Multicultural society and dominant culture -By Mubarak Said

A characteristic of society that has many different ethnic groups and different cultures mingling freely is known as multiculturalism. Multicultural society refers to the manner in which a given society deal with cultural diversity. It can also refers to the society where institutionalization of communities containing multiple cultures is promoted. While dominant culture may refers to the culture that is dominant within a particular political, social or economic entity, in which multiple cultures are present.

Sociologically, multicultural society assumes that society as a whole benefits from increased diversity through harmonious coexistence of different cultures.it may occur neither naturally; through immigration, or artificially when different cultures are combined according to the law ie: through legislative decree.

Multiculturalism typically develops according to the one of two theories; the “melting pot” theory, or the “salad bowl” theory;

The melting pot theory: assume that various immigrants groups living together will tend to “melt their cultures together”, abandoning their individual cultures and eventually becoming fully imbibed in to the overriding society.

Salad bowl theory: describes a multicultural society in which people coexist in the geo political entity but retain some of the unique characteristics of their traditional culture. Like in case of salad ingredients, different ingredients are brought together, but rather than coalesting into a single homogeneous taste, each one retain its own flavor.

Proponents of multiculturalism; believe that people should retain at least some little features of their traditional culture.while the opponents say that multiculturalism affect the social order by diminishing the identity of predominant culture.

How ever, Multicultural society: is characterized by people of different races, ethnic groups and nationalities living together in the particular community.in multicultural communities; people hold on, pass down, celebrate and share their unique ways of life.it often spreads into community’s public schools where curriculum are made to introduce the qualities and benefits of cultural diversity to the young people.

Dominant culture achieves its dominancy by being the majority of the population and having a significant presence in different fields like communication, education, law, governments and businesses. In our contempporary societies now adays culture is established and directed by the individuals with the most power, ie it is established by the group of peoples that have the ability to hold power over the social institution, values and influence the rest of the society’s beliefs and actions.

In addition, the culture that is dominant within a particular community, can change over time due to the internal or external factors, but usually one is very resilient and able to reform it self from generation to generation.A dominant culture can be promoted deliberatelly and by the succession of minority cultures and subcultures.

The concept of dominant culture, originated in ancient Greece. ‘Vladimir lenin’ a politician and political theorist defined the concept as “domination”. At the end of 19th century ‘Antonio gramsci’ a political leader and philosopher; redefined the concept as “An intellectual and moral leadership directed by contadictory political and cultural agents and organization”.He called these organizations “organic and traditional intellectuals” which represented the interest of the class.

Mubarak Said is a Nigerian poet , an essayist , and a short story writer hail from the great city of Gombe state.