prejudices by whites and defining mere
observations of racial differences as racism. Some definitions would have it that any
assumption that a person's behavior would be influenced by their racial categorization is
racist, regardless of whether the action is intentionally harmful or pejorative. Other
definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination. Among the
questions about how to define racism are the question of whether to include forms of
discrimination that are unintentional, such as making assumptions about preferences or
abilities of others based on racial stereotypes, whether to include symbolic or
institutionalized forms of discrimination such as the circulation of ethnic stereotypes
through the media, and whether to include the socio-political dynamics of social
stratification that sometimes have a racial component. Some definitions of racism also
include discriminatory behaviors and beliefs based on cultural, national, ethnic, caste, or
religious stereotypes.
Racism and Racial Discrimination are often used to describe discrimination on an
ethnic or cultural basis, independent of whether these differences are described as racial.
According to the United Nations Convention, there is no distinction between the
terms Racial Discrimination and Ethnic Discrimination, and superiority based on racial
differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous,
and that there is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice,
anywhere.
In politics, Racism is commonly located on the far right due to the far right’s
common association with nativism, racism, and xenophobia. In history, racism has been a
major part of the political and ideological underpinning of genocides such as The
Holocaust, but also in colonial contexts such as the rubber booms in South America and the
Congo, and in the European conquest of the Americas and colonization of Africa, Asia and
Australia. It was also a driving force behind the transatlantic slave trade, and behind states
based on racial segregation such as the USA in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
and South Africa under the Apartheid. Practices and ideologies of racism are universally
condemned by the United Nations in the Declarations of Human Rights.
In the 19th century, many scientists subscribed to the simple belief that human
populations are divided into separate races. This was often used to justify the belief that
some races were inferior to others, and that differential treatment was consequently
justified. Such theories are generally termed Scientific Racism. When the practice of
treating certain groups preferentially, or denying rights or benefits to certain groups, based
on racial characteristics is institutionalized, it is termed “Institutional Racism.”
Nowadays, most biologists, anthropologists, and sociologists reject a simple
taxonomy of races in favor of more specific and/or empirically verifiable criteria, such as
geography, ethnicity, or a history of endogamy.
Those who subscribe to the proposition that there are inherent distinctions among
people that can be ascribed to membership in a racial group (and who may use this to
justify differential treatment of such groups) tend to describe themselves using the term
“racialism” rather than “racism”, to avoid the negative connotations of the latter word.
“Racialism” is assumed to be more value-neutral terminology, and more appropriate for
(scientifically) objective communication or analysis.
However, this distribution of meanings between the two terms used to be precisely
contrary at the time they were coined: The Oxford English Dictionary defined “racialism” as
“belief in the superiority of a particular race” and gives a 1907 quote as the first recorded
use. The shortened term “racism” did not appear in the English language until the 1930s. It
was first defined by the OED as “[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and
abilities are determined by race”, which gives 1936 as the first recorded use. Additionally,
the OED records racism as a synonym of racialism: "belief in the superiority of a particular
race". By the end of World War II, racism had acquired the same supremacist connotations
former associated with racialism: racism now implied racial discrimination, racial
supremacist and a harmful intent. (The term “race hatred” had also been used by
sociologist Frederick Hertz in the late 1920s.)
Modeled on the term “racism”, a large number of pejorative -ism terms have been
created to describe various types of prejudice: sexism, ageism, ableism, speciesism, etc.
Related concepts are anti-Semitism, chauvinism and homophobia (which in turn has led to
terms such as Islamophobia).
Racism involves the belief in racial differences, which acts as a justification for nonequal treatment (which some regard as "discrimination") of members of that race. The
term is commonly used negatively and is usually associated with race-based prejudice,
violence, dislike, discrimination, or oppression the term can also have varying and
contested definitions. Racialism is a related term, sometimes intended to avoid these
negative meanings.
