Define the word Multiculturalism
- 1. Paper Name : CULTURAL STUDIES Presentation Topic: Define the multiculturalism Sem : 2 Name: Solanki Pintu V Roll No : 31 Enrollment No: PG15101037 Email: solankipintu1991@gmail.com Submitted to : M.K.BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSUTY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
- 2. Defining "Multiculturalism" "Multiculturalism" is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles.
- 3. The Oxford English Dictionary offers a broad definition of multiculturalism as the "characteristics of a multicultural society" and "the policy or process whereby the distinctive identities of the cultural groups within such a society are maintained or supported".
- 4. Multiculturalism as a challenge to traditional liberalism Multiculturalism stands as a challenge to liberal democracy. In liberal democracies, all citizens should be treated equally under the law by abstracting the common identity of “citizen” from the real social, cultural, political, and economic positions and identities of real members of society. That leads to a tendency to homogenize the collective of citizens and assume a common political culture that all participate in.
- 5. However, that abstract view ignores other politically salient features of the identities of political subjects that exceed the category of citizen, such as race, religion, class, and sex. Although claiming the formal equality of citizens, the liberal democratic view tends to underemphasize ways in which citizens are not in fact equal in society.
- 6. Multiculturalism’s impact on education Some examples of how multiculturalism has affected the social and political spheres are found in revisions of curricula, particularly in Europe and North America, and the expansion of the Western literary and other canons that began during the last quarter of the 20th century.
- 7. What is Multicultural Education? Multicultural education relates to education and instruction designed for the cultures of several different races in an educational system. This approach to teaching and learning is based upon consensus building, respect, and fostering cultural pluralism within racial societies. Multicultural education acknowledges and incorporates positive racial idiosyncrasies into classroom atmospheres.
- 8. Challenges to multiculturalism There are two primary objections to multiculturalism. One is that multiculturalism privileges the good of the certain groups over the common good, thereby potentially eroding the common good in favour of a minority interest. The second is that multiculturalism undermines the notion of equal individual rights, thereby weakening the political value of equal treatment.
- 9. Multiculturalism raises other questions. There is the question of which cultures will be recognized. Some theorists have worried that multiculturalism can lead to a competition between cultural groups all vying for recognition and that this will further reinforce the dominance of the dominant culture.
- 10. Further, the focus on cultural group identity may reduce the capacity for coalitional political movements that might develop across differences. Some Marxist and feminist theorists have expressed worry about the dilution of other important differences shared by members of a society that do not necessarily entail a shared culture, such as class and sex.
- 11. Multicultural politics o Multiculturalism is closely associated with identity politics. political and social movements that have group identity as the basis of their formation and the focus of their political action. o Those movements attempt to further the interests of their group members and force issues important to their group members into the public sphere.
- 12. In contrast to multiculturalism, identity politics movements are based on the shared identities of participants rather than on a specifically shared culture. However, both identity politics and multiculturalism have in common the demand for recognition and a redress for past inequities.