Class 12 Sociology · Chapter 6 NotesThe Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Every person needs a stable sense of identity to make sense of the world. Much of this comes from socialisation within the family and community, which gives us our mother tongue, cultural values and a sense of who we are. Community identity is ascriptive: it is based on birth and belonging rather than on any qualification or achievement. We do not choose our family, religion, caste or region, yet these identities often matter to us more than identities we earn, such as a profession. Ascriptive identities are also universal, since everyone has a motherland, mother tongue, family and faith. Because these identities are emotionally powerful, any perceived threat to them can provoke strong, even violent, reactions. In conflicts involving community identity, each side tends to see itself as virtuous and the other as the enemy, creating mirror images of each other.

• Ascriptive identitydetermined by birth, not by choice or accomplishment.
• Community identity provides language, values and a sense of self.
• Such identities are emotionally powerful and hard to shake off.

A nation is best understood as a large-scale community of communities whose members wish to be part of the same political collectivity. A state, in Max Weber's definition, is a body that successfully claims a monopoly of legitimate force in a particular territory. A nation is easy to describe but hard to define, because no single criterion such as language, religion or ethnicity applies to all nations. The closest distinguishing feature is that nations are communities that have a state of their own, which is why the term nation-state joins the two. However, the one-to-one bond between nation and state is a modern development. The Soviet Union recognised over a hundred internal nationalities, many Jamaicans live outside Jamaica, and dual citizenship laws allow people to be citizens of two states at once. Today states need the nation for legitimacy as much as nations need states.

• Nationa community of communities desiring political unity.
• Statepolitical-legal institutions claiming control over a territory (Weber).
• Nation-statea nation with a state of its own; the bond is modern, not universal.

Historically, states have often been suspicious of cultural diversity. Assimilationist policies try to make all citizens adopt the dominant group's culture, while integrationist policies push non-national cultures into the private sphere. Both assume a single national identity and can alienate minorities. India does not fit either model. The Constitution declares India a secular state, yet religion, language and community are not banished from public life; they are explicitly recognised. Strong constitutional protection is offered to minority religions. India is thus a good example of a state-nation, where multiple identities can coexist within one polity. The main challenges lie in implementation and practice rather than in constitutional principles. India's diversity includes about 1,632 languages and dialects, with 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule, and major religious communities including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains.

• Assimilationforcing all groups to adopt the dominant culture.
• Integrationa common national public culture, with other cultures confined to private life.
• State-nationmultiple cultural identities coexist within a single democratic polity.

Regionalism in India is rooted in the diversity of languages, cultures, tribes and religions, and is strengthened by the geographical concentration of these identities and by a sense of regional deprivation. After Independence, the large colonial presidencies were reorganised into ethno-linguistic States following strong popular agitations. The States Reorganisation Commission, implemented on 1 November 1956, sealed the principle of linguistic states. The most militant movement was that of Telugu speakers, and Potti Sriramulu's fast unto death led to the creation of Andhra Pradesh. Far from weakening India, linguistic states strengthened unity, since one can be Kannadiga and Indian, Bengali and Indian, and so on. Language combined with regional and tribal identity, rather than religion, has been the most powerful basis of ethno-national identity in India. Later states such as Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand were formed mainly on tribal identity, regional deprivation and ecology.

• Regionalismidentification with one's region, often based on language, culture or deprivation.
• States Reorganisation Commission implemented on 1 November 1956.
• India currently has 28 States and 8 Union Territories.

Religion-related issues fall into two groups: the secularism-communalism set, which concerns the state's relationship to religion, and the minority-majority set, which concerns how the state treats communities unequal in numbers or power. In sociology, a minority is not merely a numerical category; it usually involves relative disadvantage and a sense of group solidarity. Privileged minorities such as the very wealthy are not normally called minorities without qualification. Religious minorities may be economically well-off, like the Parsis or Sikhs, yet still need cultural protection because of the demographic dominance of the majority. The Indian Constitution safeguards minority rights through Articles 29 and 30, which protect language, script and culture and allow minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. Dr B.R. Ambedkar warned that minorities are an explosive force which, if it erupts, can blow up the whole fabric of the state.

• Minoritya relatively small and disadvantaged group with a sense of collectivity.
• Article 29right of any section of citizens to conserve its language, script and culture.
• Article 30right of religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

In everyday Indian usage, communalism refers to aggressive chauvinism based on religious identity. Chauvinism is the attitude that sees one's own group as the only legitimate one and others as inferior or opposed. Communalism is thus an aggressive political ideology linked to religion, and it is about politics rather than personal faith. A communalist may or may not be devout, and a devout believer may or may not be communal. Communalism claims that religious identity overrides all other identities such as class, caste or occupation, treating all members of a religion as one homogenous group. It has been a recurrent source of tension and violence in India, though colonialism did not invent inter-community conflict. India also has a long tradition of religious pluralism and syncretism, visible in the Bhakti and Sufi movements and in the poetry of Kabir.

• Communalismaggressive political ideology based on religious identity.
• It is about politics, not personal religiosity.
• Syncretismmixing of religious traditions, as in Bhakti and Sufi poetry.

In the Western context, secularism mainly means the separation of church and state, linked to secularisation, the retreat of religion from public life. In India, the term carries this sense but also others. The most common everyday meaning is the opposite of communal: a secular person or state does not favour any one religion over others. This implies equal respect for all religions rather than hostility or distancing; for example, the Indian state declares public holidays for festivals of all religions. A tension arises because the Indian state is committed both to secularism and to protecting minorities. Special protection invites accusations of favouritism or appeasement, while supporters argue that without it, secularism could become an excuse for imposing majority values on minorities.

• Western secularismseparation of religious and political authority.
• Indian secularismequal respect for all religions, not hostility to religion.
• Tensionminority protection versus the charge of appeasement.

The state is a crucial institution for managing cultural diversity, but it can also become insulated from the people and turn authoritarian, limiting civil liberties such as freedom of speech, press and political activity. State institutions may also fail through corruption, inefficiency or lack of resources. Civil society is the arena beyond the family but outside the state and market, where citizens voluntarily form organisations. It includes political parties, media, trade unions, NGOs and religious organisations, provided they are not state-controlled or purely profit-making. Civil society organisations take up issues such as tribal land rights, women's safety, housing rights and primary education. The campaign for the Right to Information, which led to the RTI Act 2005, shows how civil society can force the state to be accountable to the nation and its people.

• Civil societynon-state, non-market public domain of voluntary associations.
• Authoritarian statepeople have no voice and rulers are not accountable.
• RTI Act 2005gives citizens the right to access government information.