Culture Diversity and Media
Culture comprises broader groups of people. Different people with different cultures form a society. With other people from different cultures, cultural diversity appreciates that the community consists of individuals with different interests, competencies, ethnic backgrounds, languages, and traditions. The media play a critical role in promoting cultural diversity. It educates the public that valuing diversity means recognizing the different cultures, respecting the cultural difference, understanding the difference does not mean deficiency, valuing aspects offered by different cultures, encouraging participation of the diverse groups, empowering them to achieve their maximum potential, and celebrating the diverse nature in the society. With the media’s influence, fairness is incorporated into the system.
Highlights
The editorial team of U.S. News presents diversity in admission to medical schools beyond race and ethnic origin. Due to high rates of immigration, the U.S. population has become a multicultural state. It has become more ethnically, socially, and culturally diverse. This translates to various health care specialists who embrace the fact that people come from different races and appreciate their ethnic origin. This ensures the providence of quality health care to all patients regardless of their skin color and ethnic origin. They emphasize the medical students’ involvement in the art to understand human conditions and relate to other people’s emotions.
The editorial team focuses on the diversity of professional experiences. The medical college should educate the medical personnel who can care for patients with broad cultural differences. Therefore, they should conduct their attachments in environments with a diverse population with different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Having a diverse pool of study in medical schools can mainly help in racial appreciation. With other group learning experiences, appreciation of people’s differences is enhanced. Personal travel experiences and learning a new language help understand how different people conduct their daily lives hence embracing their cultures.
Minority and dominant group differentiation.
The teams present the minority and dominant group differentiation concept along the racial and ethnic lines. Some students are denied admission to the university based on their skin color. Others are discriminated against in the school due to their different ethnic origin. The discriminated parties form the minority while the people propagating discrimination form the dominant group. The minority group tends to retaliate. According to the article, doctors who are black tend to treat better their fellow blacks. This is attributed to the inferiority complex experienced by the lesser group.
Offering equal treatment to all despite their race and ethnic origin shows one understands some of the population’s issues. Unfair treatment to the minority has adverse effects. Denial of opportunities and privileges due to differences in race and ethnicity is unjust. The editors argue that having vast academic diversity through interactions in the learning groups helps bridge the gap between the majority and minority groups. This is contributed by an equal opportunity in participation in a specific topic. They are having students interact from different disciplines help in promoting diversity by application of their different ways of thinking in the group settings.
Sociological theories
Marx’s and Weber’s theories of inequality
Marx tries to outline the effects of capitalism on labor, production, and the economy’s development. He focuses on the distinction within the social classes. He believes that the elite level, which he referred to as the ‘bourgeoisie class,’ controls the production process. This includes the dominant group. Simultaneously, the labor force ‘proletariats’ are responsible for using their labor skills to convert raw materials to valuable commodities. This is only beneficial to the elite class as they maximize the profits by paying the laborers low rates. Discriminating one in education denies them the chance to move upwards in social studies as the high academic attainments guarantee a better-paying job. Education attainment plays an essential role in social stratification (AC Kerckoff,2001). It denies them the chance of fitting in the elite class rather than the proletariat class.
Gordon’s theory of assimilation
Gordon focused on the minority group. He defines assimilation as the development of primary-group relationships, incorporating into the social systems that facilitate entrance to dominant group society. Unfortunately, many institutions use the majority and minority concept in decision-making where the majority group’s decision counts without considering the facts of the minority. Since the people with ‘normal’ racial and ethnic origin are the majority, it gave them the power to look down on the minority group. Gordon’s theory of assimilation tries to correct this situation whereby it focuses on incorporating the minority group in the social structure. This helps such individuals to develop a sense of peoplehood and contribute positively to the growth of society. Assimilation is vital to bring about social change. This brings about a change in human interactions and relationships between the majority and the minority group, bringing about transformation
Park’s race relation cycle theory.
The theory focuses on racial assimilation. The cycle comprises of four stages: contact, conflict, accommodation, and assimilation. Integration is the outcome of relationships between different groups especially their biased attitudes towards each other after their first contact, This involves contact in the spheres of politics, social structures, ethnic backgrounds, culture and education attainment. The minority group has to be assimilated by the dominant group. The majority racial group,the whites, have to incorporate the blacks in their systems for peaceful co-existence.
Human capital theory
Human capital comprises of habits, knowledge, skills and personal qualities which boosts the ability to provide labr for production of economic value. The theory focuses on earnings. It explains the individual’s decision to invest in human capital which includes education and lifetime earnings of the individual. The theory emphasizes on how education increases productivity and efficiency of the employees which is as a result of innate qualities and investement in human beings. The acquisition of the necessary knowledge and skills is an investement in human capital(Woodhall,1997). It stresses out that investement in human capital will lead to greater economic outputs. Barring one from access to education on the basis of racial and ethnic origin denys the opportunity in investing on their human capital which would translate to economic stability.
Functional theory.