As a word, Racism is an “-ism”, a belief that can be described by a word ending in the
suffix -ism, pertaining to race. As its etymology would suggest, its usage is relatively recent
and as such its definition is not entirely settled. The Oxford English Dictionary defines
racism as the “belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or
qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to
another race or races” and the expression of such prejudice, while the Merriam-Webster’s
Dictionary defines it as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and
capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority or inferiority of a
particular racial group, and alternatively that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief.
The Macquarie Dictionary defines racism as: "the belief that human races have distinctive
characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that
one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others."
Sociological Racism: Some sociologists have defined racism as a system of group
privilege. In Portraits of White Racism, David Wellman has defined racism as “culturally
sanctioned beliefs, which, regardless of intentions involved, defend the advantages whites
have because of the subordinated position of racial minorities.” Sociologists Noël A.
Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as “...a highly organized system of
'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a
sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. Sellers and Shelton (2003) found that a
relationship between racial discrimination and emotional distress was moderated by racial
ideology and public regard beliefs. That is, racial centrality appears to promote the degree
of discrimination African American young adults perceive whereas racial ideology may
buffer the detrimental emotional effects of that discrimination. Racist systems include, but
cannot be reduced to, racial bigotry.” Sociologist and former American Sociological
Association president Joe Feagin argues that the United States can be characterized as a
"total racist society."
Police harassment and brutality directed at black men, women, and children are as
old as American society, dating back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Such
police actions across the nation today reveal important aspects of . . . the commonplace
discriminatory practices of individual whites . . . [and] white dominated institutions that
allow or encourage such practices."
8. DISCRIMINATION
Discrimination is the prejudicial or distinguishing treatment of an individual
based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or category, such
as their race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. It
involves the group's initial reaction or interaction, influencing the individual's actual
behavior towards the group or the group leader, restricting members of one group from
opportunities or privileges that are available to another group, leading to the exclusion of
the individual or entities based on logical or irrational decision making.
Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices, and laws exist in many countries
and institutions in every part of the world, even in ones where discrimination is generally
looked down upon. In some places, controversial attempts such as quotas have been used
to redress negative effects of discrimination—but have sometimes been called reverse
discrimination themselves.
Moral philosophers have defined discrimination as disadvantageous treatment or
consideration. This is a comparative definition. An individual need not be actually harmed
in order to be discriminated against. He or she just needs to be treated worse than others
for some arbitrary reason. If someone decides to donate to help orphan children, but
decides to donate less, say, to black children out of a racist attitude, he or she will be acting
in a discriminatory way even the people he discriminates against are actually benefitted by
having some money donated to them.
Based on realistic-conflict theory and social-identity theory, Rubin and Hewstone
have highlighted a distinction among three types of discrimination:
1. Realistic Competition is driven by self-interest and is aimed at obtaining material
resources (e.g., food, territory, customers) for the in-group (e.g., favoring an in-group in
order to obtain more resources for its members, including the self).
2. Social Competition is driven by the need for self-esteem and is aimed at
achieving a positive social status for the in-group relative to comparable out-groups (e.g.,
favoring an in-group in order to make it better than an out-group).
3. Consensual Discrimination is driven by the need for accuracy and reflects stable
and legitimate intergroup status hierarchies (e.g., favoring a high-status in-group because it
is high status).
The United Nations stance on discrimination includes the statement:
"Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or
rejection." International bodies United Nations Human Rights Council work towards
helping ending discrimination around the world.
Discrimination on the Basis of Nationality: Discrimination on the basis of
nationality is usually included in employment laws. It is sometimes referred to as bound
together with racial discrimination although it can be separate. It may vary from laws that
stop refusals of hiring based on nationality, asking questions regarding origin, to
prohibitions of firing, forced retirement, compensation and pay, etc., based on nationality.
Discrimination on the basis of nationality may show as a "level of acceptance" in a
sport or work team regarding new team members and employees who differ from the
nationality of the majority of team members. Racial Discrimination differentiates
individuals on the basis of real and perceived racial differences and has been official
government policy in several countries, such as Papua New Guinea in the Apartheid Era.
