Diversity means recognising that everyone is different in some way. Importantly this also means ‘valuing’ the difference. We can say that we live in a multicultural society. This means that there are people from different countries and backgrounds are all living together, even though some people are not diverse towards each other. It does not stop us from living from a multicultural society. There are many benefits of living in a diverse society and in this essay I will be introducing different types of social and cultural benefits.
Firstly, when having a large society, large communities, and different types of food, is an excellent way to get the taste of other countries. There are many different types of food which originate in different countries. It is important however, to know what countries food you are tasting, to see if you like it or not. Many people that are Hindu, Muslim and so on have their own foods and their own ingredient. Sometimes food doesn’t taste the same as it would in the country that it originates from. For example, a family want to make pizza in Britain, it may taste delicious but it wouldn’t taste as it would in Italy. The reason for this is because in Italy they use different types of ingredients and they also have different types of crops growing and for those reasons the dish has a different taste. Furthermore, over the years people from different countries use their natives’ ingredients to create more different types of food and this is why in the modern world there are many different colourful different types of dishes which did not exist 50 – 70 years back.
In the modern society we can look at different cultures such as Italy, being famous for producing pizza which is known not only in Britain but world wide.
Also Mexico There is a huge variety of food grown in Mexico. The main crop of the country is corn. Tortillas have corn in them so they are eaten with every meal. Even though beans aren’t made of corn, they are still eaten at every meal. There are some similar and some different traditions between the United States and Mexico. In the United States families have parties in honour of holidays and special events, like birthdays. Also corn is a major crop in both countries.
The Japanese eat a lot of fish, but Buddhist adults are not allowed to eat fish. The main crop is tea. The Japanese eat a lot of rice as well. The most popular food is sushi; it is rice with vegetables and raw fish wrapped in seaweed. The farms are planted under mountains. Japan has a wide variety of food.
One of the main ways of being diverse is looking in to other religions work of art. This is an easy way to get an insight of other countries. The reason for this is because in the modern society there are many different plays in theatres as well as different festival stories, books and movies. Getting to know countries through art could be one of the easiest ways to understand them. If you want to watch a movie and they are in a different language they will always have subtitles allowing the nation get in to the movie. Movies are not aimed at only one religion, the same can be said for theatres there are many theatres which make drama about the history which allows people to understand how live was and how the old aged society evolved to what it is now.
The arts can prove helpful to the work of a health and social care professional as they can provide some insight into the cultures and beliefs of other societies. They can help you to understand the needs and wants of people from backgrounds other than you own. Learning about ‘the arts’ is a good way to understand and appreciate difference.
Education focuses on every individual, student are now made to learn about other religions this is called Religious Education, this is a compulsory subject whom has to be taken in high school. Some students may not enjoy the subject, but when it comes down to talking about their own religion and background they tend to enjoy it. Learning about other religions in a small group allows, students from other religions talking about festivals and history, face to face. This allows debate to arise, as this is being conducted the students then get to compare religions and see how situations are different in other religions. For example, when it is the month of ‘Ramadan’ Muslims have to go through the month by fasting and only eating before sunrise and after sunset. Hindu’s however, fast once every 2months. This allows both religions to interact with each other.
The celebration of tradition and culture is now seen on all syllabuses in on form or another. Celebrating different cultures happens annually at high school, primary school, college and university. This shows it doesn’t matter how old a student is, they will never be old enough to get involved with other religions. Celebrating festivals can be expressed in many different ways, there could be stage shows, and many colleges introduce ‘International Evening’ where different religions have music from their culture or different dances. Now a day’s high schools allow 3months to learn different languages taught by different teachers, and the language that the students enjoy the most is the language they get to pick to do at a GCSE level.
The inclusion of equality, rights and diversity in the training and development of health and social care workers has seen huge improvements in the way individuals are treated and cared for by those workers. Most organisations include training on equal opportunities as part of their induction process.
Having a diverse society enables you to have many different languages in the vicinity which means many different ethnic groups get the chance to mingle with out ethnic groups. For example many Algerians from Algeria have adapted to speaking fluent French so they can interact with there across shore community the south of France. Other language users bring additional benefits. For example, having the opportunity to live and work with people from other countries and cultural backgrounds offers everyone the chance to learn something new and different.
Cultural enrichment benefits the diverse society because it helps the society learn that racism or being prejudice towards different people because of their colour or race, this lead to the society having high level tolerance.
In order to appreciate other people’s religions we have to tolerate their belief. Some people may not want anything to do with religion but this doesn’t mean they can tell others not to believe in religion. Tolerating other people views means having respect for what they do in religion. Understanding other peoples view is very important. If I may not want to get involved with the Muslim culture for example, I wouldn’t allow Muslim people not to talk about their religion. Each religion has a different view; tolerating each view brings religion closer together.
Social cohesion means sticking together, People in the modern society now stick together as a group. You can see African people and Indian, as well as Japanese people all staying together as a group. It doesn’t matter what the background is. The main point is getting known each others background. Large communities can now get together and express their feelings from different views and backgrounds.
A further benefit from diversity is economically. Immigration is leading the labour workforce. This is because immigrants who don’t get paid enough are willing to do any kind of low paid job, such as toilet cleaning, window cleaning. Many immigrants bring good things into the country such as new technology from Japan, China new cars from Italy and Germany. In terms of health and social care, the economic benefits of diversity can be seen through the knowledge and practice that new practitioners bring into the country.
From this essay I can conclude, that having a multicultural society is beneficial to us in many different ways. Firstly, with out the arts in there would be no theatre plays, we wouldn’t know about what really happened on Diwali and Eid, but thanks to the modern arts we know what it means. Trying different types of food from different countries is an excellent way to get to know other countries, as you can find out what the native crops are. The source of education is important to every student as for those who don’t want to know about religion have to find out about it as now a days subject like religious studies is compulsory, also the fact that learning a language could been you could visit the home country and speak face to face with others.
I believe, it may be hard for people to get to know other religions but being tolerant to each other allows individuals get involved with other religions more easily as it opens up doors. Overall, social cohesion is what it all comes down to, sticking together as a group in society. The modern world would not be what it is without people not being able to allow themselves into other religions.
