Preview

The Multicultural Society

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1281 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Multicultural Society
The Multicultural Society
Today we have multicultural societies all over the world. Some say multiculturalism is a failure, while others think the opposite. Is multiculturalism really a failure? What are the positive aspects and what are the negative aspects of a multicultural society?
The UK is a classical example of how a multicultural society is formed. In the UK, diverse groups of immigrants have disembarked over the last 200 years. Jewish people escaped from Russian and Polish pursuit, Irish settlers attempted to flee from poverty and 500 Jamaicans were brought to the UK in 1948. In the 1950s and 1960s, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants came to the UK. When people from different cultures live together, they form a multicultural society, and as the immigration to the UK continued to develop, the UK became culturally diverse.
The UK becoming culturally diverse has both its benefits and its detriments. First of all, what is common for most multicultural societies is mutual misunderstanding, which is often caused by mutual ethnocentrism. This could also be entitled culture clash, which is a condition in which people from dissimilar cultures have fairly incorrect expectations of one another, and therefore they misconstrue the significance of the message that is being exchanged. The short story A Horse and Two Goats by R.K. Narayan is a good example of how mutual ethnocentrism causes mutual misunderstanding. In the short story we meet an old Indian man and an American man who attempt to communicate thinking they comprehend each other, but they end up having incorrect interpretations of each other’s messages.
In a multicultural society some people often stick to their own ethnic group. They do not interact with other groups. This behavior constructs the contrary of a united society. A lot of immigrants find it hard to integrate to the new society. This could be one of the reasons why immigrants choose to live where their own ethnic group has its

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    An ethnic group is a social category who shares a common culture, such as common language, a common religion, or common norms, customs, practices and history. Britain is described as a multicultural (existence of two or more distinctive ethnic groups within one society) country due to the integration of a mass of ethnic minority groups. Johal’s (1998) findings show that second and third generation British-Asians have a dual identity. He found that Asian youth was adopting a “white mask” in order to socialise with their white peers at school or college, but stressing their cultural difference when they feel it is necessary. He stated that many British-Asians adopt a hybrid identity and chose aspects of British, Asian and global culture to build their identity. This is a factor that shapes their social identity because they change language, dress, fashion, music and food to ‘fit in’ at school where they may have white peers, but then when they are with their family they have to change back as their family may not be modern. So basically, they are living two lives, where they have multiple identities, which is made up of their ethnicity, where they have lived and their Britishness. This is assimilation, which is the process by which ethnic minorities adopt the mainstream culture. It is also stated by Roger Ballard (1994) that young Asians manage to navigate between them with relative ease, they simply switch codes, in their parent’s home they fit into Asian cultural expectations, but outside of their home they will try to blend into the mainstream. This is known as cultural navigation. The younger generations of the ethnic minority groups may try to mix in more with the mainstream as they have to make friends as they educate, the younger generation like to socialise through being like the mainstream, whereas older generations are used to their birthplace and therefore may try very little to mix in with the mainstream.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    TMA3

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Looking at the composition of the ethnic population of England and Wales in 2011 one can see several patterns. The greatest percentage of ‘White’s’ reside in Wales (95.6%) compared to the smallest percentage of ‘White’s’ residing in London (59.8%). One cause could be employment seeking related, as immigrants may not venture to rural areas of the UK such as Wales. Also, Wales may maintain allot of the white local population and it may not be common for residents to leave their town of origin. London also has the highest percentage of Asian/Asian British (18.5%). This may be due to the high acceptance of the Asian community with access to Asian grocers,…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    From Above discussed different ethnic groups, we have learned about Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism teaches us about diversity and differences of cultures and societies and helping us to integrate diverse cultures into the larger society. In multiculturalism, all cultures are respected. Generally multiculturalism is formed when people from many different countries migrate to one place for example United States. Therefore we can say the multiculturalism is the explanation of how different cultural groups construct a diversified society or group identity like United States. We can understand the construction of group identity from above mentioned different ethnic group’s descriptions. The most important advantage of multicultural society is that the labor force are available in diverse. These diversified labor force contribute in country’s…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Diversity Worksheet

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    People who emigrate to a new country often find themselves a minority in that new country. Emigration describes leaving a country to settle in another; Immigration denotes coming into a new country as a permanent resident. For example, from Vietnam’s perpectives the boat people were immigrants from Vietnam to United States, but in the United States they were counted among this nation’s immigrants. (Chapter 1. of Racial and Ethnic Groups)…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    P3

    • 1861 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “According to the 2001 census 8% of the UK’s population is of an ethnic minority. It represented an increase by approximately 50% in the decade 1991-2001. The majority of the ethnic minority were Indians, Pakistanis and mixed ethnic backgrounds. (1)”…

    • 1861 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethnicity is can be viewed as the most important source of identity in the UK because of many factors and views. In a Marxist view there are only two classes and ethnic minorities that are part of the working class which is divided by racism and therefore enhances the control of the ruling class which means that a more dominant race can have full control over the minorities and gives them the identity of the equivalent of a slave or a minor. Castles and Rosack (73) found that ethnic minorities tend to do the worst paid jobs and form part of the reserve army for labour who are not required in times of recession and can therefore be easily dropped from the workforce if the society around them will benefit from it. In a Functionalist view immigration is a temporary threat with will be overcome through integration and the acceptance of dominant norms and values, it is functional to have ethnic minorities in low paid jobs as they carry out the roles others do not want, therefore they are seen as people who just fill gaps in society is basic jobs just because of the bad pay that the dominant races do not want. Patterson (65) said the acceptance of dominant values would lead to better integration. He also believed that is was skin colour rather than immigration. From this study we now see that the contemporary UK was racist and using the immigrants to do the worst jobs because they seemed to not care about the pay as long as they were at least getting some money.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Has Multiculturalism in Canada Lost Its Way? Now that multiculturalism has become a popular concept, it is time for us to add more meat to the bone and expand on what it means to Canada to be a multicultural society. While most Canadians highlight our multicultural character as a virtue, it continues to mean different things to different people.Multiculturalism is the recognition that while Canadians share equal rights and responsibilities, they come with diverse cultural backgrounds where each is entitled to practice their faith freely and take pride in their heritage .Multicultural critics think of multiculturalism as an enabler to ghettoize our communities where Canadians are discouraged from integrating with "mainstream" society. Other critics even see it as a threat to "Canadian Identity. "Such discussions are necessary within any confident society. The idea of building a harmonious nation with various cultures, faiths and races is tricky and requires a lot of delicate effort.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Miss

