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Cultural Pluralism and Educational Policy: In Search of Stable Multiculturalism
Abstract
The significance and meaning of cultural pluralism, or of multiculturalism as it is more commonly referred to in Australia, continue to excite much debate, as well as conceptual confusion. In this paper three possible types of multiculturalism in ethnically plural societies are analysed, namely those of ‘transitional‘, ‘residual’, and ‘stable’ or enduring multiculturalism. The latter orientation is carefully distinguished from separatism, while the transitional and residual types of multiculturalism are related to assimilationist solutions to pluralism.
Throughout the paper the emphasis is placed on the paramount significance of culture in social life and on the need to distinguish between viable cultures that can be transmitted and modified by future generations, and cultures that have been reduced to residues through the loss of their core values. Such a concept of ethnic cultures, each with its distinct core, is discussed within the framework of values that are supra-ethnic, or shared by all sections of Australian society. From this vantage, the role of the school appears to be that of cultivating such shared values, and of transmitting the cores of all groups, within a social matrix that is dynamic and capable of change. This type of viable and developing pluralism is only possible if it is related to the personal cultural worlds of all Australians, since plurality remains a sterile notion unless it is seen to permeate the lives of individuals from all groups in society. The focus of the paper is on Australia, but examples from other ethnically plural societies are introduced, in order to highlight those developments that bear upon the Australian scene, and to explicate certain conceptual distinctions that are best understood in an international context.
... In 2007 the Italian Government identified that as a result of Italian's propensity to identify with regions of Italy rather than with a unified Italy as a whole (Bottomley, 1995;Smolicz, 1981) that Queensland's Italian community was fragmented and disjointed. At this time these fragmented entities consisted of 44 registered associations as these people identified themselves as Tuscan's, Sicilians, and Sardinians etc rather than as Italian's (Dewhirst, Kennedy, & Ricatti, 2011). ...
In order to reinvigorate a waning connection within the Queensland’s Italian community in terms of what it is to be Italian, a yearly festival was held as a method of communication to a wide audience the joy and value of all things Italian. This research examined via a qualitative, pilot case study the role of a focal point in creating emotional engagement. The aim of this engagement was developing cultural unity and exploring the role emotions play in the creation of successful festival events for Italians and non-Italians alike. Initial finding suggests that when both utilitarian and hedonistic needs of festival attendees are met, the opportunity to create emotional engagement develops. The success of the festivals use of engagement produced an enhanced sense of cultural unity leading to a yearning to share and repeat the experience among the attendees, as well as communicating to a wider audience increasing both visitors and an appreciation of what it is to be Italian.
Keywords - Focal Points, Communication, Festivals, Events, Emotional engagement, Cultural Engagement, Cultural Identity
... In 2007 the Italian Government identified that as a result of Italian's propensity to identify with regions of Italy rather than with a unified Italy as a whole ( Bottomley, 1995, Smolicz, 1981) that Queensland's Italian community was fragmented and disjointed. At this time these fragmented entities consisted of 44 registered associations as these people identified themselves as Tuscan's, Sicilians, and Sardinians etc. rather than as Italian's ( Dewhirst et al., 2011). ...
Recent collapses, corporate frauds and the crisis of investors’ confidence have moved things toward the development of ethical codes and the companies’ orientation in the direction of a more sustainable behavior, which is now building up all over the world. In 2011, United Nations (UN) claims that companies have to “seek to prevent or to mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts” (Guiding Principles, No. 13, p. 14). In this perspective, Human rights (HRs) principles are becoming a crucial theme in embedding sustainability issues in key company functions. Indeed, companies should be prepared to disclose actions to address their HRs impacts through a formal communication especially to affected stakeholders. The form and the frequency of this communication may provide suitable and accessible information giving an adequate measure of transparency and accountability to firms’ audiences that may be impacted or to other relevant stakeholders (i.e. investors and so on). Building on these reflections, the research question of the present study pertains the influence of firm approach about the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting on firm commitment towards the safeguard of HRs. The foregoing research question is explored through six hypotheses into which the other determinants investigated are: firm profitability, corporate governance model and firm size. From an empirical standpoint, a longitudinal analysis, covering the time frame 2010-2014, is carried out on a sample of 42 European listed large-size companies operating in the oil & gas industry. Supportive empirical evidence ensues from the adoption of random effects (RE) regression models for panel data. © 2016, International Academy of Business and Economics. All rights reserved.
