Living In A Multicultural America

Cindy King — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:00:14 +0000

Cross-Cultural Living

Early this summer, I mentioned one of my favorite books – Megatrends Europe by Adjiedj Bakas. This is an eye-opening book to read. It shows you how the environment you know today may be very different in the not-so-distant future.

Although Bakas does not tell you what life will be like in years to come, he shows you how to pay attention for current trends in society. Of course, there are two reasons why you need to do this:

If you are in business it is always good to be one of the first to know about any new trends in your market.
If you are in international business, it makes it easier to understand different cultures today and possible trends for the future.

NPR’s Kicks Off A Month On Multiculturalism

Last Friday, a month long series on multiculturalism, started on the American National Public Radio, NPR. NPR produces and distributes noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.

This first episode is a 16 minute long audio called:

Living In A Multicultural America

During this audio, NPR’s Tony Cox talks with:

Ronald Takaki, professor emeritus of ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley
Jen Chau, founder and executive director of Swirl, a national multi-ethnic organization

Current Reflection On Heritage

Of course, it is natural for Americans to reflect more on multiculturalism:

First black president
Expanding global economy

Multiculturalism – A Shift In Meaning

The program looks at how Barak Obama and Tiger Woods refer to their mixed heritage.

But what I found interesting was the question whether young people have a different definition of the word “multicultural” than older generations.

Now, differences in meaning are a common occurrence in cross-cultural communication. It does not take longer than a few months living in a foreign country before you realize that people have very different meanings for certain words.

A Trend To Watch

A shift in perception of what multiculturalism actually means, within different age groups in one country is interesting.

How will this shift effect society?
How will this effect international business?

It will be even more interesting following this trend through to see where it leads. It is not easy to predict what things will be like in the future.

Just like Bakas points out in Mega Trends Europe, several factors influence how our societies evolve.

If you look at this shift in perception of multiculturalism alone, you might only see a small picture of how it effects society.

Other social and economic changes can also impact multiculturalism in America

And together with these other factors, this shift in perception of multiculturalism could effect international business.

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