Modern society has no choice but to admit that multiculturalism has changed the very face of European cities. Western society faces a paradox. On the one hand, a product of it’s own capitalist dynamic, society has developed greater diversification of products and styles and personalisation of services.
Claudio Chipana
Modern life continues to break traditional moulds by introducing differentiation and fragmentation in social life, the extent of realising Buffon’s old saying “the style is the man“. With postmodernism, we would add, style prevails over the man himself.
However, on the other hand, we have this society that refuses to accept the “other”, all the
more reason if they are “ethnic”. A society with a market that promotes ‘difference’ to the limit, but sees the burqa as an alien element and a danger to the “Western, Christian civilization“.
Interestingly, multiculturalism has come out of the depths of Western society as equal to Marxism, feminism and other theories, as a criticism of the hegemonic paradigms prevalent in the Western world.
Critics of multiculturalism seek to eliminate the messenger. Contrary to what they believe, it is not multiculturalism that causes cultural differences, as a way of life.
It is the same system with its cultural-ideological apparatus that promotes diverse lifestyles, for example, when offered countless brands for a single product. It has been global capitalism that has made other cultures relative to the point that the former colonies look towards the centre. Cultural difference underpins post-colonial condition.
One of the achievements of Western modernity has been the emancipation of the individual, however, to avoid the cultural solipsism, contemporary society has no other choice but to recognise that multiculturalism has changed the face of its own European cities.
Three out of ten Londoners belong to an ethnic minority. Almost 50% of people living in Southwark belong to an ethnic minority. The Latino community has just been officially recognised as an ethnic minority in this county, in search of further integration.
The West has let the cat out of the bag, and now it has to deal with it. Western culture promotes cultural differentiation through tourism, commerce, virtual communication, markets, etc.
Globalisation is nothing more than the export of the Western lifestyle to the rest of the planet. But it also leads to the strengthening of local cultures.
The challenge of European society lies not only in celebrating difference as postmodernism – the cultural logic of late capitalism (Jameson) – but by processing differences according to principles such as respect and tolerance.
In this way, multiculturalism seeks a universal status akin to any cultural theory.
By promoting respect for difference, multiculturalism emphasises the importance of individuality. Multiculturalism, in turn requires to enrich itself and adapt to new circumstances. So to insist on inter-cultural dialogue in Europe in the present phase of economic decline may be a necessary step to open new perspectives.
(Translated by Grace Essex – email: grace.essex@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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