Cultural Diversity in the America - Assignment Example

Cultural Diversity in the America Introduction “Culture is a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group. It encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, values systems, traditions and beliefs.” (What is cultural diversity. 2005). Culture helps human to learn and use environment they live and react efficiently to the various environmental changes they confronts in their life. Culture is created in a society naturally according to the socio-economic condition of each society in order to manage the conditions and needs of each individual and society. Culture influences basically in the way of behavior, way of living, and way of speech. It is a habit formation that takes place when one grows in a particular society and the innate quality to learn from his surrounding in order to cope up with his environment is the unique part of character inherent in human being which develops while growing in the community. Culture has substantial influence in groups and individual each human is the product of the culture where he lives that even has an unconscious influence on each human it has become human identification. Cultural diversity Most of the society has their own culture and are proud of its culture, and when two or more cultures come in contact together there arises a diversity in that culture. United State is highly enriched with cultural diversities as people from all over the world settled here leading to cultural differences. Most of Americans face cultural differences in their life. Globalization brought the world together and with the development of global economic system and the rise of international cooperation and business community has helped to bring people from all over the world with different cultures into face-to-face contact. It has been a providing shelter for every one, hence people from all over the world are migrating to America, and America is a nation with diverse cultures and has always taken pride in their diversity. Culture has always attracted anthropologists, educators, historians, and sociologists to explore various aspects of culture and its implications in their field. The diversity of culture also brought conflicts between various cultural groups and caused various social problems. Cultural diversity in America has been a matter of debate and people from different cultures face problems in schools, colleges, universities, institutions, government and business circle Multiculturalism: Issues for the Twenty-First Centaury What constitutes race and ethnic character of human is the out ward physical and characteristics among groups and society, such as skin color, and physical characteristics which are frequently used as instrument for discrimination and this discrimination is also associated with linguistic and cultural differences. “Race and ethnic relations, the contribution of cultural diversity in America, brought about intense discussion to come up with resolution and to think what kind of society is American society should be. When people from different ethnic culture and race to live and work together and play together in democratic social setup they must understand the outcomes and must ready to respect each other and their cultures and if one has positive outlook much is there to learn from every cultures.” (Naylor 1997). The problem of cultural diversity contributes to the problems of race and ethnic relations that are very complex in nature. Discrimination is the major set back of cultural diversity. The Black or African- Americans and American-Indians were not considered as humans in the early ages and the discrimination reached its extreme in the form slavery that resulted in Civil War. Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. Americans generally deal with race, ethnicity, and culture as basically same. The word culture and its meaning got reduced as race and ethnic and these words are used to identify people with their social significance. The tendency to categorize people on the basis of race and ethnicity brought out serious consequences in the society. Portrait of a Minority Cultural minority is the group of people or community having less number or population and less accessing power and influence in the nation. Ethnic groups are political, economic and social action groups are formed for some purpose in order to attend something that can be easily attainable with the aid of ethnic groups. United States was considered as a ‘melting pot’ of culture and in the early 1950s through the mid 1960s people from all over the world came to America and mixed together. But, Glazer and Moynihan shattered the view that America is not a melting pot because generations of each culture carries the same characteristic of their ancestor such as same food, language and behavior. This shattered the view of America as a “melting pot of culture” but it is evident that each culture is influencing other and benefiting each other. Discrimination The word ethnicity was transformed from tribal grouping. The globalization of market and the development of technologies and easy access to America aggravated the spread of immigration and the people carrying diverse cultures preserved and transferred it to the future generation. Ethnic division based on language, color, and religion developed in the US, such as: Spanish speaking natives called as Hispanic Americans; Asian Americans on the basis of physical characteristic; African Americans on the basis of color, and South Asian Americans on the basis of religious belief of Muslims and Jews, and these categorizing ended up with discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping. African Americans as cultural group Immigration is the major source of cultural diversity and America is a nation basically composed of immigrants. Native Americans migrated form Asia, “approximately 15,000 years ago” and then they forced immigration or enslavement of Africans as the main source of labor force. “This slave trade would over time lead to a new social and economic system: one where the color of ones skin could determine whether he or she might live as a free citizen or be enslaved for life.” (The Terrible Transformation). More