Monoculture Vs. Plural Culture

472 Words2 Pages

Oscar Paris 10/21/2015

Monoculture vs. Plural Culture

The United States is a melting pot of different cultural backgrounds, each with its own unique traditions and characteristics. From the arrival of European colonists, importation of Africans by the slave trade, to the mass waves of immigrants during the 20th century, never has a country experienced so much diversity. This has led to a fundamental question within American society today, the question being that of monoculture versus plural culture, homogeneity versus dissimilarity. Personally, I would say that the mixing of different cultures is a good …show more content…

For example, in the United States, there is a very warped view on the Islamic culture. People see it through the lens of a false overgeneralization, despite the fact that it, the culture, has its own sects, each with its very own customs. They don’t see it personally, but instead, listen to all the scaremongering. That is what I mean by ridding the misconceptions that people had within them of a certain culture. On the subject of a pluralistic society being too diverse, I personally believe that this idea is redundant. A pluralistic entails being diverse, in culture, belief, etc. This pluralism can have varying degrees to it, meaning that it could have a large amount of diversity or very little diversity, but both are still pluralistic, having different diverse cultures. However, on the subject at hand, I would say that the creation of too much diversity of peoples could cause, to some degree, an overwhelming of other cultures. By this, I do not mean the dominant culture of a certain country, like Germans in Germany or Swedes in Sweden, being taken over by the outside minority