... In 2007 the Italian Government identified that as a result of Italian's propensity to identify with regions of Italy rather than with a unified Italy as a whole (Bottomley, 1995, Smolicz, 1981) that Queensland's Italian community was fragmented and disjointed. At this time these fragmented entities consisted of 44 registered associations as these people identified themselves as Tuscan's, Sicilians, and Sardinians etc. rather than as Italian's (Dewhirst et al., 2011). ...
A yearly festival which demonstrated the joy of all things Italian was developed as a communications
method to reinvigorate Queensland’s waning Italian community. This qualitative case-study examined the
role of a focal point in creating emotional engagement and how this engagement developed cultural unity
by exploring the role emotions play in the creation of successful festivals. Findings suggest that when
both utilitarian and hedonistic needs of festival attendees are met, the opportunity to create emotional
engagement develops. The success of the festivals use of engagement produced an enhanced sense of
cultural unity leading to a desire to share and repeat the experience among the attendees, as evidenced
by increased visitors and an appreciation of what it is to be Italian. This ability to create emotional
engagement is also appreciated in bringing together individuals with both high and low involvement in
the Italian community in Queensland.
... Multicultural policies and subsequent language policies claim to provide a favourable environment for the maintenance of immigrant languages. However, the relationship between multiculturalism and multilingualism is complex and contested (Clyne, 1991;Clyne, 1997;Smolicz, 1980Smolicz, , 1981Smolicz, , 1999. Rates of language loss and shift in Australia show that the multilingual heritage is very vulnerable even within the context of a highly multicultural society (Clyne & Kipp, 1997. ...
The research contrasts two vintages of Hungarian migrants in terms of their acculturation strategies, attitudes to the host and source cultures, ethnic-identity and language maintenance and shift patterns. The conclusions drawn have implications for the theoretical framework of language maintenance and shift as well as additive versus subtractive bilingualism. Period of arrival is singled out as a main factor in influencing patterns of social adjustment as well as language maintenance and shift. The paper argues that the wider social and policy context plays a significant role in the language development of ethnolinguistic minority communities. It provides some evidence that the Anglo-Saxon host society in Australia is seen as favourable for minority language maintenance and this potentially leads to increased societal bilingualism. One of the most significant findings of the research is that the more recently arrived migrants tend to use Hungarian language at home with their children, significantly more than the older generation of Hungarian migrants. The older generation of Hungarians who migrated to Australia in the 1940s and 1950s did not transmit their language to the next generation for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the lack of intergenerational language transmission reflected the assimilationist policies and practices of the Australian society at the time. The new vintage of Hungarian migrants were more positive about maintaining their language and transmitting it to their children. Multicultural policies seem to have created a more beneficial environment for minority language maintenance. 1. From assimilation to multiculturalism
Multicultural policies and language policies claim to provide a favourable environment for the maintenance of immigrant languages. However, the relationship between multiculturalism and multilingualism is complex and contested. Rates of language loss and shift in Australia show that the multilingual heritage is very vulnerable even within the context of a highly multicultural society. This paper examines the effect of multicultural policies on the linguistic and cultural adjustment of the Hungarian diaspora in Queensland. The research contrasts two vintages of Hungarian migrants in terms of their acculturation strategies, attitudes to the host and source cultures, ethnic identity and language maintenance and shift patterns. The conclusions drawn have implications for the theoretical framework of language maintenance and shift, as well as additive vs subtractive bilingualism. Period of arrival is singled out as a main factor in influencing patterns of social adjustment, as well as language maintenance and shift. The paper argues that the wider social and policy context plays a significant role in the language development of ethnolinguistic minority communities. It provides some evidence that the Anglo-Celtic host society in Australia is seen as favourable for minority language maintenance, and this potentially leads to increased societal bilingualism.
