Assimilation, Pluralism & Multiculturalism

[Name of the Institute]

Assimilation, Pluralism & Multiculturalism

Introduction

Culture can be identified as one of the most significant factors influencing on a human society. This phenomenon has an impact on how the relevant individuals in the society interact with each other, and how they share certain common values. The culture consist of the common tradition and values that a group of individual start to follow on a collective basis. In the historical perspective the religious factors have shaped the majority of the cultural developments, and the human society was closely associated with the religious entities (Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2010). It is due to this reason that the history of the human civilization has ample examples of religious based feuds. Religions were such a core part of the lives and society of the people that they were willing to battle for their respective ideologies. However in the contemporary global society the cultural factors that are present, have shifted dynamically.

In the contemporary global social environment the phenomenon of globalization, has drastically altered the dynamics of the social structure and the cultural makeup of the countries. Whereas previously culture of a given society was practiced commonly among the group of people who lived in a certain geographic boundary and also shared certain common attributes. However the mass immigration and cultural amalgamation process has caused the emergence of new cultural structures. The advances in technology have allowed the global population to become more interconnected, and the phenomenon of cultural sharing has also emerged. In various different societies of the world, different cultural structures have emerged as per the relevant social structures.

Discussion

Cultural Factors: Multiculturalism, Pluralism & Assimilation

Pluralism Model 'The Native American Society'

In the contemporary American society there exist several cultural entities, however majority of these cultures have several common ideologies. The concept of cultural pluralism however based on the idea of preservation of certain cultural beliefs by a small group of people. Even though the majority of the social groups present in the American society share several common beliefs and ideologies, there still exist certain social groups who have managed to maintain their cultural independence. Hence within a large and dominant culture which is shared among the majority of the population, the pluralistic social groups are the entities which have highly differentiated cultural beliefs (Butera, 2001). Cultural pluralism is similar to the concept of multiculturalism, however in the latter social phenomenon; there isn't the existence of a dominant cultural group.

In the American society the Native Americans can be identified as individuals belonging to the smaller cultural groups, which have managed to maintain their cultural identity in the existence of the dominant American culture. Although the country does not have a completely homogenous cultural structure, however the majority of the cultural entities present in the country have several common factors. The Native Americans however have very different sets of beliefs and traditions, which are not consistent with the mainstream American culture. These individuals have been able to maintain their cultural identity over an ...