precisely United States is a country of racial and ethnic groups. Social discrimination based on skin composition as African-American’s resulted in an obstacle in the field of educational, social and economical activities. Mexican-American Community Members of Mexican community consist of Chicanos, Mexicanos, Hispanos, Spanish-American and Spanish-speaking people. These people are generally known as Mexican-Americans. Those who are settled two to three generations back are called Latin-Americans and new immigrants from Mexico are known as Spanish-Americans and generally people from Mexican origin are called as Hispanics. Filipino-Americans: The Marginalized Minority Filipino-Americans are ethnic minority, part of Asian American racial category, and they are the one of the fastest growing Asian American group because of the increased immigration from the Philippines. American Indians the forgotten minority They are the aboriginal people of United States and they belong to the Western part of America. They were not considered as humans earlier, rather just an existing stereotype, and American-Indian’s faced brutality from Europeans and Americans. Indian cultures have unique place in America even though many tribes have diminished during the evolution and many have lost their cultural community. Some are still capable of maintaining their culture. California is a miniature of America with its rich cultural diversity Cultural diversity of America has influenced the cultural development of California. The different cultural groups like Native Americans, Spanish, Mexican, and African-Americans had given great contributions to California’s rich cultural diversity. A great number of immigrants entered to California when it become a state, and each culture left its mark in the cultural history of California. It enriched the culture with their food, religion, festival, language, and architecture techniques and all these made California a unique state in America. California’s culture reflects American culture. Californian’s celebrate their culture and other cultures as their own and appreciate other cultures and cultivated the spirit of tolerance and acceptance of the ethnic food, custom and traditions History of California’s Cultural Diversity California, the Golden state of America, is a state of great cultural diversity and immigrants from all over the world came to California and made it their home along with Californian- Indians, the native people of California. This variety of people with their diverse culture made California a state of cultural diversity and made it the richest model of cultural diversity in the world. People from different nations with different culture immigrated to California, and contributed to the growth of its cultural diversity. In the history of California, Native-Americans are the early inhabitants. In 1769 Spanish succeeded to colonize California and spread Spanish culture. Mexican-American period started from 1821 and the Golden Rush began in 1849. Around 100,000 “forty-niners” immigrated to California from all over the world. Chinese people also started immigrating during the Golden Rush. In the 1800s Japanese immigrated as successful farmers. In 1852 California became a state and the population increased to 250,000 by this time. In the 1870 and the 1910 many European immigrants settled in California. Immigrants came to California for better life and started to cultivate, built towns, and started business. The immigrants contributed a great deal to the economical and social development of California to make it an economic leader. In 1960 many people immigrated from Mexico, Central America, South America, Asia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They brought the rich culture with them including religion, language, music, food, celebrations and ideas but they often suffered discrimination from the natives and had to group together to protect each other. In California more than 32 million people are living today. They accepted the cultural diversity of America and they celebrate the common national culture of United States along with their own cultural celebrations including Chinese New Year in San Francisco, Swallow Return in Caspistrano, Shakespheare Festivals, etc. The verity of ethnic food, architecture, music, celebrations, and art enriches the cultural diversity of California and the towns like China Town and Olivera Street add great dimensions to the cultural diversity of California. Conclusion Culture is the unique characteristics including thought process and behavioral patterns that helps persons to adapt them in the circumstances they live in. Culture is the sum total of socially transmitted behavior and ways of living built up by a society. Historically America is fated to become a culturally diverse nation without having any other options and that made its state like California unique in the world. American society and present culture is the product of interaction and assimilation of a verity of people with their unique cultures and it became the miniature of the world where all kinds of people and cultures are seen. The secret of America becoming the most powerful nation in the world lies in coexistence of a mixture of people with their diverse culture. People contributed the best of their cultures, technologies, inventions to make the US the world’s richest and strongest nation and the most encouraging thing is that people from different cultures coexist, live and cooperate in unity for the prosperity of their country. Diversity of culture is contributing to development and at the same time it is causing differences in every aspects of American’s life. It increases the need for awareness of cultural intermingling in the day to day affairs of nation and its citizen. The cultural diversity makes America unique in the world at the same time educations and awareness is needed to handle the issues of cultural diversity. Works cited Naylor, Larry, L. (Ed). Cultural Diversity in the United States. West Port; C.T. 1997. Bergin & Garvey. What is cultural diversity? American Councils. The Aluminum Boom. 2005. 23 Nov. 2007 . The Terrible Transformation. Africans in America. Introduction.WGBH. PBS Online. 23 Nov. 2007 . Read More