Free Essays on Multiculturalism

In Australia there has been a lot of political debate in recent years about whether or not we are a multicultural society. In broad terms, multiculturalism is defined as situation wherein the overall character of a society is shaped by the harmonious mutual influences of more than one race or ethnic group. From well before the First World War, but more particularly after World War II, Australian society has been shaped by the influx of migrants from all over the world. Our food, clothes, sports and general way of life are all indicative of the fact that as a society we have taken on many of the customs and traditions of other nations in the name of becoming multicultural. But is multiculturalism really an absolute essential required for efficient functioning of society? It seems quite far from being imperative for an operative society, but rather such diversity seems a sure road to destruction. Multiculturalism is merely racism in a politically correct disguise. Many people have a very superficial view of racism. They see it as merely the belief that one race is superior to another. It is certainly much more than that; it is a fundamental view of human nature. Racism is the notion that one’s race determines one’s identity. It is the belief that one’s convictions, values and character are not determined by the judgement of one’s mind, but by one’s anatomy or blood. This view causes people to be condemned or sometimes praised, based on their racial membership. This in turn leads them to condemn or praise others on the same basis. But in fact, one can gain an authentic sense of pride only from one’s OWN achievements, not from inherited characteristics. The spread of racism requires the destruction of an individual’s confidence in his own mind. Such an individual then anxiously seeks a sense of identity by clinging to some groups, abandoning his independence and rights, allowing his ethnic group to tell him wha... Free Essays on Multiculturalism Free Essays on Multiculturalism In Australia there has been a lot of political debate in recent years about whether or not we are a multicultural society. In broad terms, multiculturalism is defined as situation wherein the overall character of a society is shaped by the harmonious mutual influences of more than one race or ethnic group. From well before the First World War, but more particularly after World War II, Australian society has been shaped by the influx of migrants from all over the world. Our food, clothes, sports and general way of life are all indicative of the fact that as a society we have taken on many of the customs and traditions of other nations in the name of becoming multicultural. But is multiculturalism really an absolute essential required for efficient functioning of society? It seems quite far from being imperative for an operative society, but rather such diversity seems a sure road to destruction. Multiculturalism is merely racism in a politically correct disguise. Many people have a very superficial view of racism. They see it as merely the belief that one race is superior to another. It is certainly much more than that; it is a fundamental view of human nature. Racism is the notion that one’s race determines one’s identity. It is the belief that one’s convictions, values and character are not determined by the judgement of one’s mind, but by one’s anatomy or blood. This view causes people to be condemned or sometimes praised, based on their racial membership. This in turn leads them to condemn or praise others on the same basis. But in fact, one can gain an authentic sense of pride only from one’s OWN achievements, not from inherited characteristics. The spread of racism requires the destruction of an individual’s confidence in his own mind. Such an individual then anxiously seeks a sense of identity by clinging to some groups, abandoning his independence and rights, allowing his ethnic group to tell him wha... Free Essays on Multiculturalism Human beings live in what for them is a Multicultural world, in which they are aware of different sets of others to whom different cultural attributions must be made, and of different cultures of which they are aware and expected to operate. W.H. Woodenough. The term Multiculturalism has recently come into usage to describe a society characterized by a diversity of cultures. Religion, language, customs, traditions, and values are some of the components of a culture, but more importantly culture is the lens through which one perceives and interprets the world. When shared culture forms the basis for a "sense of peoplehood", based on consciousness of a common past, we can speak of a group possessing an Ethnicity. Ethnicity is not transmitted genetically from generation to generation; nor is it unchanging over time. Rather ethnicity is invented or constructed in response to particular historical circumstances and changes as circumstances change. In this essay, ethnicity will be used to identify groups or communities that are differentiated by religious, racial, or cultural characteristics and that possess a sense of people-hood. The "Multicultural America" is the product of the mingling of many different peoples over the hundred years in wh at is now the United States. Cultural diversity was characteristic of this continent prior to the coming of European colonists and African slaves. The indigenous inhabitants of North America who numbered an estimated 4.5 million in 1500 were divided into hundreds of tribes with distinctive cultures, Languages, and religions. Although the numbers of "Indians" as they were named by Europeans, declined precipitously through the nineteenth century, their population has rebounded in the twentieth century. Both as members of their particular tribes (a form of ethnicity), Navajo, Ojibwa, Choctaw, etc., and as American Indians (a form of panethnicity), they are very much a part of today's cultural and ethnic...