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ISSN 2311-9489. КУЛЬТУРОЛОГІЧНА ДУМКА. 2016. №10

УДК 130.2

Conceptual prospects of the comparative analysis of multicultural practices

Sudakova Summary. This article analyzes the difficult conditions of application of multicultural policies in multicultural societies. The authors define the Valentyna evolution of ideas and of , considering the con- D-r hab. of Philosophic Sciences, ceptual perspective of comparative studies of multicultural practices head of the department in Institute Keywords: multiculturalism, , cultural diffusion, assimi- of of NAA of Ukraine lation, marginalization, identity, , cultural norms, peace- ful co-existence. Судакова Валентина Миколаївна Introduction. Today the controversial and even dangerous re- доктор філософських наук, lationships among different countries of the contemporary global завідувач відділу determine the need of constant scientific attention from Інституту культурології scholars who investigate the problematics of peaceful co-existence НАМ України and of organization of peaceful social order. The fundamental hu- manitarian idea of “eternal peaceˮ which was a dream of I. Kant, Судакова became the important cognitive principle in modern social scienc- Валентина Николаевна es. But it is well-known that different attempts to realize this idea доктор философских наук, in the form of the specific peace-making policy demonstrate some заведующая отделом difficulties because in the contemporary democratic societies “each Института культурологии person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty НАИ Украины compatible with a similar liberty for others” [1, 60]. But existing deep economic, social and cultural inequalities among individu- Sudakov als and social groups are the real obstacles for effective protection Volodymyr of human rights and liberties. The global inequalities are also the Doctor hab. of , professor, factors which produce new social conflicts and wars among differ- Head of Department ent states, racial and communities. So for modern scholars Shevchenko KNU there is a challenge and an important task to create innovative glo- bal and regional peace-making projects. The project of multicultur- Судаков alism now is wide-spread and popular. Despite harsh criticism in Володимир Іванович recent years, this project has not lost its scientific significance. It is доктор соціологічних наук, precisely because there are objective and subjective reasons for the професор, завідувач кафедри finding of fact and the global awareness of the lack of alternative КНУ імені Тараса Шевченка project which could enable to explain the ways of humanization of the contemporary global society. Судаков The main purposes of this article are the identification of con- Владимир Иванович ceptual foundations of the multiculturalism phenomena and also to доктор социологических наук, provide the comparative of the current models of multicul- профессор, заведующий кафедрой tural policies in modern societies. КНУ имені Тараса Шевченко First of all, we have to underline that the theoretical background of the “multiculturalismˮ project has a long intellectual . In the most general cognitive aspect, this project can be regarded as

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an applied part of the general theory of . So the opera, and ballet, embodied higher culture. Those in notion of culture is the basic concept which scholars the working class who enjoyed activities such as popu- use in their scientific . One convenient way lar theatre, Folk art, and “street” activities — and later to think about culture is to recognize that the people movies and television — embodied . We of every society have an array of tasks to perform and see remnants of these definitions of culture operating problems to solve. All people must have ways of pro- today. Today, the notion of culture continues to be used viding food, clothing, and shelter, ways of producing in some situations to stratified groups based on the and caring for children, and ways of solving disputes kind of activities people engage in, reinforcing beliefs b etween members. And most important, all people about superior or inferior [3, 3–4]. must have a way of making life orderly and predict- The ontological inequalities of “higher culture” able. “Culture is the entire complex of ideas and mate- and “low culture” determine the social practices of rial objects that the people of a society (or group) cre- modern multiculturalism. The ontological specifics of ated and adopted for carrying out the necessary tasks the multiculturalism phenomena try to explain not only of collective life” [2, 85]. the theory of culture but also two special theories of As this definition suggests, cultures are human and communications — 1) the creations but, of cause, much of their culture people theory of acculturation and 2) the theory of cultural inherit from those who created it. In other words, ev- diffusion. ery culture has its history. When children are born into Advanced content of the acculturation theory is the a society they learn the elements of their culture, and fundamental justification possibilities of mutual posi- they in turn pass them on, probably, in some modified tive influence of intercultural communications when form, to those who follow them. Cultures, therefore, all or part of the members of one culture (original are also capable of change. culture) adopt the norms, values and traditions of an- The process of cultural dynamics is a total unity of other culture (dominant or host culture). The concept different ways and forms of human behavior. Culture “acculturationˮ was introduced in 1880 by the scientif- offers an explanation of individual and collective be- ic community of American . This concept havior in different societies and countries. From this provoked great interest and, subsequently, the active conceptual perspective the notion “culture” reflects researchers of cultural exchange and of cultural diver- specific historical aspects of intercultural relations and sity. Innovative by R. Redfield, R. Lin- communications. “Historically, the word culture was ton, A. Herskovits, W. Thomas were discovered the closely linked in its use and meaning to the processes specific angle of “positive — negativeˮ effects of ac- of colonization. In the 19th century, European anthro- culturation process which was defined as ”continuous pologists wrote detailed descriptions of the ways of fist-hand contact” between persons who presented the life of “others”, generally characterizing non-Euro- norms and the values of different cultures. The mod- pean societies as less civilized, barbaric, “primitive”, ern theory of acculturation explains the ontological as lacking “culture”. These colonial accounts treated peculiarities of different basic models of intercultural European culture as the norm and constructed Europe communications: 1) assimilation model; 2) separation as superior by using the alleged lack of “culture” of model; 3) integration model; 4) marginalization model non-European societies as justification of coloniza- [4, 401–410]. Today a lot of researchers and politi- tion” [3, 3]. cians believe that the best strategy of acculturation is The cultural inequalities are important elements of full assimilation with the . But in re- social stratification process. And these cultural inequal- cent years scholars began to consider acculturation as ities are the basis of cultural differentiation on “higher the process of forming of multicultural identity and, culture” and “low culture”. “The categorization system therefore, new multicultural community. that stratified groups based on having “culture” or not, The notion of “cultural diffusion” hardly be called with the assumption of the superiority of European purely theoretical concept. Rather, it has the features culture, translated within European societies as “high- of a broader view on inter-ethnical relations. Ethno- er” and “low” culture. These in the elite class or rul- cultural diffusion — is the spread of ethnic cultures. ing class, who had power, were educated in prestigious The main result of cultural diffusion is the destruction schools and were patrons of the arts such as literature, of original ethnic cultures and thus ethnic groups loss