Multiculturalism has emerged as an issue in Australian education only over the past twenty years. In order to find out the contents of multicultural education, the paper examines 9 materials including policy guidelines, textbooks, resource books and teachers guidebooks developed by the Multicultural Education Centre, Directorate of Special Programs, New South Wales Department of Education. The paperidentifies two major themes commonly prepared for classroom activities. One ismulticulturalism in Australia and the other is the special features of “New Australian”society.
A key element of effective multiculturalism in schools is anti-racist attitude development through intercultural understanding. Multicultural and anti-racist programs and resources are provided by governments to schools to assist in ensuring that all students and staff can learn and work in an environment characterised by positive attitudes and intercultural understanding. A total of 345 teachers and administrators at 10 schools (6 secondary and 4 primary), of varying cultural diversity in New South Wales, completed an open-ended survey examining beliefs about, and attitudes towards, multiculturalism within schools. These findings were compared with those collected over twenty years ago, when the first government policy on multicultural education was mandated in NSW schools. 2 Australia, like a number of other growing nations, has opened itself up to waves of immigrants from the most diverse sources in the twentieth century. Successive Australian governments have maintained a reasonably high level of migrant intake stimulated by economic cultural, and humanitarian motives. The pattern of countries of origin of migrants has changed as global situations have altered. The influx of new
This paper examines a number of issues related to multicultural education and curriculum change. It focuses on school-level projects that were developed in Western Australian schools from 1979–1981. The results of the research raised the following points: teachers viewed multicultural education as a psycho-social rather than a socio-political phenomenon; the aims of multicultural education were seen to be best achieved by the collection of specific resource material; on-site implementation of the projects often led to changes being made to the original intentions of the project designers; qualitative research techniques proved more sensitive in portraying and consequently understanding the complexities associated with project implementation, and, finally, it seemed clear that more emphasis should be placed on understanding the role of the teacher as a policy mediator. It is at the school level that the final decisions are made about national policy intentions.
In 1978 the then Labour Government agreed to establish a Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups. Finally in 1985 after numerous changes in personnel (including the ‘resignation’ of the original chairperson) the committee produced its final report. Called Education for All it extended to 807 pages, had cost £692,618 to produce and was on sale at £24. Its role was to stimulate changes along multicultural lines throughout the various strata of the English education system. In short, it was intended to legitimate the educational orthodoxy of multicultural education.In this article I argue that this goal could never be achieved. To sustain this argument I look at the political origins of the committee, its original and then formal terms of reference, the ideological straitjacket within which it functioned and its tenuous relationship with the core of educational decision‐making in the UK. I conclude that the committee's impact on the mitigation of racial inequalities in the education system will be minimal. Indeed, it is an issue which the committee failed to engage with throughout its long history.
At the political level, liberal democratic value allows for equal recognition of personal worth and dignity to which all individuals are entitled. This paper argues that within that framework, there are values which we all share (i.e. universal values) and values which are particular to ethnic groups (i.e. particular values). These latter values form the core elements of the culture of ethnic groups. Thus the pressing educational need, as seen by the paper, is to try to find a way to combine these two sets of values. Social harmony may well depend upon the integration of these two sets of values in the life of every individual. Education can play a key role in developing these values especially if it is informed by the principle of multicultural education as described here. Such an education would lay greater stress on cultural development rather than cultural maintenance. Such an education would not focus exclusively on shared values, however, since this would contravene the principle of equal recognition and consequently to do so would be to unjustly discriminate against individuals on the basis of their culture. The paper argues that cultural development would better take place in a school system that caters for all classes, races, sexes or cultures. Such a system should allow for a number of cultural options from which students can choose. A shared framework of values that overarch all groups could also result in a modification of the norms of all groups — both majority and minority groups. For this is what cultural development implies.