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In table 1 that shows Ethnic groups in England and Wales, 2001 and 2011 in percentages, the total sum of all subgroups is 19.5%, therefore does not account for all of the population. The total figure for 2001 was 12.6%, with an increase of 6.9% in 2011, this across all subgroups would be an average increase of 0.4%. or an average 1.38% increase across Ethnic groups. With the exception of the Subgroup Irish that has decreased by 0.3% all other Subgroups have increased or stayed the same. Despite the decrease of the Subgroup Irish, the Ethnic group White, with which this Subgroup is from, has seen the largest increase of 2.1% which is well above average, largely due to the Subgroup Other White, that has increased by 1.8%. This is nearly 1% higher than that of the next Subgroup, Other Asian. Although it should be noted that ‘comparability issues exist between these ethnic groups for the 2001 and 2011 census.’…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cultural diversity refers to ethnic and religious diversities in the UK. Religion and family have a link between them. Religion influences the way children are socialised in families.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, an unemployed British person may believe that their jobs are unavailable to them as the immigrants are taking their jobs. People may also be demotivated as they already know that as all these immigrants are also applying for the same jobs, they might believe they are less likely to obtain it as there is too much competition. As most immigrants have no qualifications as they don't have the level of education like we do in Britain, the immigrant can only take the 'easy' jobs which any citizen of Britain can have. On the other side, people may used these reasons as an excuse to be unemployed and receive benefits. A different opinion would be that Britain is getting too crowded and over populated. This would affect us as it would be supplying us with a lack of resources, such as education, housing and NHS. For example, in some populated areas of Britain, schools are forced to split up and pupils have to do different shifts of school, by doing this every student can learn even though they still won't be getting the full education needed unlike children who live in less dense area of Britain. On the other hand people might think British people are losing their culture and traditions, this is becuse immigrants are coming to our country with different cultures and religion, they are not getting involved with our traditions and they are changing our culture. Britain is a multicultural…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Call Me Maybe

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Today it is not unusual to see people of all different races, ethnic backgrounds or cultural groups living in one society. Our society is formed of a mix of different people and…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Britain nowadays is an extremely diverse country. There are people of different nationalities and religions all around us and we have learnt to adjust to their own ways and beliefs. With immigration we have embraced new changes: fashion, food, music and festivals. New religions have taught us to be a more…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immigration Assimilation

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Moreover, this trend extends globally on account of overpopulation and increasingly competitive living conditions. Historically, immigration has been advantageous to human development following war or in post-industrial societies as a deliberate attempt to expand the population. In the United States, for example, “two structural conditions–the long hiatus in immigration and the economic boom that accompanied it–are primarily responsible for the remarkable assimilation of European immigrants into the United States” (Massey 643). Without these factors, assimilation of immigrants into American society would tell a dramatically different story. And in fact, “new immigrants enter a highly stratified society characterized by high income inequality and growing labor market segmentation that will provide fewer opportunities for upward mobility” (Massey 648). Not only does immigration prove detrimental to the receiving country but is also a massive risk and can have negative consequences for immigrants and their families. As evident in the United States, immigrants increasingly segregate themselves and, “national origins and geographic destinations of the new immigrants are highly concentrated, creating large foreign-language and cultural communities in many areas” (Massey 648). Such communities create a familiarity for immigrant groups but oppositely, are alien to Euro-American’s, restricting immigrants to remain inside a cultural bubble and creating tensions between ethnic…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Diversity is always taking place no matter where you are or where you live; diversity can take many form from race, gender, beliefs, age, sexual orientation it could either hurt people or help people in different ways. Multiculturalism is one of the best way people can help each other no matter what it is. Diversity help many students learn better having a friend from a different culture help them fit in. Work diversity is most popular now because there are many people who are working.…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    And for an individual, there is an existing and unquestionable need to fit into one of those communities and groups. These conversation in the present has changed, since there exists creation of new identities and mix of cultures. As we have been studying through the semester, the proccess of cultural assimilation is not absolute, one can grow up within the American culture maintaining their background culture, hence creating, transforming or adapting original traditions. The development of an identity is becoming more complex and in this society is now more global and open than ever, not only in the U.S. Sandra’s example is based on a real case, my case, and there are many other like these around the world in many countries. Migration usually means going to another place looking forward to improve a socioeconomic status. This creates new generation with multiple heritage, hence multiple new identities such as in the case of the U.S. Mexican American, Asian American, African American, etcetera. Regardless of the difficulties and confusions two culture might create in a second-generation immigrant, the achievements of cultural assimilation of those individuals create a new world view on race, or better said, on ethnicities. The notion of race will continue to evolve into ethnicities and nationalities, hence each and every individual is going to be able to create their own concept of ethnic…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays