Cultural Changes
Whenever two or more people come together with a shared purpose, they form a culture with its own written and unwritten rules for behavior. Our families, workplaces, and communities all have cultures. These cultures have a tremendous, though rarely recognized, impact upon our behavior as individuals.
Each cultural environment provides a set of standards to which we must adapt. Our behavioral patterns change dramatically from one cultural context to another. We are expected to behave according to the standards of the group. We may choose not to behave in accordance with our cultures, but if we choose not to go along, we must be prepared for the consequences. When we select goals for ourselves that violate the culture, we must either change the culture of endure a never-ending struggle.
What is multicultural?
According to Harrison (1984), multiculturalism is a theory about the foundations of a culture rather than a practice which subsumes cultural ideas. The term is used to describe societies especially nations which have many distinct cultural groups, usually as a result of immigration.
Multiculturalism is a systematic and comprehensive response to cultural and ethnic diversity, with educational, linguistic, economic and social components and specific institutional mechanisms. Multiculturalism as one model of democratic policy response to culture and ethnic diversity is of interest to UNESCO, in so far as it corresponds to the ideal of a culture of peace, based on respect of diversity, as well as universally shared values and norms.
Cultural and ethnic diversity are not new phenomena and indeed, social theorists have developed many schema illustrating different contact situations and or explanations for the presence or absence of conflict between different ethnic groups. Multiculturalism in less than three decades has become a word immediately recognized by policy makers, social commentators, academics and the general public in certain countries. The term, however, does not necessarily enjoy such recognition in all parts of the world and furthermore, even where it is recognized, its connotations are not necessarily shared.
Three related, but nevertheless distinctive, referents of multiculturalism and its related adjective multicultural are presented below:
- The demographic-descriptive usage occurs where the word multicultural refers to the existence of linguistically, culturally and ethnically diverse segments in the populations of distinctiveness has some significance primarily because of perceived cultural difference though these are frequently associated with forms of structural differentiation.
- Ideological-normative usage of multiculturalism generates the greatest level of debate since it constitures a slogan and basis for political actions. Furthermore, it is one where the limited implementation of explicit multicultural programs and policies means that there is a limited range of empirical evidence available on their operations and outcomes.
- Programmatic-political usage of multiculturalism refers to the specific policies developed to respond an manage ethnic diversity.
What is Multicultural Education?
Banks and Banks (1995) define multicultural education as a field of study and an emerging discipline whose major aim is to crate equal educational opportunities from diverse racial, ethnic, social class and cultural groups.
According to James Banks (2001), the primary goal of multicultural education is to transform the school so that male and female students, exceptional students, and students from diverse cultural, social-class, racial, and ethnic groups experience an equal opportunity to learn. A key assumption of multicultural education is that the students are more likely to achieve when the total classroom climate is more consistent with their diverse cultures and learning styles.
One of its important goals is to help all students to acquire knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function effectively in pluralistic democratic society and to interact, negotiate and communicate with peoples from diverse groups in order to create a civic and moral community that works for the common good.
To help students develop a sense of personal and civic efficacy, faith in their ability to make changes in the institutions in which they live, and situations to apply the knowledge they have learned.
To help all students develop more positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, cultural and religious groups. One way of achieving this goal is to transform the curriculum by integrating these groups.
- Contributions approach – the ethnic heroes and holidays are included in the curriculum.
- additive approach – a unit or course is incorporated but no substantial change is made to the curriculum as a whole.
- transformation approach – the entire Eurocentric nature of the curriculum is changed. Students are taught to view events and issues from diverse ethnic and cultural perspective.
- social action approach – it goes beyond the transformation approach. Students not only learn to view issues from multiple perspective but also become directly involved in solving related problems.
Multiculturalism is a policy that emphasizes the unique characteristics of different cultures, especially as they relate to one another in receiving nations.
Multicultural education is an emerging discipline whose aim is to create equal educational opportunities from diverse racial, ethnic, social class and cultural groups.
Multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and addresses current shortcomings, failings and discriminatory practices in education.
