Cultural Diversity and Globalization
Racial and cultural diversity means that there are, according to Professor So, different ways of life, languages, political values and religions existing in a society. (Professor So, HKUST lecture, 1 November 2012) To determine whether cultural and diversity is essential to the advancement of a globalized society, which is a society that trades, exchanges, or is interconnected with other societies around the globe, the effects of diversity on the economic development and the living standard of the people should be considered. Because of variations such as traditions, ways of life, systems, values, etc. in a society, the effect that the diversity can bring to a society also varies. As there are more grounds indicating adverse effects of the diversity on a society, it is regarded as not essential to the advancement of a society to a greater extent.
To start with, let’s consider the case of the United Kingdom. On 5 February 2011, New York Times reported that Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said the country’s decades-old policy of “multiculturalism” has failed in Britain. It has contrarily encouraged “segregated communities” which fosters extremist ideology and directly contributes to homegrown Islamic terrorism. This demonstrates that multiculturalism and multiracialism does not work for every society and may possibly create divided groups that will, in serious cases, cause social instability. Even if there are successful historical examples like the great and idealistic Melting Pot in the United States, there are still societies and places where the policy of multiculturalism is not applicable. There are actually societies where the diversity brings about the separation of people into groups of different cultures and races, as they share no common beliefs or values, leading to instability in a society eventually. “We have failed to provide a vision of society to which the people feel they want to belong”, said the Prime Minister. This implies instead of
To start with, let’s consider the case of the United Kingdom. On 5 February 2011, New York Times reported that Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said the country’s decades-old policy of “multiculturalism” has failed in Britain. It has contrarily encouraged “segregated communities” which fosters extremist ideology and directly contributes to homegrown Islamic terrorism. This demonstrates that multiculturalism and multiracialism does not work for every society and may possibly create divided groups that will, in serious cases, cause social instability. Even if there are successful historical examples like the great and idealistic Melting Pot in the United States, there are still societies and places where the policy of multiculturalism is not applicable. There are actually societies where the diversity brings about the separation of people into groups of different cultures and races, as they share no common beliefs or values, leading to instability in a society eventually. “We have failed to provide a vision of society to which the people feel they want to belong”, said the Prime Minister. This implies instead of