Sociology and Education

Cultural Diversity

Introduction

            Generally culture is described as the thoughts, beliefs, traditions as well as behaviors that are demonstrated by specific communities in any society and are distributed from a single generation to the next (Bennett, 2010).  Cultural diversity, therefore, engaged the transformations that have occurred in comparison to what was previously rooted deeply in the ancient period of the particular culture and how it has transformed over time. 

            Cultural diversity has been a field in many fields in the current period which is associated with diverse changes.  Cultural diversity in working and learning fields is termed as the discrimination prevention in cooperation with equality development (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2010).  This is generally about valuing individual’s distinctions and inclusion into the various sectors without favor.  This is the general act of sectors spanning like age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, race, and culture.  In the global world cultural diversity is conceptualized as the corporation with hires a workforce that is diverse which include people from distinct generations, genders and individuals from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds.  In daily operations diversity is associated with generating more appreciation and understanding in the demographic market as it creates greater marker accomplishments (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2010).

Employee satisfaction is essential in production increase and increased accomplishment of the organization's goals and thus a corporation that supports diversity supports both efficiency and productivity increase.  This act is thus referred to as inclusion which is the appreciation of diversities (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2010).  Cultural diversity in other terms can be referred to as the general act of coming together despite the cultural values and beliefs differences and forming a society that is full of uniformity.  Therefore a diverse organization is the one that considers and values individual’s differences (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2010).

            In the world, today, where globalization is rapidly taking over workplace and education diversity, seems to be the phrases that are popping out in high notes (Browne, 2011).  This is mainly influenced by modernization and technological developments and the transportations advances have thus shrunken the world and movement from a single location to a different one is no longer an issue.  Cultural diversity is the composition of work units in regard to cultural characteristics that are symbolical essential in group’s relations.  Multicultural groups tend to yield greater results in regard to performance and inefficiency due to their differences.  Education has become an important asset in the world today which has influenced the growth of cultural diversity.  In order to sustain workplace program organizations have thus embraced and accepted diversity through a shift of strategies (Browne, 2011).

There are several reasons why organizations are shifting their efforts towards developing individual groups that are characterized by cultural diversity both in the work organizations and in education (Browne, 2011).  First organizations have realized that the best talents and knowledge cannot be based on local cultures as the best minds may come from different cultures. Second cultural diversity helps in increasing growth as it helps organization in developing its market share. Lastly culturally diverse individual bring distinct ideas and this helps organizations and societies to develop rapidly.  Education and workforce diversity is the moral right to do because it helps in solving racial discriminations and gender issues (Browne, 2011).

Cultural transformations are developed and created, sustained and lost over time period.   Social acquiring, choosing, learning and assimilation are thus an essential aspect of cultural collection (Browne, 2011).  Cultural diversity develops inevitably in the cultural transmission course and this occurs when members of a large segment shares their cultural values and beliefs information.  This therefore permits the involved groups to interact freely and act effectively thus losing their unique values in the process (Browne, 2011).

            Historical Perspective

            A culture is the aspects way of living that is inspired by unique values that guide individual’s way of living.  Indian culture is a culture that is woven by tradition and customs. The Indian culture is characterized by high integrity and spirituality degree (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014).  These are essential customary and historical practices that are a part of the culture. The Indians individuals are believed to be among the foremost individuals who are proud of their culture.  Honesty and truthfulness are the other essential aspects of the culture.  Since the Indian culture encourages different thoughts it has been involved in many prospering over decades in the quest of preventing biases occurrence (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014).

            The Indian culture is also characterized by joint family history the joint system of families is highly maintained by the Indians which is unlike the American culture.  All the family members in this system are entitled to specific responsibilities which result in burden sharing.  This is additionally essential in ensuring that the younger persons learn from those that are ahead.  Religious activities are highly rooted in the Indian culture because they encourage the contributions of everyone (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014).

The Latin culture is characterized by Spanish speaking. Latin culture does not encourage competition or activities which may separate them from their groups (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).  The culture upholds dignity, love, affection and individual respect.  Unlike the Americans who are not restraint to sensation Latin’s restraint to sensations like frustration and anger. They are not arrogant despite the fact that they are not very friendly with individuals that are not from their particular groups.  There show limited expressions in regard to the persons that are in authority.  And since the culture does not encourage competitiveness they tend to be cooperative as the Latin culture emphasis on interpersonal associations (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).

Chinese cultural practices vary depending on ethnicity as well as geography.   People within the different groups are therefore involved in developing their individual cultures (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).  The Chinese culture involves food, religion, language, music, marriage, style and several other things that determine the interaction and behavior of the groups. The Chinese culture is made up of several elements which include religion, celebrations, arts, customs, language and food.  Art is an essential a part of the Chinese as it influences their religion and supernatural history.  Cuisines since history serve as a great influence due to ethnic diversity (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).

