Source: Intro Music by Mark Hannan; Public Domain Europe; Public Domain: http://bit.ly/UazhMS Africa; Public Domain: http://bit.ly/6uuTg
[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to this episode of Sociology, Studies of Society. Today's lesson is on multiculturalism. As always, don't be afraid to pause, stop, rewind, or even fast forward to make sure you get the most out of this tutorial.
So today, we're looking at multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is really just recognizing cultural diversity and respecting all traditional cultures. Now multiculturalism is a relatively modern phenomenon. It hasn't always been that way, and it's not always been that way. There actually are some pushback to this idea that all cultures are equal and that we should respect all different cultures.
Now two different perspectives you should know about when looking at culture, one of those is Eurocentrism. Now Eurocentrism is the dominance of the European culture. So if you're looking at the world from this perspective, you are seeing everything from the European perspective and, generally speaking, the white European perspective.
Now a different perspective is Afrocentrism. Afrocentrism is a way that is looking at the world through emphasizing African culture. Now if I were to firmly believe that my culture is the best and I don't want to have any other part of any other culture in mind and I'm really trying to limit the influence other cultures have on mine, you could call that monoculturalsim. And monoculturalsim really is that idea that one culture is superior to the other cultures.
So today's takeaway message-- multiculturalism is recognizing cultural diversity and respecting all traditional cultures. Monoculture is attempting to preserve one's culture by excluding all other cultures. Eurocentrism is the dominance of European culture. And Afrocentrism is emphasizing African culture. Well, that's it for this lesson. Good work. And, hopefully, you'll be seeing me on your screen again soon. Peace.