CULTURAL CHANGES

What is Multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism is a theory about the foundations of a culture rather than a practice

which subsumes cultural ideas  Harrison (1984).

 A systematic and comprehensive response to cultural and ethnic diversity, with

educational, linguistic, economic and social components and specific institutional
mechanisms.
 A policy that emphasizes the unique characteristics of different cultures especially as
they relate to one another in receiving nations.

Advantages of Multiculturalism

 Lead cultural exchanges

 Add variety in the life of all citizens
 Bridges the chasm of ignorance and arrogance

Disadvantages of Multiculturalism

 Brings anxiety to stability of national identity

 Creates national disunity
 Questionable loyalties

Three Referents of Multiculturalism

1. Demographic-Descriptive
 It occurs when the word multicultural refers to the existence of linguistically,
culturally and ethnically diverse segments in the population of a society.

2. Ideological-Normative
 This usage of multiculturalism constitutes a specific focus towards the
management and organization of governmental responses to ethnic diversity.

 Exclusion
 Process of progressive social rupture, detaching groups and individuals from
social relations and institutions and preventing them from full participation in
the normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society in which they live.

 Apartheid
 Inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining
domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of
persons and systematically oppressing them.
  Ethnic cleansing
 Attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the
deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic
groups.

 Genocide
 Deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their
ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.

3. Programmatic-political
 Usage of multiculturalism refers to the specific policies developed to respond
and manage ethnic diversity.

What is Multicultural Education?

Multicultural Education is field of study and an emerging discipline whose major aim is to
create equal educational opportunities from racial, ethnic, social class and cultural groups 
Banks and Banks (1995).

 A progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques

and addresses current shortcomings, failings and discriminatory practices in
education.

Goals of Multicultural Education

 To transform school so that male and female students, exceptional students from
diverse cultural, social-class, racial and ethnic groups experience an equal
opportunity to learn.
 To help students to acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to function
effectively in pluralistic democratic society.
 To help students to acquire knowledge and commitments needed to make reflective
decisions.
 To promote democracy and democratic living.
 To help students develop more positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic,
cultural and religious groups.
 Four Approaches in Achieving Multicultural Education

Shared Ideals of Multicultural Education

 Every student must have an equal opportunity to achieve her or his full potential.
 Every student must be prepared to competently participate in an increasingly
intercultural society.
 Teachers must be prepared to effectively facilitate learning for every individual
student.
 Schools must be active participants in ending oppression of all types.
 Education must become more fully student- centered.
 Educators, activists and others must take a more active role in reexamining all
educational practice and how they affect the learning of all students.
 Dimensions of Cultural Education
-Dr. James A. Banks

1. Content Integration- deals with the extent to which teachers use examples and
content from a variety of cultures, and groups to illustrate key concepts,
generalizations, and issues within their subject area or disciplines.
2. 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.
3. Prejudice Reduction- describes lessons and activities used by teachers to help
students to develop positive attitudes towards different racial, ethnic, and cultural
groups
4. 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.
5. Empowering School Culture and Social Structure- is created when the culture
and organization of the school and transformed in ways that enable students from
diverse racial, ethnic, and gender groups to experience equality and equal status.

What is SUBCULTURE?

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
factors that are much smaller groups formed within a society.

 A subcultural group can develop around number of social activities (family, work,
education, religion, geographic region, and so forth).
 They must have opportunities for communicating with one another, both directly
(face-to-face contact) and indirectly (through The Growth of Student Subcultures.

 Subculture Sociologically refers to a group of people whose behavior has features

that set apart from the wider (or dominant) culture of the society in which it
develops.

The Growth of Student Subcultures

Two Main Types of Sub-cultural Groups

1. Reactive - members of subcultures do not necessarily reject the dominant culture,

but they embrace their own culture as valid and important.
2. Independent - while actively participating in the dominant culture, they often
participate in a subculture containing shared norms and values.
  Some groups of people share a particular way of life and we term these
smaller groups subculture. Example: being a part of “college student
subculture”.
 You chose to join a particular subcultural group with its own particular way of
life. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot be a part of other sub-cultural
groups or indeed the society as a whole.

 Deviant Cultures - subcultures that directly oppose dominant norms and values.

 Countercultures - subcultures that are oriented toward challenging dominant

culture or deliberately trying to change it.

 Dominant Culture - refers to the values, norms, and practices of the group within
society that is most powerful in terms of wealth, prestige, status, and influence.

 Subculture - is a group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values,

norms, and lifestyle.