            Comparing and Contrasting Cultures

Chinese, Indian, and Latin culture holds few similarities and several differences.  A culture is established by practices, faith, food, customs, languages, economy as well as beliefs.  China, Latin and Indian culture are dissimilar in the way of dressing.  Indians holds a conservative and traditional dressing which is based on religion (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).  On the other hand, Chinese culture has three distinct kinds of traditional dressing.  However, unlike the Indians, Chinese culture is less conservative on its dressing in the modern society.  The Latin’s onto conservative because their culture has been involved greatly in assimilation. Indian culture is characterized by traditional clothing.  The Indian clothing styles are established by both regional and traditional variations.  From all the Indians groups all men wear lungi which is a form of traditional dressing.   Women, on the other hand, wears Sari and despite the fact that texture of the clothing varies it is unique because of it holds an ageless charm.  The form of dressing for the Indians can be worn on different occasions (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).

            In regard to cuisines, the Chinese cuisines cooking are one of the greatest methodologies.  The cuisines are made up of two major components and one is comprised of the primary food which consists of carbohydrate source that is rice and noodles. The second component is comprised of accompanying dishes which are fish, Meat as well as vegetables (Bennett, 2010). The main eating utensils in the Chinese culture for solid meals include chopsticks as spoons are utilized for soups.  Traditionally there are eight cuisines styles in Chinese culture which includes Anhui, Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Cantonese, Shandong, and Szechuan. On the other hand, The Indian food is a diversified culture on its own.  The Indian culture is characterized by Islam and Hinduism as the two major religions that influence the Indian cuisines diversity.  Traditional Hindus are vegetarians but in the modern society, they have embraced meat (Bennett, 2010).

            Chinese, Latin and Indian cultures are similar in that they hold family units as significance aspect of the culture.  The cultures value joint families because they believe in shared responsibilities in order to reduce responsibilities burdens (Crisp, 2011). Additionally, they uphold joint family in order to ensure that the younger individuals learn from the elders in the family.  The cultures are additionally similar because they hold a preserved attitude toward those in authority like the teachers or employers. Therefore they do not show their emotional feeling like frustration. Both the Indian and the Chinese culture believe in superstition as well as luck.  This can be seen from the festival and customs beliefs which they value greatly since tradition.  Another similarity between Latin, Chinese and Indian culture is that they are deeply rooted in religion. Religion acts as the main guidance and it is highly respected in the three cultures.  Latin, Chinese and Indian are similar in that religion plays an essential role in the lives of individuals (Crisp, 2011).

            Chinese and Indian cuisines are similar in several ways based on the vegetables that they utilize and to some extent the spices.  The thing that makes them different is the manner in which they are prepared.  Both Chinese and Indian cultures hold a deep belief in tradition medicine. Latin, Chinese, and Indian differ in the regard to food, religion, language and culture (Crisp, 2011).  Latin’s language and practices are more related to the American culture. However, the cultures believe that everything happens by the will of God and therefore they do not believe in taking control.   However Latin does not believe in competitiveness as they value cooperation.  Unlike the Chinese individuals who values competition despite upholding of cooperation (Crisp, 2011).

            The Chinese festivals begin with the New Year’s first day of the lunar calendar that occurs between January and February.  This is then followed by lantern festival which happens to the lunar month’s first day and then dragon festival is next on the 5th day of the same month. This festival is made up of activities like boat racing of the Dragon and Zong Zi eating (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014). Contrarily the Indian culture holds one of the most colorful and prevalent festivals that has been celebrated across time.  The Indian major festival is performed around March where individuals come together, sing and dance in festive on Nagaras as well as Dholas beats.  The Holi festival is a festival that is conducted in all taboos rejections and festivals joy thus forgetting all the troubles that have weighed people down and attempting to enjoy the freedom.  The other festival is the Diwali’s festival which occurs at the end of October or at the beginning of the month of November.  This festival ceremony is celebrated through crackers bursting and it generally involves puja performance and it is mainly characterized by joy (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014)

            The chine culture is characterized by traditional music which is characterized by uniqueness and magnificent.  The traditional music for the Chinese was associated with variations diversity which depends on the period they are in.  These involve the utilization of diverse instruments which served in the generation of beautiful auditory surrounding and melodies (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).  The rhythm variations, tone quality, beat in regard to the Chinese music are distinctive from any kind of music. The traditional music that is highly identified with the Indian culture is the Raga. This is termed as the Indian music soul based on its artistic and fashionable quality.  The music holds several features which include belief, heavenly mood, rituals, and restrictions. The major element of the classical music style of Indian is Sruti which can be described as a base and the lyrics are referred to as Sahitya while Raga is a general notes combination. The beats in the India music are referred to as Tala and the rhythm is called Laya (Minkov, & Hofstede, 2011).