The theory sees the society as a structure with interrelated organs designed to meet the needs of the individual in the society. Herbert spencer argued that just as various organs in the body work together to enhance the functionality of the body, various social institutions work together in promote the growth of the society. The society is a complex system held together by the common values, languages and symbols (Durkheim 1893). According to Emile Durkheim, social facts consist of how individuals do things, how they reason, and their feelings. The social facts are the laws, customs and religious beliefs that govern the success of the society. All social institutions work together to maintain stability of the society(Parsons,1961). Working together of both the majority and dominant groups would improve the growth of the society.
Culture of poverty theory.
This theory emphasizes on the fact that qualities of people experiencing poverty play an essential role in causing their condition and sustaining a poverty culture across their generations. It explains why there are increased poverty rates despite interventions by different institutions. Focus is majorly on the individuals efforts in alleviating their poor conditions. When one fails to escape the poverty cycle, the family becomes poor which makes the children to grow in poverty. The children are significantly disadvantaged in education and skills which make them struggle to get a sustaining job. This leads to a repeated cycle of poverty events which is passed on from one generation to the other. Discriminating one in education due to their race and ethnic origin places them on such poverty schemes.
Merton’s categories of prejudice and discrimination
Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a certain group of people. This entails ideas and beliefs that predisposes one to act in certain way. On the other hand, discrimination is the unfair treatment against individuals of a certain category. Prejudice often leads to discrimination which might lead to racism. The belief of one’s race being superior to that of other people leads to the dominating group discriminating and expelling the minority group. However, Robert Merton discovered that prejudice does not necessarily lead to discrimination. He therefore developed a category of four-dominant group members on how they responded to minorities. They include: unprejudiced Non-Discriminators, Unprejudiced Discriminators, prejudiced Non-Discriminators and Prejudiced Discriminators.
Unprejudiced Non-Discriminators are people who believe in equality regardless of race and ethnic origin and act accordingly. There is consistency in their attitudes and behaviours. They abide by their beliefs no matter of the location and people surrounding them. Marton even calls them ‘all-weather liberals’.
Unprejudiced Discriminators practice discrimination due to social pressures with their un-prejudicial attitude. Robert Marton refers to the as “fair weather liberals”. They are consistent with their discriminatory behavior. An example is where the university’s admission board refuses to admit a black student for fear of offending the society.
Prejudiced Non-Discriminators are afraid to express their prejudice through discrimination. They are controlled by society pressure rather than standing with their decisions. Prejudiced Discriminators practice discrimination and are deeply prejudiced against minorities. They are consistent in their actions and their actions reflect their beliefs.
Influence of power on the media.
Power from corporate executives, lobbyist, special interest group, political leaders or those owning a particular newspaper, channel or media conglomerate plays a part in determining what will be featured in the media. Political leaders often use media to push their agendas as it is an effective channel for reaching a wider audience. They have capitalized in use of this channel to build their public image since they ride on their fame. The racism article might have been influenced by a political leader who want endear himself to the blacks. Having them believe that he can create equal opportunities for both the blacks and whites would really ganner him votes. Most of the times they are just empty promises. They loot public resources which would be used in education of both the blacks and whites to enable them compete fairly in the job market.
Human right commissions and lobbiysts would have influenced the publishment of the editorial article. Lobbiyst provoke the public which stir their reaction to increased cases of racial and discrimination based on ethnic origin. This is done through peaceful demonstrations, social media mobilization and sensitization campaigns. With the pressure from the public, the editorial team found it prudent to highlight the discrimination vice in the society and educate the public on importance of cultural diversity.
Media owners have a great impact on the content to be broadcasted and published. It is expected that a Black media owner would have the injustices they face like racial discrimination showcased to the public. This is because they control an integral part of content production. The issues highlighted in the media are management effectively and at a fast rate since they are of public interest. This helps in reducing interacial discrimination in the society which enhances a peaceful co-existence. Individuals are able to perform their daily activities freely.
Special interest groups also have power on media. They push for their interests to be included in the relevant editoral articles. With the monetarly value attached to such publications, the editorial features the content presented by the groups. They deal with diverse issues in the society highlighting the increased rates of discrimination. A person who has overcomed discrimination, could have presented the experiences to the editorial team for relevant action to be taken against the perpetrators.
Conclusion
Valuing cultural diversity is paramount for the wholesome growth of society. Appreciating every individual regardless of their age, sex, ethnic origin, the race would prove effective in dealing with discrimination and inequality cases in society. Education of the public on embracing cultural diversity would help in reducing interacial discrimination. Social facts have made some individuals to develop prejudice against a certain ethnic group. It is therefore vital to conduct intense public education to eradicate the negative social facts which would curb the menace.
References
U.S. media sources
BB Boutwell, JL Nedelec, B Winegard, T Shackelford… – PloS one, 2017 – journals.plos.org
Education and social stratification processes in comparative perspective
AC Kerckhoff – Sociology of education, 2001 – JSTOR
Age discrimination laws and labor market efficiency
D Neumark, WA Stock – Journal of Political Economy, 1999 – journals.UChicago.edua