Integration models Flashcards
Two perspectives: universality vs. particularity
Universality:
Concept of human nature determines cultures
“naturalism” – similarities rather than differences –
universal common cultural patterns
Particularity:
- every social group has an own culture
- individualism: every human being has an own cultural identity
- focussing on differences rather than similarities, focus on diversity
One perspective: universality AND particularity
Cross culturally shared humanity (values, ethics, human rights, needs)
AND cultural differences / diversity / identities
- Cultural differences have no moral significance and influence on dignity,
because a basic human moral exists , which is inherent to all human beings.
-> compare with philosophers as Plato, John Locke, Immanuel Kant and others
PLURALIST UNIVERSALISM
Universality and particularity:
Human beings are individually culturally embedded and universally share the
same cultural properties.
But:
universal values also can lead to conflicts between different cultures, because cultures are not static and are influenced by power and power interests
-> cultures prioritize, balance, modify universal properties following their
historical experiences and cultural sensibilities
Cross-cultural global consensus:
UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity - 2001:
Identity, diversity and pluralism
* Article 1 - Cultural diversity: the common heritage of humanity
To defend cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable from the
respect for human dignity.
Human rights -> cultural rights
Cultural Diversity instead of cultural differences
Historical perspective:
John Stuart Mill: British political philosopher, 19th century
- human being self-develops, every human being is unique
-> cultural diversity leads to individuality and progress,
healthy competition between the cultures, interchange and new ideas
Cultural diversity is a condition of human freedom- encourages dialogue
Classical Interculturality
According to concepts of classical interculturality, cultures are systems of
orientation that determine the thinking, perceptions, values, and actions of members of communities.
Since people internalize cultures through social learning processes, everyone
has a cultural background that shapes their behavior. Thus, people can be assigned to different cultural groups.
Classical interculturality – critical consideration
Culture is understood in a very one-dimensional way and is almost always reduced to culture of origin.
Classical interculturalism focuses mainly on the differences and the difficulties
in encounters.
Classical interculturalism defines cultures as well-defined, homogenic and
separated, closed “spaces”.
Classical interculturalism is often used in the context of communication and
meetings, punctual encounters, and not in conditions of permanent
living/working together for example in pluricultural neighborhoods, families or
enterprises.
Inter-culture instead of interculturality?
We are living nowadays in a multi-/pluricultural world, where nearly every
individual has a multi-/pluricultural identity.
We might talk about “inter-culture” as the space which is created in an encounter, a new temporarily culture, a process which is going on and deserves to receive attention, sensibility.
Transculturality
- mixture or diffusion of cultures
- now defined boundaries
- dynamic and changeable
- no internal homogenity within a culture
Transculturality points to the complexity of cultural imprints - against the comfort of simplicity/simplification!
Transculturality and the individual
- no homogenic attributes (stereotypes, clichés)
radical individuality:
–> every individual shapes his/her own individual cultural identity
–> complex, result of a multicollectivity (various cultures)
–> constant process of including cultural encounters/experiences in an
own individual cultural plurality
Transculturality- no´s
> no segregation
-> no categorization
-> no ‘either this or that’ but ‘as well as’
-> no cultural stereotypes
-> no national cultures
-> no ‘we-are-different-from-the-others’ thinking
-> cultural encounters: focus on similarities rather than differences, focus on
individuals rather than cultures
The concept of transculturality under a critical perspective
- categories of the hierarchical and hegemonic are not questioned
- transculturality as a capitalist ideal of flexibility?
- differences and cultural closures enable identity
- towards a global cultural plurality, that at the end is also ‘homogenic’?
- neglecting local cultures and identities?
Multiculturalism
Madrid a multicultural and diverse city.
Multi-Culturalism is a new term to describe a status/situation:
Members of a globalized society find themselves in a new culture, the multi-
culture, which is plural and diverse, needs new ways of finding identities and
leaves the focus on nation-cultures or homogenic, from each other separated
cultures within a foreign nation-culture behind.
Plurality of cultural identities
–> multi culture
The British Multiculturalism
- two-way integration, reciprocal
- United Kingdom in its historical roots already a multicultural state
- British Commonwealth brings different people from different nations together (migration to UK)
UK policies to declare for multiculturalism:
- welfare state
- substantial funding and activism engaged with the needs of minority
communities - series of exemptions from general laws for ethic, racial and religious minorities
