The History of Multiculturalism in Australia
Discuss About The Multiculturalism Australian National Identity.
Multiculturalism can be defined as a term which has different set of meanings in political philosophy, sociology and in colloquial use. In everyday usage and psychology, multiculturalism is considered to be the synonym of ethnic pluralism and both the terms are often used interchangeability. The term can also be described as the mixed ethnic community are where there is the existence of multiple cultural traditions. Multiculturalism in which distinctiveness of multiple cultures is promoted is considered to be different from other settlement policies like cultural assimilation, social integration and racial segregation (McLaren, 2018). This essay is focused on multiculturalism in Australia and the advantages and disadvantages faced by such countries.
The official policy of multiculturalism has been adopted by Australia after Canada. The government of Australia retains multiculturalism in policy which has now become the defining aspect of Australia today. After World War II, the White Australia Policy was dismantled due to the number of changes made to immigration policy. However, the official introduction of the policy related to multiculturalism was made in the year 1972. In 1996, John Howard was elected for Liberal- National Coalition government which was considered to be a major watershed for the multiculturalism in Australia. Howard acted as the critic of multiculturalism for a long period of time and released his One Australia policy in the 1980s (Maginn & Hamnett, 2016). Tolerance and engagement are the characteristics of the contact between the people belonging to different cultures in Australia. However, such contact also resulted in rifts and conflicts several times. The diverse migrant communities in Australia have also brought with them different kind of cultural practices, lifestyle and food which have absorbed into the mainstream culture of Australia. In other words, the multicultural composition of the people of Australia, its prohibition on discrimination, its immigration policies and equality of all persons before law reflects the multiculturalism in Australia. Along with it, there are a number of cultural policies with the help of which diversity is promoted in Australia like the formation of Special Broadcasting Services (Moran, 2016).
As the results of 2011 Census, approximately 26% of the population residing in Australia was born overseas. The results further provided that at least one of the parents of 20% Australian population was born overseas. 2.5% of the Australian population comprised of Aboriginal Australians. It is due to the White Australia Policy due to which Australians have accepted all persons (Moran, 2017). In the year 1973, after some steps taken by Whitlam Labor government, the implementation of further official national multicultural policies was made by Fraser’s Conservative Coalition government in the year 1973. The different policies introduced brought a wide change in the meaning of multiculturalism in Australia. Originally, the term was understood by the mainstream population. Later on, the meaning was also linked with the rights of the migrants to express their cultural identity within the mainstream Australia. Now, multiculturalism is also known for the notion that the Australian people have multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Immigration o Australia have increased to a great extend over the past few decades. The overseas immigrants have increased from 118,000 in the year 2003- 04 to 200,000 in the year 2015. Furthermore, the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia provides that the government of Australia is concerned with three broad areas of the policy namely social justice, cultural identity and economic efficiency (Lentin, 2017).
Characteristics of Multiculturalism in Australia
The Australian Multicultural policy presented by Rudd government focused on main points such as acceptance, recognition and celebration of linguistic, cultural and faith diversity based on the commitment to laws and democracy of Australia. Also, it recognized productive diversity, fundamental human rights for, practicing, preserving, enhancing, sharing and celebrating their cultural and faith heritage. It also focused on creative measures and policies that address religious and racial discrimination. The investment in immigration, population and cultural diversity was also renewed (Ng & Metz, 2015). Due to the support of multiculturalism, Australia have a number of advantages. Such advantages are experienced by all the multi- cultural countries. One of the most important advantage is the reduced racial discrimination. There is open sharing of information by people regarding their culture which, economics, assists the people belonging to other cultures in having a deep understanding of the rationale behind different practices and traditions irrespective of their offending nature and obscenity (Wilding & Nunn, 2017).
Another advantage of multiculturalism is the promotion of integrated efforts for the purpose of helping in bringing respective improvements in culture. Such improvements are brought due to the reason of existence of certain factors in culture that are offending particular human rights or creating a discrimination between the people of same culture. The advantages of multiculturalism in Australia also include the educational benefits to children (Rhoads & Valadez, 2016). Relevant changes have been made in the subjects taught to the students such as history which describes the entire story of the development of culture to the students from very young age. With the help of education regarding this subject, the students are able to accommodate a broader and comprehensive understanding of the past events. Education provides greater exposure to the students regarding this topic. Students are given education regarding equality and therefore they are able to develop an attitude against racism. Opportunities are also given to the students to learn a variety of languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, etc. They are educated regarding different traditions and cultures (Ghosh, 2018). When they learn different languages, they are capable of communicating easily with the people and friends belonging to different countries and cultures.
