Sociology, asked by anshul20081, 1 year ago

How does shape life and culture of people th?

Answers

Answered by neelotpalsantr
0

Different kinds of social institutions, ranging from the family to the market,

can bring people together, create strong collective identities and strengthen

social cohesion, as you learnt in Chapters 3 and 4. But, on the other hand, as

Chapters 4 and 5 showed, the very same institutions can also be sources of

inequality and exclusion. In this chapter, you will learn about some of the

tensions and difficulties associated with cultural diversity. What precisely does

‘cultural diversity’ mean, and why is it seen as a challenge?

The term ‘diversity’ emphasises differences rather than inequalities. When

we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are

many different types of social groups and communities living here. These are

communities defined by cultural markers such as language, religion, sect, race

or caste. When these diverse communities are also part of a larger entity like a

nation, then difficulties may be created by competition or conflict between them.

This is why cultural diversity can present tough challenges. The difficulties

arise from the fact that cultural identities are very powerful – they can arouse

intense passions and are often able to moblise large numbers of people.

Sometimes cultural differences are accompanied by economic and social

inequalities, and this further complicates things. Measures to address the

inequalities or injustices suffered by one community can provoke opposition

from other communities. The situation is made worse when scarce resources –

like river waters, jobs or government funds – have to be shared.

If you read the newspapers regularly, or watch the news on television, you

may often have had the depressing feeling that India has no future. There

seem to be so many divisive forces hard at work tearing apart the unity and

integrity of our country – communal riots, demands for regional autonomy,

caste wars… You might have even felt upset that large sections of our population

are not being patriotic and don’t seem to feel as intensely for India as you and

your classmates do. But if you look at any book dealing with the history of

modern India, or books dealing specifically with issues like communalism or

regionalism (for example, Brass 1974), you will realise that these problems are

not new ones. Almost all the major ‘divisive’ problems of today have been there

ever since Independence, or even earlier. But in spite of them India has not

only survived as a nation, but is a stronger nation-state today.

As you prepare to read on, remember that this chapter deals with difficult

issues for which there are no easy answers. But some answers are better than

others, and it is our duty as citizens to try our utmost to produce the best

answers that are possible within the limitations of our historical and social

context. Remember also that, given the immense challenges presented by a

vast and extremely diverse collection of peoples and cultures, India has on the

whole done fairly well compared to most other nations. On the other hand, we

also have some significant shortcomings. There is a lot of room for improvement

and much work needs to be done in order to face the challenges of the future …

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