In the United States, Racial Profiling of minorities by law-enforcement officials has
been called racial discrimination. As early as 1866, the Civil Rights Act provided a remedy
for intentional race discrimination in employment by private employers and state and local
public employers.
The Civil Rights Act of 1871 applies to public employment or employment involving
state action prohibiting deprivation of rights secured by the federal constitution or federal
laws through action under color of law. Title VII is the principal federal statute with regard
to employment discrimination prohibiting unlawful employment discrimination by public
and private employers, labor organizations, training programs and employment agencies
based on race or color, religion, gender, and national origin.
Title VII also prohibits retaliation against any person for opposing any practice
forbidden by statute, or for making a charge, testifying, assisting, or participating in a
proceeding under the statute. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 expanded the damages available
in Title VII cases and granted Title VII plaintiffs the right to a jury trial. Title VII also
provides that race and color discrimination against every race and color is prohibited.
Within the Criminal Justice System in the United States, minorities are convicted and
imprisoned disproportionately when compared to the majority. In 1998, nearly one out of
three black men between the ages of 20-29 was in prison or jail, on probation or parole on
any given day in the United States. Native Americans make up about 2% of Canada's
population, but account for 18% of the federal prison population as of 2000. According to
the Australian government's June 2006 publication of prison statistics, Aborigines make up
24% of the overall prison population in Australia.
In 2004, Māori made up just 15% of the total population of New Zealand but 49.5%
of prisoners. Māori were entering prison at 8 times the rate of non-Māori. A quarter of the
people in England's prisons are from an ethnic minority. The Equality and Human Rights
Commission found that five times more black people than white people per head of
population in England and Wales are imprisoned. Experts and politicians said overrepresentation of black men was a result of decades of racial prejudice in the criminal
justice system.
Religious Discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because
of what they do or do not believe or because of their feelings towards a given religion. For
instance, the indigenous Christian population of Balkans (known as "Rayah" or "Protected
flock") lived under the Ottoman Kanun–i–Rayah. The word is sometimes translated as
'cattle' rather than 'flock' or 'subjects' to emphasize the inferior status of the Rayah.
Restrictions upon Jewish occupations were imposed by Christian authorities. Local
rulers and church officials closed many professions to Jews, pushing them into marginal
roles considered socially inferior, such as tax and rent collecting and moneylending,
occupations only tolerated as a "necessary evil." The number of Jews permitted to reside in
different places was limited; they were concentrated in Ghettos and were not allowed to
own land.
In a 1979 consultation on the issue, the United States commission on civil rights
defined religious discrimination in relation to the civil rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth
Amendment of the United States Constitution. Whereas religious civil liberties, such as the
right to hold or not to hold a religious belief, are essential for Freedom of Religion (in the
United States secured by the First Amendment), religious discrimination occurs when
someone is denied " the equal protection of the laws, equality of status under the law, equal
treatment in the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity and access to
employment, education, housing, public services and facilities, and public accommodation
because of their exercise of their right to religious freedom."
Reverse Discrimination: Students protesting against racial quotas in Brazil: "Quer
uma vaga? Passe no vestibular!" ("Do you want a university place? Be successful in the
entrance exam!") Some attempts at antidiscrimination have been criticized as reverse
discrimination. In particular, minority quotas (for example, affirmative action) discriminate
against members of a dominant or majority group. In its opposition to race preferences, the
American Civil Rights Institute's Ward Connerly stated, "There is nothing positive,
affirmative, or equal about 'affirmative action' programs that give preference to some
groups based on race." There are cases, however, such as the Noack v. YMCA case in U.S.
Fifth Circuit Court, which include outright anti-male gender bias in a traditionally female
work environment like childcare. That former employee claims to have suffered even
physical assaults, and was allegedly also told to not hire too many blacks or men.