This article is an assessment of some movements in the theorising of inequality over the last two decades, with particular attention to the Australian context and to the issue of gender as compared with class. It is argued that there has been a useful move from ‘inequality as disadvantage’ to one which focuses on difference, conflict and the characteristics of the groups previously seen as disadvantaged, but that these moves have been limited, partly by an over‐attention to inequality in analysing the content of schooling, and partly by an insufficient attention to inequality in relation to policy and practice initiatives. The discussion of specific examples and issues here suggests also that gender and class should not be treated as simply additive dimensions of a problem, and that analyses should be sensitive to the differing circumstances of countries which are often compared.
Until 1947, Australia was considered one of the most monolingual countries in the world. However, now there are more than a million bilingual Australians who regularly use a language other than English when talking with friends and families, or on religious or social occasions. (SL)
This study reports teacher attitudes towards multicultural curricula developments in a sample of New South Wales state primary schools and the assimilation orientation of the respondents prior to the publication and dissemination of the state Multicultural Education Policy document. In general, teachers were favourably disposed to non-English-speaking minority children maintaining their ethnic identity, particularly through the use of their ethnic language. However they were negatively disposed to schools being actively involved in teaching ethnic languages, and to schools extending multicultural curricula. Teachers of English as a second language were more favourably disposed to the propositions than either of the other two groups (administration and class teachers). Class teachers were less favourably inclined to community language teaching and to the development of multicultural curricula. The second part of the study measured the assimilation orientation of teachers on a three-point scale: angloconformism, interactionism and pluralism. The most popular alternative was interactionism, with pluralism being an unpopular choice. The argument is presented that little attitudinal change has occurred since the implementation of the Multicultural Education Policy.
Since the official adoption of multiculturalism by the Australian Federal Government in November, 1978 as its guiding policy on pluralist issues, an intense debate has developed, especially among academics, about its merits and weaknesses. Much of the debate follows similar trends in the United States and Canada, by being ‘advocatory’ and a blend of factual and normative statements. On the part of those committed to the multicultural view, many claims are ideological in the sense of attempting to dominate the construction of knowledge about the nature of Australian society and exclude contrary views from the public ‘arena of concern’. This is achieved in part by using dated, and even erroneous definitions of concepts, such as culture or race, ‘mobilisation of bias’ against opposing views, and latterly by inventing typologies of kinds of multiculturalism which are little more than tautologies and obscure central concerns that the multicultural model of society cannot accommodate.These weaknesses are the bases of critics’ attacks on the ideology. They point to the fact that concentration on cultural differences as the cause of ethnics’ unequal access to social rewards and economic resources obscures other causes, particularly social class differences, racial prejudice and discrimination. Critics accept that multiculturalism is a valid ideology, but only when it is used to refer to cultural diversity and lifestyles in the private domain of ethnic family and community. The ideology is not valid when used to refer to ethnics’ life chances, which are influenced by the structural characteristics of Australian society. There is some evidence to suggest that this is beginning to be acknowledged by some supporters of the official ideology, but without greatly changing the polarisation that has developed between them and the ideology's critics.
The authors make a plea for multicultural education at all levels of education in the United States but particularly at the level of higher education. For them, earlier conceptions of multiculturalism have not worked, be they assimilation, transitional multiculturalism #opanother term to designate the melting pot#cp, and finally, what the authors call residual multiculturalism or what might also be called tokenism or the attempt to be overly all‐inclusive in terms of emphasis of the particular. The authors propose a variety of multiculturalism that while emphasizing the core values of cultures serves as a unifying factor in a culture of difference. The latter must be incorporated into curricula, but not in a particularistic fashion; rather, “the myriad groups must be interwoven into the very fabric of the university experience”.