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their ethnic identity. This fact is the ontological foun- individualization. The concept of “multiculturalismˮ is dation of numerous ethnic conflicts. Diffusion may be collective category, it focuses on a more or less ho- recorded in the historical sense as final results, which mogeneous groups conceived as heterogeneous or ho- identify the conflict character of the different cultural mogeneous, but certainly those that are separated from patterns [5, 48–49]. It also creates internal conflicts in each other and unite individuals... In this sense multi- ethno-cultural relations, for example, between youth — the enemy of individualization. Accord- and other age segments as carriers and guardians of ing to multiculturalism, the individual does not exist» traditional cultural norms. Now even the concept of [6, 350]. ethnicity has become relative. This is evidenced by A similar point of view defends Ch.Taylor, who in the wide use of concepts such as “the Arab worldˮ, his work «Multiculturalism and the “ of recog- “Southern peopleˮ, “Islamic cultureˮ, “the nations of nition ˮ» [7] also points to the incompatibility with the the Caucasusˮ, “Russian-speaking populationˮ, etc. politics of multiculturalism with the recognition of cul- The basic idea of multiculturalism, as we believe, tural equality and individual dignity. In this work the consists of activities which enable to provide peaceful scientist emphasizes the importance of overcoming the co-existence. The term “multiculturalism” has strong main illusion of American academic multiculturalists empirical sense because it describes the state of ethnic, who deliberately ignore complex historical circum- cultural and religious diversity of the population in con- stances of existing global cultural inequalities. He be- crete countries. The official status of this concept be- lieves that categorical requirement to make favorable came in the 70s of the 20th century when it was recog- judgments regarding the equal of other cultures nized the negative character of the assimilation policy, demands that we already have standards by which we which in reality was aimed at . can make such judgments. However, our standards — The model of multiculturalism involves the legitimacy are the standards of the North Atlantic civilization, so of different forms of cultural differences (otherness) our judgments implicitly and unconsciously are orient- by the formula “integration without assimilationˮ, i.e. ed to identification of non-western cultures in catego- the possibility of co-existence in one country of cul- ries of the [7, 69]. tural, religious and ethnic entities who are authorized S. Zhizhek also believes that the West (North At- to maintain their norms, values, customs and way of lantic) produces universal democratic life, and their public presentation. However, in purely and tolerant human values. He argues that the ideal of political sense, according to this view, multicultural- peaceful co-existence is a manifestation of moral su- ism — is also a way to successful control and regula- periority of European culture. But in the global cul- tion multicultural mosaic with the help of social and tural context this superiority obtains the specific neu- legal mechanisms. tral multicultural sense which may be presented by the But in the sociological theories of postmodern so- principle — “tolerance without understanding the oth- ciology we can find critical interpretations of multicul- ers”. This principle as principle of the postmodern pol- turalism. In particular, argumentation that the global itics of multiculturalism we can regard as the important “change the balance between I and Weˮ (N. Elias) de- instrument for “self-defenseˮ of cultural authentity in termine the dominating influence of personalized social globalized social world [8]. practices which are in the conflict opposition to collec- In the last decade it has become evident that the tive identities. The totalities of such practices, accord- qualification of multicultural practices and experience ing to Z. Bauman, become ontological foundation of of mankind are away from abstract moral calls to pro- postmodern "individualized societies" as societies of vide global multiculturalism. In spite of that Ukraine is "liquid modernity”. German sociologist U.Beck also not a good example of realization of this new multicul- supports such position: «The phenomenon of multicul- tural model, me can argue that the application of this turalism is a product of fantastic imagination that cat, model opens the possibilities to identify the state of in- mouse and dog can eat from the same bowl. That is tercultural relations in Ukraine and to create informa- why the concept of multiculturalism poorly reflects the tion for objective evaluations. For example, in recent realities of competition and conflicts in intercultural years the country has become a platform very tough communications and the latest contemporary processes confrontation and, first of all ethnic, but also cultural, of social development are associated with the trend of ideological. psychological. Contemporary ideological