            Indian, Chinese and Latin Assimilation into the Society

Cultural assimilation is referred to the procedure where the minority groups adopt gradually the attitudes and customs of a culture that is prevailing (Tchibozo, 2013).  In another word, it is how the members of particular minority groups in a society lose their cultural aspects that distinguishes and makes them unique from other groups as they attempt to adapt to the cultural aspects of the dominant groups. In the previous decades, America struggled with the assimilation thought. This is because the prevailing thought was that the white race was the superior one while the rest were inferior.  As a result of this though slavery had become an institution in the country and it was a way of living (Tchibozo, 2013).

            In most countries across the world, America is termed as the opportunity land.  America is therefore established as the melting world pot where most cultures are lost through assimilation.  It is highly believed that most individuals from across the world migrate into America and lose their cultural identity as they melt to the assimilation into the American culture. However, in the recent days, the statement can be termed as unfair (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014).  This can be demonstrated by the growing Chinese restaurants, Latin’s businesses, Indian stores as well as European languages in an institution such as schools. This, therefore, shows that the individual cultures are trying very hard to ensure that their distinctions of cultures are voiced amidst the general American cultures.   American is, therefore, an incorporation of all the cultures as each culture in the American society holds its distinct flavor despite the fact that the culture is characterized by a single dressing which is America.  Among the Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Latin’s and others Indians depicts the larger group of individuals who wishes to be a part of the American culture (Kieschnick, & Shahar, 2014).

            Despite the fact that the Chinese, Latin and the Indian’s have not been fully assimilated into the American culture, most of their cultural values have been lost to assimilation. Immigrants from china, India, and Latin are quick to assimilate into the America economic culture but hey are slow to assimilate into the cultural and civic matter in America.  Based on studies cultural assimilation of Indians, Chinese and Latin’s has not been achieved fully due to the cultural norms and beliefs that the cultures hold which are very distinct from the Americans. Based on the recent study of assimilation which focused on economic, education, culture and civic assimilation it was established that the cultures that hold the highest assimilation rates are Philippines, Cuba, and Vietnam. 

            The average assimilation rate in America was established to be 28 out of the developed scale of 100. The Indian index stood at a scale of 20, and that of china barely topped the scale mark of 20, Mexico was rated at 13 while Canada scored the highest rate which was 53 the lower rate of Indian and Chinese assimilation rate was based on the cultural values that they hold.  Indian culture holds strong religious and social beliefs that may not easily match with the American cultural beliefs. This, therefore, makes it difficult for the Indians members to assimilate culturally into the American culture.   Most of the highly assimilated culture such as Canadians are almost similar to the American culture and cannot be distinguished from one another.  In regard to civic assimilation Indian and Chinese cultures performs very low than anticipated. Based on research civic assimilation is an essential aspect that demonstrates the willingness of a culture to assimilate.  Civic assimilation refers to the measure of a minority group formal participating in the society mainly through naturalization.  As compared to the Indians and Chinese Latin’s holds a greater share of assimilation because their culture is not very different as compared to the America. However, their social and religious norms tend to differ which seems to be slowing the cultural assimilation process into the America culture.

            Despite the growing intentions of Chinese, Latin’s and Indians not to assimilate assimilation is slowly taking place due to modernization (Tchibozo, 2013).  Most individuals from these minority groups in America are beginning to develop independent thoughts thus individualism is gaining importance slowly. This will assist in gaining full assimilation based on the fact that the minority groups are expected to give their economic, education, political and cultural contribution.  Through the adoption of the English language and economic values by the Chinese and the Indians assimilation has been achieved a bit (Tchibozo, 2013).

Detailed Culture’s Review Based on Successes as well as Failures Encountered in Both Education and the Work Place

            The Chinese, Indian and Latin’s have made huge development towards the America society today. This has been influenced by their economic assimilation where they have played a major role in developing the economy (SCOTT, & SIMS, 2016).  They have generally been accepted and are viewed as hardworking professions who are involved in small enterprises such as the Chinese restaurant and they can handle a stable family. However Chinese and Indians have failed in contributing to development in regard to cultural diversity because of their persistence change resistance.  Individual members of the cultures have not accepted the fact that their cultural values and those of others can be combined to yield societal benefits. 

             Based on the most recent census information Chinese have medium household’s incomes and higher educational levels as compared to their white opponents. While the discrimination issues are still persistent they are less as compared to the issues that were reported a century ago. The Latin’s, Indians and Chinese members in America  still suffers  from education and employment  inequalities based on their cultural, religious and language differences, however,  the  discrimination rate has reduced  greatly  as compared to the previous centuries where  individuals from the minority groups would not enroll in most school  or even secure employment.  From literature analysis, there is narrowing employment and educational discrimination gap of the Latin’s, Chinese and Indians individuals in American society today. This has mainly been contributed by the development of affirmative action to solve the racial discrimination issues in America. However the Chinese and the Indians are still faced with workplace discrimination in regard to payment which is changing slowly due to cultural diversity (SCOTT, & SIMS, 2016).