9. XENOPHOBIA
Xenophobia is a dislike or fear of people from other countries or of that which
is perceived to be foreign or strange. Some definitions suggest xenophobia as arising
from irrationality or unreason. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning
"stranger," "foreigner," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear."
Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and
perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity,
suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a
presumed purity. Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an "uncritical exaltation
of another culture" in which a culture is ascribed "an unreal, stereotyped and exotic
quality." Vienna Declaration and Program of Action urges all governments to take
immediate measures and to develop strong policies to prevent and combat all forms and
manifestations of racism, xenophobia or related intolerance, where necessary by
enactment of appropriate legislation including penal measure.
Dictionary Definitions of Xenophobia include: deep-rooted, irrational hatred
towards foreigners (Oxford English Dictionary; OED), unreasonable fear or hatred of the
unfamiliar (Webster's). A Xenophobic Person has to genuinely think or believe at some
level that the target is in fact a foreigner. This arguably separates xenophobia from
ordinary Prejudice. In various contexts, the terms "xenophobia" and "Racism" seem to be
used interchangeably, though they can have wholly different meanings (xenophobia can be
based on various aspects, racism being based solely on ethnicity, and ancestry).
Xenophobia can also be directed simply to anyone outside a culture. Basically, it is a
completely biased opinion regarding foreign matters.
The first is a population group present within a society that is not considered part of
that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a
group which has been present for centuries, or became part of this society through
conquest and territorial expansion. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile
and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, ethnic cleansing (pogroms) or
in other cases, genocide.
The second form of xenophobia is primarily cultural, and the objects of the phobia
are cultural elements which are considered alien. All cultures are subject to external
influences, but cultural xenophobia is often narrowly directed, for instance, at foreign loan
words in a national language. It rarely leads to aggression against individual persons, but
can result in political campaigns for cultural or linguistic purification. In addition, entire
xenophobic societies tend not to be open to interactions from anything "outside"
themselves, resulting in isolationism that can further increase xenophobia.
10. GLOBALIZATION
Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the
interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture. Put in
simple terms, globalization refers to processes that promote world-wide exchanges
of national and cultural resources. Advances in transportation and telecommunications
infrastructure, including the rise of the Internet, are major factors in globalization,
generating further interdependence of economic and cultural activities.
Though several scholars place the origins of globalization in modern times, others
trace its history long before the European Age of Discovery and voyages to the New World.
Some even trace the origins to the third millennium BCE. Since the beginning of the 20th
century, the pace of globalization has proceeded at an exponential rate.
In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of
globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and
movement of people and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental
challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and overfishing of the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are
affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources, and the
natural environment.
Humans have interacted over long distances for thousands of years. The overland
Silk Road that connected Asia, Africa and Europe is a good example of the transformative
power of international exchange that existed in the "Old World." Philosophy, Religion,
Language, the Arts, and other aspects of culture spread and mixed as nations exchanged
products and ideas. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans made important discoveries
in their exploration of the oceans, including the start of transatlantic travel to the "New
World" of the Americas. Global movement of people, goods, and ideas expanded
significantly in the following centuries. Early in the 19th century, the development of new
forms of transportation (such as the steamship and railroads) and telecommunications that
"compressed" time and space allowed for increasingly rapid rates of global interchange. In
the 20th century, road vehicles and airlines made transportation even faster, and the
advent of electronic communications, most notably mobile phones and the Internet,
connected billions of people in new ways leading into the 21st century.
The term globalization is derived from the word globalize, which refers to the
emergence of an international network of social and economic systems. One of the earliest
known usages of the term as the noun was in 1930 in a publication entitled Towards New
Education where it denoted a holistic view of human experience in education. A related
term, corporate giants, was coined by Charles Taze Russell in 1897 to refer to the largely
national trusts and other large enterprises of the time. By the 1960s, both terms began to
be used as synonyms by economists and other social scientists. It then reached the
mainstream press in the second half of the 1980s. Since its inception, the concept of
globalization has inspired competing definitions and interpretations, with antecedents
dating back to the great movements of trade and empire across Asia and the Indian Ocean
from the 15th century onwards. Due to the complexity of the concept, research projects,
articles, and discussions often remain focused on a single aspect of globalization.
