Objectives:

• Identify key theoretical concepts about cultural theoretizing and the other theories we have explored so far this semester, conflict, exchange, identity and structural
• Understand the dilemmas associated with multiculturalism in contemporary communities
• Compare, contrast, and critique different theoretical perspectives on the potential for multiculturalism as a societal norm in the U.S. or elsewhere
• Identify theroetical perspectives on multiculturalism that emerge in the public discourse of and about communities
• Analyze and assess how concepts culture affects the potential for conflict in and between communities;
• Analyzie how understanding the role of cultural norms, collective consciousness, symbolism, and symbolic media, among other constructs, can help us develop policies and programs to reduce cultural conflict in communities and identify ways to employ these concepts to respond to community-based needs, problems and issues, particularly in multicultural settings

Class Preparation: Part 1

Read this please before you read the required materials or watch the videos. The social sciences and the humanities both deal with social processes and structures, and have many shared areas of interest and expertise, but they are not the same thing. They differ in many ways, including epistemology, what they try to contribute to knowledge, and in many cases what they consider valid ways of understanding what we humans do. Not surprising there is both an overlap of shared ideas and a distance or discomfort between the two. These differences appear most obviously when we discuss culture -- what culture is, the role it plays in shaping individuals, and the role it plays in broader social processes. The Stanford Humanities Center 's defines the humanities as "...the study of how people process and document the human experience" and goes on to say that "These modes of expression [religion, art, music, history and language, among others] have become some of the subjects that traditionally fall under the humanities umbrella." Take a look at the Center's website for a nice set of short pieces about what they humanities are, why they matter, and how humanities research is conducted. I find that many students or even faculty members do not really understand that the humanities are not social sciences and vice versa. Durkheim is interesting because he is a social scientist -- in fact a "founding member" of sociology and social science more generally as a field of inquiry -- but he was also a philosopher (a humanity) and his work reflects both of his intellectual traditionals and training. You will see this in Turner's discussions of Durkheim. Durkheim argues that the social world is an experience lived by individual human beings, that society itself is a collective consciousness and, that religion is the foundation of society. Turner contrasts Durkheim's ideas about religion and society with those of Fine's concept of idioculture and argues that all social groups create a shared culture that incorporates social control, contestation or distinction from other groups, representations or symbols of the group, and allocation or status within the group.

We will focus on two contemporary discourses about culture and society. One is the discourse that focuses on multiculturalism, or perhaps more realistically, the value of ethnic diversity in communities. The other is the increasing polarization in the popular discourse about changes or threats to values, ethics, and beliefs in the United States and elsewhere. This discourse is fought out day by day in many communities. These discourses are the contemporary expressions of the same "dilemma" that so bothered Durkheim -- whether modern society can persist, can "hold together" so to speak, in the face of diversity. Durkheim was deeply concerned about the "disintegrating" forces of increased differences among individuals in society -- differences in values, beliefs, language, norms, etc. -- on both the individual and on the society as a whole. The Bradley and Mead readings are both short and they give you two very distinct answers to that question. Please read both articles with an open and skeptical mindset (in the critical thinking sense of the term). I am preety sure you will see some ideas that make you uncomfortable. I am not asking you to agree with any of the authors or speakers in the materials this week. I do want you to engage in some critical thinking about their ideas.

Turner: 164-196

Bradley, J. (2015) The changing face of the heartland: Preparing America's diverse workforce for tomorrow. The Brookings Institute. Available at http://aa61a0da3a709a1480b1-9c0895f07c3474f6636f95b6bf3db172.r70.cf1.rackcdn.com/content/research/essays/2015/changingfaceoftheheartland.html I want you to read the introductory part of this Brookings report. The section about the changes and challenges to the workforce in Minnesota is the critical section and I want you to list to the video clip of an interview with the CEO of Black & Decker. If you have the time, reading the rest of the Brookings piece gives a good discussion of the roles of the public and private sector in flling the "employment gap" that is coming to the U.S., not just in Minnesota or just in rural communities, but in virtually every state. This article shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of local communities in terms of their capacity to meet workforce demand.

