“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

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Migrants are often seen to be unwilling to integrate with the local communities, while sticking to their original identity, values and beliefs. Consequently, this may breed cultural clashes and disputes. However, via communication and interaction, mutual understanding, tolerance and respect can be brought about. The development of a multicultural society enables migrants to fit in without totally abandoning their original cultures and identity. The preparation for the One Community Fiesta 2015 during the SG50 is a good example.

In reality, cultural integration is not an easy process, difficult for the society to achieve its aim of cultural tolerance and mutual respect as it is not easy for others to accept the way of life which is foreign to us. The process requires understanding and willingness to compromise our acquired way of life, consisting values, norms and behaviours to accommodate other ways of life. In doing so, we often felt that our interests and beliefs are sacrificed and we are bullied and undermined by the circumstances. We reject what is foreign and expect the society to accommodate us as we hold dearly to what we believe, want to behave and what is familiar.

Overview on the Social Perspectives of Culture:

Find out more about the social impacts of culture which in turn will in turn affect individuals such as how it fosters cohesion and unity, how countries should support cultural diversity and how culture has no place in the world.

To foster social cohesion and unity

Culture is important in the attainment of social stability. By understanding cultures such as cultural practices and traditions from various social groups, individuals can develop a sense of respect for cultural diversity to foster mutual understanding. For example, on World Hijab Day, women of all faiths wore hijabs so that they can step into the shoes of Muslim women and understand how they may feel while walking in the streets of countries where Muslims are the minority such as in US.

Why should countries support cultural diversity?

Culture diversity refers to the existence of different cultures in a society. This can be observed in multicultural societies like New York and Singapore which are commonly describes as ‘melting pots’, implying that there are many cultures fused and formed into a society. Countries thus should support cultural diversity because societies should be harmonious for its people to prosper. And this can only be encouraged when the country supports cultural diversity. For example, Singapore has the Ethnic Integration policy where each ethnic group can only make up a certain percentage of houses in Housing Block Flats so that the government can ensure that ethnic groups are all mixing around, so that there is no segregation.