People of Greek ancestry have been part of Australia for over three generations, but their children are still often referred to as migrants rather than Greek‐Australians. The paper argues that Australians of different ethnic backgrounds and identities are not a threat to cohesion, as long as Australia develops overarching values that are shared by all Australians, such as parliamentary democracy, a modified free enterprise economy, the English language, and acceptance of cultural diversity in other areas of life. One of the cultural differences that have persisted among Greek‐Australians is the collectivist tradition of family life, which stands in sharp contrast to the more individualistic family patterns generally found among Anglo‐Australians. Responses given by Greek‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian secondary students to a questionnaire on family situations are discussed and compared. It is proposed that family structure, along with the Greek language and orthodox religion represent Greek core values, which seem necessary if authentic Greek ethnicity is to be preserved in Australia. The Greek‐Australian community has already made strenuous efforts to ensure the maintenance of Greek core values within the framework provided by overarching values in Australia.
The School for the German Language (SGL) was established in 1959 in South Australia. It is in session on Saturday mornings. Enrolment figures increased from 10 in 1959 to 325 in 1975, but since then they have declined to 173 in 1999. The ethnic composition of the students at the school has shifted from first or second-generation Germans to ‘multicultural’ students-parents from different ethnic backgrounds send their children to the school. Although enrolment figures at SGL are decreasing, it is anticipated that not only students of different ethnic backgrounds, but also Lo Bianco's recommendation to use ethnic schools as complementary providers in language teaching within the South Australian education system, will rescue it in the long run. Academically, the SGL has a very good reputation: compared with overall South Australian figures, the proportion of students studying German year 12 and matriculating through the school is high. Lo Bianco's recommendation, as well as highly qualified teaching and very dedicated administrative staff at the school, should provide for a positive future.
This paper provides an example of micro-planning which involves community, government and non-government organisations both in the context of immigrants’ source and host countries. The community in question is the Hungarian diaspora in Australia. The language planning activities are aimed at maintaining an immigrant heritage language and identity. The paper first gives a theoretical discussion on the definition of language policy and planning, with specific focus on micro-planning, then describes the Hungarian linguistic minorities in the Carpathian basin and in Australia. Then, the paper presents the micro-level language planning activities initiated by the Hungarian non-government organisations in Australia with specific focus on the interaction between Australian non-government organisations, Hungary-based non-government organisations and with government bodies in Hungary and Australia. The paper argues that micro-planning is initiated in the community, but can only be interpreted within the wider scope of macro-level planning. The paper also argues that micro-planning initiatives are essential complementary elements of language planning: neither macro- nor micro level planning is sufficient on its own.
The views of authors (Smolicz 1981; Knopfelmacher 1982) who believe that the conditions may well be rife in Australia for the emergence of dangerously alienated ethnic minorities, unless preventative measures are taken, are examined and found to be unsubstantiated. Other authors (Kringas 1984; Lewins 1984), who are hopeful rather than fearful concerning the emergence of conflict and tension, are also examined and their reasons for advocating a new style of confronta‐tionist politics are severely criticized. The issue of whether or not ethnic groups pose a threat to the established pattern of pressure‐group politics is addressed. Finally, some reflections are offered concerning the meaning of ‘politicization’ and the circumstances under which the politicization of ethnic groups would be warranted.
The notion of minority community group (henceforth group) rights has become firmly entrenched in the constitutional vocabulary in many countries in recent years Yet liberal political theorists continue to define rights in individualistic terms. For some liberals, while it is meaningful to talk about individual rights, it is meaningless to talk about group rights. For communitarians, on the other hand, since individuals are embedded in some shared social context and since some groups do have legal and moral rights and responsibilities, it makes sense to speak of group rights. In some societies, community groups are treated as a unit‐‐potentially as a right‐and‐duty‐bearing unit. The paper attempts to show how some recent liberals attempt to justify group rights by recognising “culture” as a “primary good”, thus basing cultural rights on a foundation consistent with liberal theory. The “cases” selected for discussion attempt to illustrate how liberal societies have wrestled with linguistic group rights within individualistic liberal frameworks.