Roland Robertson, professor of sociology at University of Aberdeen, was the
first person to define globalization as "the compression of the world and the
intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole." Sociologists Martin
Albrow and Elizabeth King define globalization as: …all those processes by which the
peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society. In The Consequences of
Modernity, Anthony Giddens uses the following definition: Globalization can thus be
defined as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in
such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice
versa.
In Global Transformations David Held, study the definition of globalization:
Although in its simplistic sense globalization refers to the widening, deepening and
speeding up of global interconnection, such a definition begs further elaboration.
Globalization can be located on a continuum with the local, national and regional. At one
end of the continuum lie social and economic relations and networks which are organized
on a local and/or national basis; at the other end lie social and economic relations and
networks which crystallize on the wider scale of regional and global interactions.
Globalization can be taken to refer to those spatial-temporal processes of change which
underpin a transformation in the organization of human affairs by linking together and
expanding human activity across regions and continents. Without reference to such
expansive spatial connections, there can be no clear or coherent formulation of this term. …
A satisfactory definition of globalization must capture each of these elements: extensity
(stretching), intensity, velocity and impact.
Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson, in his book The Race to the Top: The Real
Story of Globalization, states that globalization: is the process of world shrinkage, of
distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to the increasing ease with
which somebody on one side of the world can interact, to mutual benefit, with somebody
on the other side of the world.
The journalist Thomas L. Friedman popularized the term “Flat World” arguing that
globalized trade, outsourcing, supply-chaining, and political forces had permanently
changed the world, for better and worse. He asserted that the pace of globalization was
quickening and that its impact on business organization and practice would continue to
grow.
Economist Takis Fotopoulos defined "Economic Globalization" as the opening and
deregulation of commodity, capital and labor markets that led toward present neoliberal
globalization. He used "political globalization" to refer to the emergence of a transnational
elite and a phasing out of the nation-state. “Cultural Globalization” he used to reference the
worldwide homogenization of culture. Other of his usages included "ideological
globalization,” "technological globalization" and "social globalization."
In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of
globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and
movement of people and the dissemination of knowledge. With regards to trade and
transactions, developing countries increased their share of world trade, from 19 percent in
1971 to 29 percent in 1999. However, there is great variation among the major regions. For
instance, the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs) of Asia prospered, while African
countries as a whole performed poorly. The makeup of a country's exports is an important
indicator for success. Manufactured goods exports soared, dominated by developed
countries and NIEs. Commodity exports, such as food and raw materials were often
produced by developing countries: commodities' share of total exports declined over the
period. Following from this, capital and investment movements can be highlighted as
another basic aspect of globalization.
Private capital flows to developing countries soared during the 1990s, replacing
"aid" or development assistance which fell significantly after the early 1980s. Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) became the most important category. Both portfolio investment
and bank credit rose but they have been more volatile, falling sharply in the wake of the
financial crisis of the late 1990s. The migration and movement of people can also be
highlighted as a prominent feature of the globalization process. In the period between
1965–1990, the proportion of the labor forces migrating approximately doubled. Most
migration occurred between developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The flow of migrants to advanced economic countries was claimed to provide a means
through which global wages converge. The IMF study noted the potential for skills to be
transferred back to developing countries as wages in those a countries rise. Lastly, the
dissemination of knowledge has been an integral aspect of globalization. Technological
innovations (or technological transfer) benefit most the developing and Least Developing
countries (LDCs), as for example in the adoption of mobile phones.
