Essentials of Sociology. George Ritzer

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СКАЧАТЬ some majority groups have come to oppose multiculturalism, various minority groups have grown impatient with the dominant culture’s limited view of multiculturalism and its unwillingness to accept the minority groups for who they are. Such minorities have asserted their right to retain their distinctive cultures and even their right not to assimilate, at least totally. In reaction, the majority group, especially whites in various parts of the world (including the United States), has reasserted themselves as an identity group (Mishra, 2018). Many minority groups have engaged in identity politics in using their power to strengthen the position of the cultural groups with which they identify (Appiah 2018). Identity politics has a long history; in recent decades, it has included the black power, feminist, and gay pride movements in many parts of the world. The goal of such movements has been the creation of a true multicultural society, one that accepts minorities for who they are. Identity politics has played out not only on the streets in the form of public protests and demonstrations but also in schools, especially in universities. In the latter, the central issue has been whether all students should be required to learn the “canon”—a common set of texts, sometimes referred to as the “great books”—a body of knowledge long regarded to be of central importance. For example, the works of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim are often thought to be the canonical texts in sociology. Minority cultures claim that the canon in sociology and many other fields reflects the interests and experiences of white middle- and upper-class males. They argue that alternative bodies of knowledge, such as those created by women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, are at least as important. The result has been a proliferation of programs such as those devoted to black, Chicano, and feminist studies, where the focus is on those alternative texts and bodies of knowledge. However, such programs have been the subject of much controversy and political scrutiny.

      Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism

      Multiculturalism and identity politics are closely related to cultural relativism, which is the idea that aspects of a culture such as norms and values need to be understood within the context of that culture; there are no cultural universals, or universally accepted norms and values. In this view, different cultures simply have different norms and values. There is no basis for saying that one set of norms and values is better than another. Thus, for example, those in Western countries should not judge Islamic women’s use of headscarves. Conversely, those in the Islamic world should not judge Western women who bare their midriffs.

      Cultural relativism runs counter to the tendency in many cultures toward ethnocentrism, or the belief that the norms, values, traditions, and material and symbolic aspects of one’s own culture are better than those of other cultures. The tendency toward ethnocentrism both among subcultures within the United States and in cultures throughout the world represents a huge barrier to greater cultural understanding. However, to be fair, a belief in one’s own culture can be of great value to that culture. It gives the people of that culture a sense of pride and identity. Problems arise when ethnocentrism serves as a barrier to understanding other cultures, a source of conflict among cultures, or an excuse for one culture to deny rights or privileges to another.

      Global Culture

      There are certainly major differences within American culture, such as those that exist among subcultures. Yet few would dispute the idea that it is possible to talk about American culture in general. However, discussing a global culture, a culture common to the world as a whole, is not as easy. Some elements of material culture, including hamburgers, sushi, cars, and communication technology, have spread widely around the world. However, the global diffusion of nonmaterial culture—values, norms, and symbolic culture—is somewhat more problematic.

      The Globalization of Values

      We have already discussed how values differ, sometimes greatly, from one society to another. How, then, can we discuss global values—values shared throughout the world? Some scholars argue that global values exist because all people share a biological structure that produces universal tendencies, including common values. Others contend that while particular values vary from country to country, the underlying structure of values is much the same across societies. However, the most persuasive argument for the existence of global values is traceable to the process of globalization. Global flows of all sorts of things—information, ideas, products, and people—produce realities in most parts of the world more similar than ever before. If these realities are increasingly similar, it seems likely that what people value will come to be increasingly similar throughout the world.

      Cultural Imperialism

      Many have the strong view that what affects global culture most of all is cultural imperialism, or the imposition of at least aspects of one dominant culture on other cultures (Inglis 2017; Tomlinson 1999). Cultural imperialism tends to undermine, even destroy, local cultures. For example, there is a long tradition in India of professional letter writers, men who place themselves in prominent locations (e.g., near train stations) and offer their services writing letters for poor, illiterate migrants. Many of these letter writers are able to survive on the pittance they are paid for each letter. However, the adoption of elements of Western culture—the cell phone, texting, and so on—is rendering the professional letter writers, and the cultural traditions associated with them, obsolete.

      There is certainly a great deal of cultural imperialism in the world today, much of it associated with the United States (Crothers 2018; Kuisel 1993). The process of Americanization includes the importation by other countries of a variety of cultural elements—products, images, technologies, practices, norms, values, and behaviors—closely associated with the United States. One example is the American movie industry: The popularity of American movies around the world has decimated the film industries of many countries, including Great Britain and France. (India is one exception, with its thriving Bollywood productions, including the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire [Rizvi 2012].) Another successful U.S. cultural export is Americans’ taste for food, especially fast food and the way in which it is eaten (quickly, with one’s hands, standing up or in the car). McDonald’s is a prime example, but another of note is Starbucks (Simon 2009), which has been surprisingly successful in exporting its model of large, slowly consumed cups of coffee. In contrast, in France and Italy and other countries, the historic preference has been for tiny cups of espresso quickly consumed (although the first Starbucks opened in Italy in 2018). There are now more than 28,000 Starbucks stores located around the world, in more than 70 countries.

      Cultural imperialism certainly exists, but it would be wrong to overestimate its power. Local cultures can be quite resilient. Not all cultures suffer the fate of French movie producers and Indian sari makers and letter writers. Consider the following:

       The powerful process of Americanization is often countered by anti-Americanism, which is an aversion to the United States in general, as well as to the influence of its culture abroad (Huntington 1996; O’Connor and Griffiths 2005).

       Many cultures—Chinese and Islamic cultures, for example—have long, even ancient, histories. These cultures have resisted at least some impositions from other cultures for centuries. They are likely to continue to resist changes that threaten their basic values and beliefs.

       Local cultures modify inputs and impositions from other cultures by integrating them with local realities and in the process produce cultural hybrids that combine elements of both (Nederveen Pieterse 2015). Hybridization occurs when, for instance, British people watch Asian rap performed by a South American in a London club owned by a Saudi Arabian; another example is the Dutch watching Moroccan women engage in Thai boxing. In the fast-food realm, McDonald’s sells such hybrid foods as McChicken Korma Naan, which caters to those in Great Britain who have developed СКАЧАТЬ