by Barbara Guess

Created on: June 23, 2010

These are the two extreme viewpoints of the formation of a perfect society, where society is accepted as an agreed method of a group of people living together and accepting common rules. The importance of acceptance and adherence to the same rules ensures that all interaction between society members results in an accepted and expected outcome. This allows people to live in an orderly and safe manner, trading and developing in a way to enhance the standards of the whole of the group.

Cultural assimilation occurs when two groups of people with unique cultural attributes of how they see the world and their language try to live in close proximity to each other and the smaller, or weakest adapt themselves, by inter marriage or language learning skills into the larger group of humanity. By seeking to copy a larger role model they move away from their own identity as a group and the cultural traits weaken and over time disappear. For this integration to be successful the same overriding values need to be embraced by both groups, the role model helping with the education and disclosure of knowledge so that their attributes and views can be learned.

Cultural differentiation is when the two groups remain distinct from each other. There is no incentive for the smaller cultural group to adopt their majority neighbours lifestyle and the two remain separate. This happens when a large number of immigrants arrive in one location and the original immigrants are added to before any assimilation actions are put into operation by the host location. The new arrivals are separated by language and cultural viewpoint from appreciating the benefits of integration, so remain in isolation.

The economic benefits of cultural assimilation are great for both individual and the society as a whole, where communication is simplified and everyone has an equal opportunity within the society. While differentiation brings variety and the opportunity for the development of tolerance, to overcome the frictions between cultural groups in inter group encounters. 

Is there a decision to be made on this issue or should the dictates of need be the driving factor. For immigrants to gain employment there is the need to learn the language and to abide by the rules of the nation they have decided to move to. But diversity brings new knowledge and the creativity to explore unimagined possibilities and views, colouring how we view existence and reassessing life’s values.

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