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93
The other feature of community that escapes scrutiny is its hierarchical nature. Perhaps in some remote tribe in the Amazon there is a more or less egalitarian way of life. However, most of the cultural groups demanding group rights in contemporary liberal democracies are extremely hierarchically structured. On a group rights model, such hierarchies would go unquestioned. There is some basis here for Brian Barry's severe criticism of multiculturalism.
I do not however endorse Barry's defense of the Enlightenment model. As I have said, a paradigm shift is needed. My argument is from homogenization. Traditionalists may rue the erosion of traditional culture. It may be odd that an Asian person streaks his hair blond or magenta but, he does so as an act of defiance. The youth of today may favor what one writer has described as the "pop cosmopolitanism" and wear the same designer labels and speak into the same brand of cell-phones. The fact is that in one generation, the idea of culture can be, is being, modified. The same individual may actually speak her native tongue and have a preference for her native cuisine, but she shares with individuals of a different ethnicity the willingness to experiment and taste of other cultures. It is my contention that cultural differences are eroded with greater cross-cultural exchange. The combined effect of greater diversity in the work-place, educational institutions and the like, and the trend towards homogenization can ease the strains of pluralism.
Object Description
| Title | Negotiating pluralism and tribalism in liberal democratic societies |
| Author | Sadagopan, Shoba |
| Author email | sadagopa@usc.edu; shobasadagopan@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Philosophy |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-22 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-10-15 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Lloyd, Sharon |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Dreher, John Keating, Gregory |
| Abstract | My aim in this dissertation is to enquire whether toleration as a practice is achievable. It is prior to the question of how it can be grounded as a virtue. I argue that in liberal democratic societies where there are struggles for recognition on the part of ethnocultural groups, it is possible to negotiate pluralism and tribalism in a way that a stable pluralist society can be maintained. My core thesis rests on a theory of interdependence based both on a theory of human nature and on the material fact of globalization. Insofar as we affirm our nature as human beings engaged in productive activity with other human beings, insofar as we value a world that facilitates that activity, toleration is desirable. It is achievable because with globalization there is a tendency towards homogenization that erodes cultural differences. There is less reason for conflict because what we have in common, our interdependence, goes far deeper than culture. A further sufficient condition may be found in well thought-out policies that are executed through education and dialogue. |
| Keyword | toleration; value pluralism; liberalism; cultural homogenization; globalization; common citizenship |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1658 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Sadagopan, Shoba |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Sadagopan-2395 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Sadagopan-2395.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 96 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 93 The other feature of community that escapes scrutiny is its hierarchical nature. Perhaps in some remote tribe in the Amazon there is a more or less egalitarian way of life. However, most of the cultural groups demanding group rights in contemporary liberal democracies are extremely hierarchically structured. On a group rights model, such hierarchies would go unquestioned. There is some basis here for Brian Barry's severe criticism of multiculturalism. I do not however endorse Barry's defense of the Enlightenment model. As I have said, a paradigm shift is needed. My argument is from homogenization. Traditionalists may rue the erosion of traditional culture. It may be odd that an Asian person streaks his hair blond or magenta but, he does so as an act of defiance. The youth of today may favor what one writer has described as the "pop cosmopolitanism" and wear the same designer labels and speak into the same brand of cell-phones. The fact is that in one generation, the idea of culture can be, is being, modified. The same individual may actually speak her native tongue and have a preference for her native cuisine, but she shares with individuals of a different ethnicity the willingness to experiment and taste of other cultures. It is my contention that cultural differences are eroded with greater cross-cultural exchange. The combined effect of greater diversity in the work-place, educational institutions and the like, and the trend towards homogenization can ease the strains of pluralism. |
