The Road to Cultural Pluralism

cultural assimilation, transculturalism, and cultural pluralism

This is part of a thesis series within the boundaries between cultures- exploring how participatory design can empower a community and culture at risk. Read the introduction.

In seeking cultural convergence, transculturalism enables each social group to bring their values together in forming a unified mainstream culture. Unlike assimilation’s one-way integration between minority to majority, this model aims to eliminate the boundaries between them. However, in the creation of one cultural homogeneity, each group will have to relinquish some, if not most, of their own identity- characteristics that define their uniqueness (Brooks, 2012). Minority groups may find this difficult embracing- a mainstream of unity rather than equality, “surrendering their identity to a marginalizing mainstream culture” (Brooks, 2012). The dilemma, for blacks in particular, is defined by Brooks (2012) as being that “the mainstream culture may not be as welcoming for blacks as it is for other racial minorities, and, for those blacks who are let in, success may to a large extent depend on their ability to develop racial insensitivity of a black immigrant”.

In choosing to embrace, exercise, and support cultural identity, one should not be pressured into feeling illegitimate or ‘un-American’ (Brooks, 2012). On preserving culture, Kwame Appiah (2010) states, “If we want to preserve a wide range of human conditions because it allows free people the best chance to make their own lives, we can’t enforce diversity by trapping people within differences they long to escape”. Like assimilation and transculturalism, cultural pluralism is not without its weaknesses. The question stands: Should minorities commit their time, energy, and money to an endeavor that runs the risk of inadvertently leading them to the doorstep of cultural assimilation (Brooks, 2012)?

Explore other posts in this series:

Brooks, R. L., & The Hegeler Institute. (2012). Cultural Diversity: It’s All About the Mainstream. Monist, 95(1), 17–32.

Leopold, A. (1949). A Sand County Almanac.

Appiah, K. A. (2010). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (Reprint edition). W. W. Norton & Company.

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