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conflict between Ukraine and Russian Federation is a relations. The ontological specifics of the multicultur- cultural conflict (because ideology — a component of alism phenomena explain not only the theory of culture culture). And this conflict divides Ukrainian citizens but also two special theories of intercultural relations into two large groups according to ideological formula and communications — 1) the theory of acculturation of pseudo-social choice: “Ukraine is self-sufficient and 2) the theory of cultural diffusion. country” / “Ukraine is dependent from ”. The 2. The real politics of liberal (mosaic) model of usage of scientific information opens the possibilities multiculturalism found insufficient pragmatic effec- to overcome false mass-ideological confronting stereo- tiveness of this model. That is why the most promising types. So politics of multiculturalism in Ukraine will model may be model of “pragmaticˮ multiculturalism have chance to be more effective in pragmatic sense. which should be based on empirical evidence of the Conclusions: specialized sociological and cultural studies. 1. The concept of multiculturalism is not be defined 3. Personal and group expectations in multicultural as a scientific theory. But this concept has fundamental contacts in Ukraine have opposite ideological dimen- ideological basis because it reflects the importance of sions which we have to overcome by providing the peaceful coexistence and non-violence in intercultural politics of “pragmatic” multiculturalism.

Література / References:

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Судакова Валентина Миколаївна, Судаков Володимир Іванович Концептуальні перспективи порівняльного аналізу мультикультурних практик

У статті аналізуються складні умови застосування мультикультурної політики в полікультурних суспільствах. Авто- рами аргументована важливість наукового дослідження процесів генези, та еволюції ідеї та ідеології мультикультураліз- му. Підкреслено, що в сучасних умовах загострення глобальних економічних, політичних соціальних і культурних нерівно- стей особливо значущим є науковий пошук у напрямі подальшого розвитку проекту мультикультуралізму, спрямованого на забезпечення мирного співіснування, взаєморозуміння та взаємовизнання різних культур. Незважаючи на критику в остан- ні роки, проект мультикультуралізму не втрачає своєї наукової актуальності і гуманітарної привабливості, насамперед, по причині відсутності альтернативної концептуальної моделі пояснення глобального розвитку сучасних суспільств на засадах демократії та захисту прав людини. Авторами представлено аналітичний розгляд концептуальних перспектив порівняльних досліджень мультикультур- них практик. Аргументовано, що історичний процес розвитку західних індустріальних суспільств, який супроводжувався колоніальною експансією сприяв поширенню уявлень про “розвинуті” та “примітивні” культури. Саме тому онтологічні відмінності між цими типами культу, обумовлюють зміст соціальних практик мультикультуралізму. Констатовано, що

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наукове пояснення феномену мультикультуралізму в сучасних умовах можливе на основі використання пізнавального по- тенціалу двох спеціалізованих теорій міжкультурних відносин — 1) теорії акультурації та 2) теорії культурної дифузії. У статті дана характеристика емпіричних засад мультикультурних практик, які спрямовані на соціальну легітимацію різних форм культурних відмінностей. Здійснено порівняльний аналіз двох конкуруючих стратегій мультикультуралізму — ліберального (мозаїчного) мультикультуралізму та прагматичного мультикультуралізму. Ключові слова: мультикультуралізм, акультурація, культурна дифузія, асиміляція, маргіналізація, ідентичність, куль- турний конфлікт, культурна норма, мирне співіснування.

Судакова Валентина Николаевна, Судаков Владимир Иванович Концептуальные перспективы сравнительного анализа мультикультурных практик

Аннотация. В статье анализируются сложные условия реализации мультикультурной политики в полимкультурных обществах. Авторами аргументирована значимость научного исследования процессов генезиса и эволюции идеи и иде- ологии мультикультурализма. Авторами представлено аналітичний розгляд концептуальних перспектив порівняльних досліджень мультикультурних практик. Дана характеристика эмпирических оснований мультикультурных практик, которые направлены на соииальную легитимацию различных форм культурных различий. Осуществлен сравнительный анализ двух конкурирующих стратегий мультикультурализма — либерального (мозаичного) мультикультурализма и прагматичного мультикультрализма. Ключевые слова: мультикультурализм, аккультурация, культурная дифузия, ассимиляция, маргинализация, иден- тчность, культурный конфликт, культурная норма, мирное сосуществование.

Стаття надійшла до редакції 7.06.2016. 86