Agreements and treaties take place in an effective manner as Australians have knowledge regarding ideologies of different countries. The gestures of different countries are different, therefore, a single act can proof to be offensive for their culture. Australians are also benefitted from multiculturalism as it provides the cultural link with other countries and allows them to have access to their sports. Diversity in their sports is the results of the presence of cultural diversity in Australia. Also, it allows them to have access and opportunities to play a variety of sports with the players of different countries. Therefore, there is both competition and strong bond of Australia with other countries (Gauthier, 2016). The exotic foods and flavors from different countries also constitutes another benefit of multiculturalism. Australia is not only rich in experiences but also have closer social and economic links with other nations as a consequence of multicultural population. The food, fashion and culture of Australia is greatly influenced by multiculturalism (Walsh, 2014). There are different lifestyles and varies ideas in Australia due to multiculturalism. The life of people in Australia is more interesting and exciting as there are different traditions which allows them to celebrate and enjoy different events and festivals. The exposure to different traditions allows the Australians accept the differences and become less discriminative. Learning diverse traditions and living with it presents the manner in which others spend their lives (Carrington & Marshall, 2008).
Advantages of Multiculturalism in Australia
On the other hand, multicultural countries like Australia also suffer from certain disadvantages. The advantage lies in the fact that the racial discrimination is decreased due to multiculturalism. However, it also leads to diminishing cultural identity of one country or culture due to the reason of high influence of outside intervention. The formation of society or tradition of one culture may also be dependent on another culture. In the multicultural world, dominance means the phasing out of defined cultures that are in existence from the past. Different cultures are greatly influenced by the new thought processes and new ways of thinking which drives the culture away from traditional thinking. In other words, the essence of the culture is lost due to multiculturalism. The existence of links with other countries in Australia has the possibility of resulting in ideology clashes. Different beliefs and traditions arising from different countries may be disagreeing (Boese & Marotta, 2017).
Multicultural Australia is capable of hosting diverse cultures and mixing them together. However, disagreements may arise between different cultures as they have diverse ideologies relating to belief in God, beginning of the world, etc. Such beliefs also results in arguments in schools, businesses and friends. Australia also suffers from difficulties caused due to bringing diverse cultures together. The disadvantages also include the fact that the younger generation of Australia belonging to immigrant families or ethnic groups is taking time in getting accustomed with the environment. Therefore, there are chances that this may get reflected in the academic performance of such students (Blair, 2015). Australia is also rich in having employees migrated from different countries and cultures. Such employees are capable of contributing broader point of view on the assignments. Problem solving becomes easier due to the presence of mix cultural experiences and allows them to create a strong team. The office environment is also enriched due to the diverse set of workers thereby improving the work culture. On the other hand, the effective and efficient management of multicultural workforce is a difficult task. People belonging to the minority group may also suffer from the prejudices of employees. Also, the encouragement of cooperation among the workers and ensuring their collaboration as a team also becomes a difficult job (Baker & Rowe, 2014).
Multiculturalism in Australia have allowed it to benefit from globalization. Multinational organizations in Australia employ diverse population from different countries which, in turn, assists them in capturing the global markets, earning profits easily and increasing customer base across countries. Majority of the immigrants considers the multiethnic countries such as Australia as their home. Majority of its population consists of highly skilled and educated workforce. The employer and the employee both benefit from the skilled employees from other countries who have knowledge of English language. Such employees serves as the asset for the multinational organizations. When individuals and minority groups survive in a multicultural society, they often suffer from the fear of losing their original lifestyle or ethnic identities. The influence of foreign belief systems and other cultures sometimes create a protectionist tendency among the individuals. The differences in religious practices and beliefs, ethnic rituals and lifestyles sometimes results in the occurrence of social conflicts that may cause rifts between groups (Ali, 2016).
Disadvantages of Multiculturalism in Australia
Therefore, it can be concluded that a lot of cultural backgrounds have been adopted by Australia along with different values. Such cultures and values have made Australian society multicultural and integrated. The term multiculturalism is considered to be same as ethic pluralism and is described as the mixed ethnic community where multiple cultural traditions exists. Multiculturalism have now become the defining aspect of Australia as it has adopted the official policy of multiculturalism. The contact between the people belonging to different cultures can be characterized by tolerance and engagement. The multicultural composition of the people of Australia, its prohibition on discrimination, its immigration policies and equality of all persons before law reflects the multiculturalism in Australia. However, there are a number of disadvantages of multicultural countries. The advantages include the reduction of racial discrimination, open understanding, promotion of integrated efforts, educational benefits, ease in communication and business and the exotic foods and flavors from different countries. On the other hand, multicultural countries like Australia also suffer from certain disadvantages. The disadvantages include diminished cultural identity of one country, loss of essence of original culture, original lifestyle and ethnic identities, and conflicts.
References
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