The Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity means the existence of many different types of social groups and communities in a country, identified by cultural markers such as language, religion, sect, race or caste. India is considered very diverse because it has a very large population and many such communities living together. The chapter notes that India has about 1,632 languages and dialects, with 22 languages recognised in the Constitution. It also has many religious communities, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, and each of these groups contains further internal diversity. So India is a nation of great cultural diversity because different cultural identities coexist within one state.

Community identity is the sense of belonging to a community such as a family, caste, language group, religion or region. It gives a person a stable sense of who they are and helps answer questions of self-identity. It is formed through socialisation: we are taught by our family and community the language, values and ways of understanding the world. The chapter says community identity is ascriptive, meaning it is based on birth and belonging, not on choice or achievement. We are born into a family, religion, region or community without choosing it, and this membership gives us a deep emotional attachment and identity.

It is difficult to define a nation because there is no single feature that all nations must have. Some nations share language, religion, ethnicity or history, but many do not; at the same time, the same language or religion may be found in more than one nation. So there is no fixed or universal criterion that always creates a nation. The closest distinguishing feature is the state. In modern society, a nation is usually a community that has succeeded in acquiring a state of its own, and this is why the terms are joined as nation-state. Modern states increasingly claim to represent a nation, and democracy and nationalism have become major sources of political legitimacy. In this sense, nation and state now usually support each other: states seek the backing of the nation, and nations seek a state.

States are often suspicious of cultural diversity because cultural identities can be very powerful and may mobilise large numbers of people. States fear that if different communities are recognised too strongly, it may lead to social fragmentation or challenge state unity. Since community identities can also become the basis of nation formation, states tend to see them as rivals. As a result, many states try to promote a single, homogeneous national identity through assimilation or integration. But the chapter also points out that suppressing diversity can alienate minorities and may even intensify community identity further.

Regionalism is the expression of identity and political sentiment based on a particular region. In India it is rooted in the diversity of languages, cultures, tribes and religions, and it is also encouraged by the geographical concentration of these identities in specific areas and by a sense of regional deprivation. So regionalism is usually based on a combination of language, ethnic or tribal identity, regional culture, ecology and feelings of uneven development.