Economic globalization is the increasing economic interdependence of national
economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods,
service, technology and capital. Whereas the globalization of business is centered around
the diminution of international trade regulations as well as tariffs, taxes, and other
impediments that suppresses global trade, economic globalization is the process of
increasing economic integration between countries, leading to the emergence of a global
marketplace or a single world market. Depending on the paradigm, economic globalization
can be viewed as either a positive or a negative phenomenon.
Economic globalization comprises the globalization of production, markets,
competition, technology, and corporations and industries. Current globalization trends can
be largely accounted for by developed countries integrating with less developed
economies, by means of foreign direct investment, the reduction of trade barriers as well as
other economic reforms and, in many cases, immigration.
As an example, Chinese Economic Reform began to open China to the globalization
in the 1980s. Scholars find that China has attained a degree of openness that is
unprecedented among large and populous nations," with competition from foreign goods in
almost every sector of the economy. Foreign investment helped to greatly increase quality,
knowledge and standards, especially in heavy industry. China's experience supports the
assertion that globalization greatly increases wealth for poor countries. As of 2005–2007,
the Port of Shanghai holds the title as the World’s Busiest Port.
Economic Liberalization in India is the ongoing economic reforms in India that
started in 1991. As of 2009, about 300 million people—equivalent to the entire population
of the United States—have escaped extreme poverty. In India, business process
outsourcing has been described as the "primary engine of the country's development over
the next few decades, contributing broadly to GDP growth, employment growth, and
poverty alleviation."
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism
Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their
usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other
purposes." There are many forms of tourism such as agricultural tourism, birth tourism,
culinary tourism, cultural tourism, eco-tourism, extreme tourism, geological tourism,
heritage tourism, LGBT tourism, medical tourism, nautical tourism, pop-culture tourism,
religious tourism, slum tourism, war tourism, and wildlife tourism.
Globalization has made tourism a popular Global Leisure Activity. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 500,000 people are in flight at any one time. In
2010, international tourism reached $919B, growing 6.5% over 2009. In 2010, there were
over 940 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, representing a growth of 6.6%
when compared to 2009. International tourism receipts grew to US$919 billion (€693
billion) in 2010, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7%.
As a result of the late 2000’s recession, international travel demand suffered a
strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009. After a 5%
increase in the first half of 2008, growth in international tourist arrivals moved into
negative territory in the second half of 2008, and ended up only 2% for the year, compared
to a 7% increase in 2007. This negative trend intensified during 2009, exacerbated in some
countries due to the outbreak of the H1N1 Influenza Virus, resulting in a worldwide decline
of 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million international tourists’ arrivals, and a 5.7% decline in
international tourism receipts.
Cultural Globalization has increased cross-cultural contacts but may be
accompanied by a decrease in the uniqueness of once-isolated communities: sushi is
available in Germany as well as Japan, but Euro-Disney outdraws the city of Paris,
potentially reducing demand for "authentic" French pastry. Globalization's contribution to
the alienation of individuals from their traditions may be modest compared to the impact
of modernity itself, as alleged by existentialists such as Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.
Globalization has expanded recreational opportunities by spreading pop culture,
particularly via the Internet and satellite television.
Religious movements were among the earliest cultural forces to globalize, spread by
force, migration, Evangelists, imperialists and traders. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and
more recently sects such as Mormonism have taken root and influenced endemic cultures
in places far from their origins.
Converse claimed in 2010 that globalization was predominantly driven by the
outward flow of culture and economic activity from the United States and was better
understood as Americanization, or Westernization. For example, the two most successful
global food/beverage outlets are American companies, McDonald’s and Starbucks, are
often cited as examples of globalization, with over 32,000 and 18,000 locations operating
worldwide, respectively as of 2008.
The term globalization implies transformation. Cultural practices including
traditional music can be lost and/or turned into a fusion of traditions. Globalization can
trigger a state of emergency for the preservation of musical heritage. Archivists must
attempt to collect, record or transcribe repertoire before melodies are assimilated or
modified. Local musicians struggle for authenticity and to preserve local musical traditions.