This paper inderlines in a cursory way some questions of interpretation that seem to arise from Quebec's new Charter of the French Language.
The Charter breaks new ground in legal terminology. Some of the new terms and phrases introduced raise definitional problems, notably the concept of a "business undertaking".
The task of specifying the meaning of words and phrases used in the Charter has been left to the Cabinet, through an usually wide delegation of regulation-making power. However, the reconstructed French Language Board ( Office de la langue française ) has also been granted significant regulation-making authority, which may in some cases overlap with that of the Cabinet.
The nature and extent of rights and obligations that seem to arise under the Charter may be difficult to ascertain. In particular, the effect or provisions as to the language of standard form contracts, and the manner of enforcing them, seem fraught with uncertainty.
While the Charter obviously confirm the principles underlying the previous Official Language Act of 1974 , it achieves greater clarity and consistency in stating those policies. In some respects, it allows for more flexibility than the earlier Act.
The enforcement provisions of the Charter place greater emphasis on coercive action as regards the language of business. The Charter also breaks new ground by introducing a form of joint management of language conditions at work.
In order to allow innovations to settle down, it is suggested that uncertainties be resolved by accumulated experience rather than through over-hasty amending legislation.
In The Uprooted1 Oscar Handlin attempted an overarching interpretation of European peasant society and of the adjustment of emigrants from that society to the American environment. This interpretation is open to criticism on the grounds that it fails to respect the unique cultural attributes of the many and varied ethnic groups which sent immigrants to the United States. Through an examination of the south Italians, both in their Old World setting and in Chicago, this article will indicate how Handlin's portrayal of the peasant as immigrant does violence to the character of the contadini (peasants) of the Mezzogiorno.2
Intergenerational relationships in the United States and Yugoslavia are contrasted in terms of two opposing models: an American one stressing self-realization, independence, and individualism; and a Yugoslav one characterized by kinship corporacy, interdependence, and familial symbiosis and reciprocity. Differences in the role of the aged in these two societies are explained in terms of underlying systems of values and basic assumptions as reflected in family structure and process.
Over the last thirty years a major shift has occurred in the ethnic composition of Australian society. Although the initial policy of Anglo-assimilation has been officially rejected, there have been relatively few changes in school curricula to reflect the cultural complexion of the population. The failure of the assimilationist approach has led many individuals to re-examine their attitudes to cultural diversity. In this paper the extent of this change in value orientation towards cultural and linguistic pluralism is considered from a humanistic sociological perspective. Empirical data are drawn from an extensive survey of parents of all year 10 students in all Catholic secondary schools in South Australia.
It was found that while there was very considerable support for cultural pluralism and language maintenance, there remains a significant minority, especially among British- and Irish-Australians, who opposed the continued presence in Australia of any ethnic languages and cultures.
In view of the recent demands for the introduction of courses in ethnic languages and cultures into Australian schools, it is important that educational authorities should know what attitudes different groups in Australia adopt toward such innovations, as well as the grounds on which they do so. Humanistic sociology provides a specially sensitive methodological approach to investigate such questions. It has, therefore, been applied here to the analysis of submissions received by the Australian Government's Committee on the Teaching of Migrant Languages in Australian Schools. Although the majority of submissions favoured the introduction of ethnic languages and cultures into Australian schools, the reasons they gave revealed a number of different attitudes to cultural interaction. Most of the submissions stressed the benefits that Australian society as a whole would gain from ethnic education, as well as the way it could help individual ethnics. Only submissions from ethnic organizations, however, clearly recognized the importance of the maintenance of cultural heritage of ethnic groups in Australia as a prerequisite for significant two-way interaction.
Culture and Education in a Plural Society. Canberra: Curriculum Development Centre, 1979. (a) Also in
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Effects of Bilingualism
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Report to the OCDE Centre for Research and Innovation in Teaching, in the section on comparative study of educational problems in multicultural societies
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