Abstract
Cultural diversity is a mixture of cultures that differs one group of people from others. This essay explains what cultural diversity is. It highlights that some norms and values that characterize one group of people and are not inherent in other groups. It indicates how the Americans should respond to the idea of promotion of cultural diversity.
Keywords: cultural diversity, the Americans, society, group of people, norms and values.
Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is the main factor that makes various groups of people different from each other. Each culture is characterized by its features in language, art, music, education, family lifestyle, literature, dance, traditions and so on. Culture defines the behavior and the way of thinking of a particular group of people. The abundance of cultures creates the cultural diversity. Human culture is remarkably diverse. Values and norms of behavior vary widely and are often quite different from those that are normal for regular people who live in the United States of America. For example, the intentional killing of infants or small children in the West is considered to be one of the most serious crimes. However, in traditional Chinese culture, parents in poor families immediately kill children as they will only be a burden and will not help the family (Colson, 2004). Thus, the Western nation should have its own attitude towards cultural diversity and promote these traditions and features that would be combined in a globalized society.
Cultural diversity can be compared with biodiversity in nature. If to take any species in nature, it is not difficult to see how a degree of life forms varies within particular species. It could be observed at the scale of species, ecosystem or planet (Echemendia, 2004). The same principle is expressed in the variety of cultures. Despite the fact that cultural diversity is a wonderful phenomenon that makes the human beings look different from each other, it does not mean that other cultural features should be accepted by other groups of people. We eat oysters, but we do not eat kittens or puppies, which are considered as a delicacy in some countries. Jews do not eat pork while the Indians eat pork and avoid eating beef (Ganeri, 2013). Western people believe that kiss is a natural manifestation of sexual behavior. However, in many other cultures, it is not known as a disgusting thing to do. All these behaviors are merely aspects of the broad cultural differences that separate one society from another.
Many people who support the process of globalization are not sure whether cultural diversity should exist in the era of quick spread of the information and high developed technologies (Diller, 2011). However, cultural diversity should be promoted in order to save the traditions of different groups of people. It is important as the culture of a particular group of people keeps their history in American society; therefore, it is not necessary to absorb all cultures that exist on our planet. However, it is important to respond to the idea that those values and norms of people behavior that are appropriate for the Western way of live should be integrated and protected in the United States. Without a doubt, there are many things in other cultures that seem strange or unnatural for American society. However, Americans should not worry about that. It is obvious that those traditions that are not clear and far from understanding would never be rooted in the U.S. if it will not correspond to the American’s lifestyle.
In fact, the U.S. is a country that was formed on the basis of different cultures. From the very beginning, American society was formed on the norms and traditions of people from all over the world. Today, the flow of immigrants from different countries that come to the USA is one of the largest in the world (Watson, 1993). Consequently, the American society should accept the idea of cultural diversity and promote it for better understanding of people that live in this country. It is necessary to maintain the cultural diversity in order to save the diverse world history of Earth population.