Globalization can lead performers to discard traditional instruments. Fusion genres can
become interesting fields of analysis.
12. INTERCULTURALISM
Interculturalism is the philosophy that appreciates qualities of all cultures within
the framework of universal human rights. It favors exchanges between cultural groups
within a society, as used by nationalists of the Canadian Province of Quebec. It is presented
as an alternative to the Canadian federal policies of multiculturalism.
Various states have intercultural policies which seek to encourage the socialization
of citizens of different origins. These policies are often ostensibly used as an instrument to
fight racism. Interculturalism requires an inherent openness to be exposed to the culture of
the "other". Once a person is exposed to an element of a different culture, a dialogue will
ensue, where everyone embarks upon understanding the culture of the other, and usually
this involves comparisons. Thus, Interculturalism breeds dialogue, in order to be able to
look for commonalities between that element of one's culture and the culture of the other.
Interculturalism seeks to enhance fusion by looking for commonalities. Hence,
various cultures merge. The differences that remain make up the subcultures of the world.
Within a country, a distinction may be drawn between Interculturalism and
Multiculturalism. Interculturalism is a political ideology that does not place a priority for
all cultures to be on the same level as a basis to organize a given society. Its main objective
is rather to develop a common civic culture based on the values of freedom and liberty, and
of human rights, as derived from Western Civilization, while encouraging interaction
between the communities living in the same country. As such, Interculturalism requires
democracy and full respect for universal human rights.
Interculturalism promotes individual rights for everyone, with no discrimination.
This means, in particular, that people have the right to maintain an affiliation with one's
ethnic group and the right for cultural and religious differences to be tolerated in the public
domain. However, Interculturalism claims that the entire society must adhere to the same
constitution of fundamental rights and obligations, with no exception. It does not accept
that cultural differences are used as an excuse to reduce the rights of certain groups. This
approach leads to an ethics of maximum tolerance for an individual's choices and of
minimum tolerance for totalitarian and theocratic systems of ideas that could undermine
the very foundations of a democratic society. Some pretend that Interculturalism is some
kind of multiculturalism but with arguments that are not available to enter this definition.
The insistence on a 'common civic culture' necessarily means a limited degree of
assimilation, leading to the possible interpretation of Interculturalism as being an
Orwellian term. This is to say, it is no different than assimilation while allowing minorities
to be distinct privately, and that the word itself was invented by the nationalist political
actors to distract from this. Most nations have 'Little Italies' or 'Chinatowns' that are of
course bound to oblige certain principal high ideals and characteristics of the host nation. It
is clearly in countries where the dominant culture is perceived as the guarantor of
minorities that loyalty is increased, rather than in European nation-states where ghetto
dwellers do not integrate. Australia, Canada, the United States and to a significant degree
the United Kingdom are far less harmed by that reality.
Multiculturalism on the other hand is said by proponents of Interculturation, to be
an ideology that postulates that all cultures and civilizations are of equal value and should
be treated and promoted equally within the same nation. This means that the individual
rights of citizens can be different, depending of their culture of origin. As an example,
judges in countries as Germany and Canada have ruled on cases referring to the legal rules
in other cultures, even when this reduces the actual rights of the ciitizens as provided
under German or Canadian law.
Multiculturalism is much less strict on the implicit requirement of full respect for
human rights, particularly in nations like Canada where such expectations are already
enforced through acts like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982. Some actual examples
of multiculturalism are the acceptance different rights for men and women, often squarely
incompatible with the principles of the universal human rights.
Multiculturalism is often confused with Political Pluralism, and with ethnic and
linguistic diversity, or with Interculturalism. Germany, for example, has expelled migrants
when their labor was no longer needed, rather explicitly categorizing their relation to
Germany as one of convenience. The 'ghettos' associated with multiculturalism are
considered by proponents of the Canadian Federal Policies to be actually preventing the
appearance of unilingual ghettos.