Dimensions of Multicultural Education
Content Integration – deals with the extent to which teachers use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts.
Knowledge construction process – describes how teachers help students to understand, investigate, and determine how the biases, frames of reference, and perspectives within a discipline influence the ways in which knowledge is constructed within it.
Prejudice reduction –describes lessons and activities used by teachers to help students to develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
Equity pedagogy – exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural and social class groups.
Empowering school culture and social structure – dimension is created when culture and organization of the school are transformed in ways that enable students from diverse racial, ethnic, and gender groups to experience equality and equal status.
Subculture refers to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population. It can be based on age, ethnicity, residence, sexual preference, occupation and many other factors.
In terms of a general sense of culture – what it means to people
In terms of a specific sense of subcultures – the various groups we belong to involve particular sets of norms that apply only when we participate in theses groups.
Functions of subcultures
- permitting specialized activity – perform specialized tasks, they are essential to the division of labor which is essential in any society which is becoming larger and more complex.
- Identity in mass society – provide a source of identity in mass society, thus preventing feelings of isolation and anomie.
- Cultural adaptation and change – serve as a source of adaptation to society.
Cultural differences imply the transmission of ideas from generation to generation by significant members of the older generation (parents, teachers, religious leaders, etc)
To work effectively with students from different cultures, teachers must understand those cultures.
Social Institutions
Individual, formal organizations, commonly identified as “institutions,” may be deliberately and intentionally created by people. Their development and functioning in society in general may be regarded as an instance of emergence, that is, institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-organization, which goes beyond the conscious intentions of the individual human’s involved.
What is social institution?
In any human society are social structures and social mechanisms of social order and cooperation that govern the behavior of its members. These are called social institutions and according to functional theorists perform five essential tasks namely: replacing members or procreation, teaching new members, producing, distributing and consuming goods and services, preserving order, and providing and maintaining a sense of purpose.
Social institution is a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. It can also be defined in a narrow sense as any institution in society that works to socialize the groups of people in it.
Major Social Institutions
- Family – the smallest social institution with the unique function or producing and rearing the young.
The family is as far as we know, the toughest institution we have. It is, in fact, the institution to which we owe our humanity – Margaret Mead
Kinds of Family Patterms
Membership
-nuclear
-extended
Residence
-neolocal
-matrilocal
-patrilocal
Authority
-patriarchal
-matriarchal
-equalitarian
Descent
-bilineal
-patrilineal
-matrilineal
Conjugal or nuclear family – the primary or elementary family consisting of husband, wife and children.
Consanguine or extended family – consist of married couple, their parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
Polyandry – one woman is married to two or more men at the same time
Polygamy – one man is married to two or more women at the same time
Cenogamy – two or more men mate with tow or more women in group marriage
Patrilocal – the newly married couple lives with the parents of the husband
Matrilocal – the newly married couple lives with the parents of the wife
Neolocal – when the newly married pair maintains a separate household and live by themselves.
Patriarchal – the father is considered the head and plays a dominant role
Matriarchal – the mother or female is the head and makes the major decisions
Equalitarian – both father and mother share in making decisions and are equal in authority
- Education
Multiple functions of schools
-technical economic
-human/social
-political
-cultural
-education
Manifest functions of schools
-social control
-socialization
-social placement
-transmitting culture
-promoting social and political integration
-agent of change
Religion is the socially defined patterns of beliefs concerning the ultimate meaning of life; it assumes the existence of the supernatural.
Three elements of religion
-sacred and profane
-legitimation of norms
-rituals
-religious community
Social institutions insures the maintenance of society through the production distribution and consumptions of goods and services. –robert dahl
Microeconomics looks at the trees, while macro economics looks at the forest. Both categories involve the construction of theories and formulation of policies activities that are the heart of economics.
Three branches of government:
-executive
-legislative
-judicial
Administration refers to the aggregate of persons in whose hands the reigns of government are for the time being.
What are the functions of government?
- the constituent functions
- the ministrant functions are those undertaken to advance the general interest of society, such as public works, public charity, and regulation of trade and industry.