Mead, L.M. (2016) Immigration: The cultural dimension. Society 53(2), 116-122.

Class Preparation: Part 2

Critical Thinking: Understanding Ideas. Turner provides an excellent explanation of the main schools of thought about cultural sociology. Come to class prepared to discuss the major differences between the ideas of Wuthnow, Bourdieu, Alexander, Fine, and Turner with regard to what culture is and the role it plays in society. Focus specifically on how the authors differ with regard to explaining various phenomenon. For example, how would Bourdieu and Durkheim differ in terms of how they explain religious conflict. How do the two differ with regard to (1) what religion "is" (2) the role of religion in modern societies, and (3) why religious differences can generate conflict, including violent conflict, in communities?

Critical Thinking: Synthesizing Ideas Now think about the ideas of the theorists discussed in the chapter on cultural theorizing in Turner and extend them to other aspects of society. Select any other issue, norm, or cultural standard that seems to create contention, if not violence, among citizens in the U.S. or some other country. How can you apply the ideas of at least two of the authors to understand the contentious nature of these issues? What kinds of ideas or issues seem to create the most dissention? Why?

Class Preparation: Part 3

Critical Thinking: Evaluating Conclusions. All analysis is interpretive to one degree or another and evaluating conclusions requires examining and then judging the value of the arguments that are presented to you. The "cultural theorists" we are discussing this week reach some widely disparate conclusions about the impact of immigration in the United States (and they would argue the same about immigration anywhere). How do their conclusions reflect different ideas about cultural generalization?

Critical Thinking: Self-Reflection These theorists have different ideas and I suspected that one or the other of them would offer perspsectives new to you or that make you think about the problem, issue and need that you are using for your work this semester. make you feel anxious. Can you identify elements of either argument that you tend to "agree with automatically," almost without thinking and elements that you tend to reject "automatically"? Can you state the argument of the person who makes you "uncomfortable" in a fair and unbiased way? Could you explain it to someone else without falling into criticism?

Videos to Watch, noting ways that you can use their ideas in Assignment 2.

America's Biggest Issues: Immigration, The Heritage Foundation

The Black Community. The Police. TED Talk by Seun Babalola. This one may not be so obvious -- look for places where Babalola calls upon concepts relevant to multi-culturalism as ways of improving policing in communities.

Russell Moore, Chair of Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission on C-SPAN

Recent Pew Center reports on U.S. attitudes about immigrants and immigration. Select any one to read. Read for key ideas, not details.

A Little History on the "Immigration Issue" in the U.S. "Think Back: America's Immigration Debate," by Sam Tanenhaus for the New York Times.

Roundtable: Multiculturalism, Turkish Public Broadcast Service

Additional Materials

Adam, B. (2009). Cultural future matters. Time & Society 18 (1), 7-25.

Ahmed, M. (2016) "We're all avengers now": Community-building, civil religion and nominal multiculturalism in Marvel Comics' Fear Itself. European Journal of American Culture 35(2), 77-95.

Barbieri, I., Zani, B. & Sann, C. (2014) Meanings of community in contexts of multiculture: The role of citizenship, identity, and cultural changes. Journal of Community Psychology 42(8), 980-996.

Bocarejo, D. (2009) Deceptive utopias: Violence, environmentalism, and the regulation of multiculturalism in Colombia. Law & Policy 31(3), 307-329.

Burman, J. (2016) Multicultural feeling, feminist rage, indigenous refusal. Cultural Studies Cultural Methodologies 16(4), 361-372.

Chan, W.F. (2010) A shared or multicultural future? Community cohesion and the (im)possibilities of hospitable social capital. Space & Policy, 14(1), 33-46.

Citrin, J., Johnston, R. & Wright, M. (2012) Do patriotism and multiculturalism collide? Competing perspectives from Canada and the United States. Canadian Journal of Political Science 45(3), 531-552.

Ercan, S. (2015) Creating and sustaining evidence for "failed multiculturalism": The case of "honor killing" in Germany. American Behavioral Scientist 59(6), 658-678.