Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin

Facultad de Educacin
Pedagoga Media en Ingls





Multicultural Society












Diego Garrido Rubilar
Nicol Irrarazabal Bentancur
Subject: Communicative Competence






Nowadays there have been a lot of debates related with multiculturalism
topic, especially in how governments in different countries understand, perceive
and try to define this subject. Nevertheless, what does this word mean in our
culture and what impact can it have? Multiculturalism arduously tries to make an
integration to blend diverse cultures, overlooking the importance of inclusion in this
phenomenon. In this essay, the main concerns are the inclusion and integration of
different cultures, the unawareness of the society about multiculturalism and it
implications, and the repression to express their own culture.

Governments and societies have misunderstood the meaning of inclusion
and integration, and they use it in a wrong way causing confusion. In order to be
concise of what a real multicultural society must be, people should know both
meaning. Anja Rudiger and Sarah Spencer (2003) mention that integration is how
people that are new o recently new in a country become part of this. The same
authors reclaim that inclusion has a close definition related to integration, but not
the same one. For both authors, inclusion refers to a similar idea of integration;
however, the difference is that they have the same access as everyone else and
without been discriminated of their own culture. They can express whatever they
want to and not be excluded. As we explain these two ideas, we must be aware of
what a multicultural society looks like. People should not only integrate people with
a different culture, they must include them and not discriminate because of their
differences.

Pundits, columnists, experts, intellectuals, academics and even the Oxford
dictionary show us a definition where this term turns in a platform to weigh into a
debate. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge about the meaning of this word is one
of the reasons why this topic seems so unfamiliar to a huge percentage of people
in a country. First of all, we all should be concern about how the multiculturalism
tries to create a more tolerant society. It is not about dissolve the national identity
of a country, but it is about being aware and concerned about the sharing of values
as a collective society, one in which everybody, regardless of colour, creed or
culture, felt at home (Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew
Congregations of the Commonwealth). Besides this, the key word in this unfinished
multiculturalism discussion is tolerance, if people star knowing and putting in
practice this word this public discussion will become more familiar in a good sense,
and step by step different cultures will be respect for every person.

Even though one multiculturalism definition is the co-existence of diverse
cultures, the doctrine of state multiculturalism (Government) encouraged different
cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the
mainstream. As the Primer UK Minister David Cameron said. If we think about
people seeking asylum, migrant workers, immigrant minorities, and national
minorities they all are classified into groups, multiculturalism should encourage
people first of all to be part of a society where nobody should have the right to
categorize people into groups. In addition, this is a type of division for a country,
and the society is feeling force to live their cultures in a separate way. Ethnic or
foreign groups have to show their celebrations or traditions just for people that
possess their same language or a similar culture, when this fact could be a
marvelous space to integrate the whole country to learn, respect and valorize the
multicultural richness that a country can have.


To sum up, we can say that multiculturalism is a word that is not well known
among society, and the people who live in a multicultural country are not aware
about the implication of this concept. We also explained different concepts that are
very important in terms of this topic and in that way everybody is going to know
what is the real purpose of having multiculturalism in a society or a country and
how people should react among this issue. The diversity of cultures in a country
can affect the daily living of people, but this only means that diversity makes a
society richer in terms of culture and the identity of each one. We should not be
afraid of letting different cultures immerse our country; in fact people should include
them and learn about them.



















Reference

- Rudijer, A. & Spencer, S. (2003). Social Integration of Migrants and
Ethnics Minorities Policies to Combat Discrimination. The Economic and
Social Aspects of Migration (p. 4). The European Comission and The
OECD.