More than 70% of the Chinese and Indian Americans speak proper English. This has been a major economic and educational contribution towards the American society at a much higher level of equality has been achieved today through effective communication strategies.  Cultural differences have been a major influence of cultural diversity failure as it hinders individuals from interacting freely based on cultural values and beliefs boundaries (SCOTT, & SIMS, 2016).

            The cultures have been able to achieve an effective communication through learning English.  Language barrier has been a complex thing that has been hindering Chinese, Latin’s and Indians to secure employment and education programs in America (SCOTT, & SIMS, 2016).  Communication amid different cultures and languages tends to be very complex.  Language is defined as the skill that is utilized in viewing the world different and with the communication barriers misunderstandings may be attained easily.  The other barrier that the Chinese, Latin’s and Indians have faced is behavioral distinctions and stereotypes.  The American culture is believed to be friendly but arrogant which makes it difficult for people to interact with one another.  In addition, their practices and behaviors are different as compared and the prejudging of the different culture results in communications hindrances and misconceptions (HUGHES, KAPOOR, & PRIDE, 2014).

            In general diversity in the education body and in the workplace is essential. This is because education diversity helps the institution in achieving their main mission which is the provision of quality education. Quality education does not necessarily come without getting knowledge in regard to race, culture, religion and their expectations. Therefore having a diversified school structure is essential because individuals learn more with a more developed view of the real world as well as understanding (HUGHES, KAPOOR, & PRIDE, 2014).

            In reality having a diversified working environment ensures that increased efficiency and productivity is achieved at ease (Parrillo, 2009).  This is because the uniqueness of every culture is economically essential in ensuring that innovativeness is achieved.  In addition diversification in the workplace helps in creating better interactions among persons through the different opinions those individuals holds.  Diversity is essential as it changes community’s stereotypes as it strengthens workplaces as well as communities.  Cultural diversity can thus be described as the numerous distinctions that the distinct cultures hold and these differences help in improving persons. Therefore cultural diversity should be accepted and embraced fully in education and in the workplace in order to learn to work in collaboration and celebrate the uniqueness (Parrillo, 2009).

            Conclusion

In summary, the growing education and workplace diversity are consistently posing fresh challenges for the organizations.  Thus there is a great necessity for organizations to note the significance of diversity management strategies and the significance of diversity involvement in general.  The diversity administration approaches necessitate thorough planning and view of all the involved aspects as a good strategy may help organization and society in solving the issues of cultural diversity inclusion.  An evaluation of the above literature demonstrates clearly that cultural diversity is a broad and complex phenomenon which needs to be addressed.  The role of cultural diversity in yielding positive results to education and workplace organization relies on distinct factors, for instance, the surrounding context, the kind of industry as well as the strategies that are applied by an organization.  Cultural diversity inclusion does not immediately guarantee tangible groups, individual or organizational performance and efficiency.  Nevertheless attaining a culturally diverse institution’s and successful management of workforce can result in the generation of huge and numerous benefits.

In today’s society, cultural diversity is viewed as a positive thing because it provides individuals with the opportunity to experience distinct practices from what they are locally used to.  Diversity in the workplace and in school is viewed as a beneficial aspect based on the contributions that it presents.  In education, exposing students in a diverse school helps in preparing students for the actual world where are expected to deal with different persons and still raise their voices.  Diversity in the workplace is essential because it enhances the economic and social competitiveness. This is mainly because every individual holds their distinct and unique strengths and when these strengths are utilized appropriately they can generate something worth.  Diverse communities are characterized by distinct talents and skills whose potential can be made stronger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            References

Bennett, A. (2010). Cultural landscape: An introduction. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Browne, K. (2011). An introduction to sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Crisp, R. J. (2011). The Psychology of Social and Cultural Diversity. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

HUGHES, R. J., KAPOOR, J. R., & PRIDE, W. M. (2014). Foundations of business.

            Kieschnick, J., & Shahar, M. (2014). India in the Chinese imagination: Myth, religion, and thought. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

            Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. H. (2011). Cultural differences in a globalizing world. Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Parrillo, V. N. (2009). Diversity in America. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Pine Forge Press.

            Pride, W. M., Hughes, R. J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2010). Business. Australia: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

SCOTT, C. L., & SIMS, J. D. (2016). Developing workforce diversity programs, curriculum, and degrees in higher education. http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/?fpi=9781522502098.

Tchibozo, G. (2013). Cultural and social diversity and the transition from education to work. Dordrecht: Springer