People are able to move from one place and settle in other areas of the world. People from different backgrounds are found living together in different places especially urban areas. The immigrants exercise their cultural traits in their new area of settlement. However, in the areas where immigrants settle, the natives always have their culture which is sometimes different from that of the immigrants.
In order to have a good and peaceful life, it is always good for people to learn to assimilate the culture of their neighbors. This has led to situation where people exhibit mixed cultural traits because they borrow some traits from various cultures.
With this situation, tastes and preferences of people are highly dynamic which require production to also change continuously. As a result, multiculturalism has developed in every sector of the economy including commerce.
Multiculturalism is used to refer to a situation where traits from different cultures are incorporated into people’s daily lives. When people from different cultural backgrounds live together for a long period of time they learn some traits from various cultures and make them part of their day-to-day activities. This is a result of mutual respects of the diverse nature of life and acceptance that people are free to practice their culture.
The behavior is manifested in different aspects of the society including schools, policies, politics and businesses (Jain & Triandis 1997). Commercial multiculturalism refers to the idea of taking into consideration the ethnical differences when producing and selling commodities.
For one to be able to successfully trade in a multicultural society, he or she must incorporate cultural difference into the production of goods and services. Commodity culture comes about as a result of the production and distribution process of goods and services.
In order to have a representation of the community as whole, commodities need to incorporate aspects of all the cultures. People’s tastes change as much as they mingle with people from other cultural backgrounds. Commercial Multiculturalism requires that any commodity be produced in a manner that does not present any cultural traits as being central.
The main problem of producers is always how they can come up with a commodity that cannot encounter opposition from the public (Vang 2010). Therefore, producers have the role of developing commodities which are not ethnocentric but which at the same time will not lead to identity loss.
Commodity culture results from the interaction of means of production of various cultural backgrounds. People from different cultures will always endeavor to have their cultural food and styles of life maintained. In this regard, producers of various commodities have found it worthwhile to come up with all round commodities.
It is important to note that commercial culture is the culture traits that producers put into consideration whenever they think of producing any commodity. Arguably, this culture is not static given the continuous interaction between people of various cultural backgrounds. Therefore, producers have to always be aware of the tastes of people in order to keep up with the demand of the community.
Each community has its own unique commodities that they adore very much (Parekh 2002). In production of these commodities, producers need to understand the cultural requirements of these ethnic groups. Most importantly, it should be noted that culture and trade have very many things to share.
Commercial multiculturalism has various advantages to the society as a whole. To begin with, commercial multiculturalism is crucial in ensuring that cultural traits of minority groups in various parts of the world. It is very easy for one community to get assimilated and be swallowed by another community.
Dominant cultures can easily have their way of doing things prevail over others. In this regard, commercial multiculturalism is important in ensuring that various cultural traits are preserved. The process of cultural amalgamation is dangerous because it can lead to extinct of various cultures from the society (Vang 2010).
Minority cultures need protection from the dominant culture and this can easily be found through commodity culture. It is important to note that among the commodities are among the modes through which culture of a given community is transferred from one generation to the other.
On the same note, confidence in ones culture is very essential in boosting of self identity. If people are not confident about their culture, they would be unwilling to protect it. In this regard, commodity multiculturalism is essential in enhancing confidence of people in their culture. It is important to note that it is through accepting ones cultural background that people can be willing to pass their culture to their children.
As a result, this will enhance confidence personal identity. Consequently, various cultural traits will be preserved through commercial multiculturalism. Preservation of the different culture is essential in ensuring that there is continuous existence of these cultures for the benefit of future generations (Dwyer & Crang 2002).
Similarly, commercial multiculturalism has been found to be beneficial in making people to accept and positively recognize other people’s culture. For peace to prevail in a community where people from diverse cultural backgrounds coexist, respect of cultural diversity is crucial.
By ensuring that commodities of different cultures are available, commercial multiculturalism ensures that each culture is appreciated. It makes people to appreciate that fact that other cultures are also worth and thus enhance mutual respect (Parekh 2002).
Consequently, people become more willing to interact and share ideas with people from various cultural backgrounds thus enhancing harmony. It goes without saying that when there is reduced tension in the community, it is easier to implement policies which means that economic development is possible. Arguably, peace is a necessary ingredient for national development.
Various social vices like racial discrimination need to be eliminated from the society. For this objective to be achieved, cultural diversity needs to be incorporated in the minds of people. Cases of hate crimes will be greatly reduced if people learn to be accommodative of other people’s attitudes and perspectives at which they approach issues.
People need to be tolerant of the different cultural traits that are present within the community. Commercial multiculturalism makes people learn to respect views of others regarding various aspects of life. People will accept the fact that everybody must belong to a given culture and that is not a personal mistake.
This will eliminate the negative stereotypes that people have about different cultures. Consequently, cases of discrimination in society will be reduced. This will increase unity among various groups of people thus eliminating tension in society (Dwyer & Crang 2002).
On the same note, commercial multiculturalism is vital because it leads to ingenuity and creativity in production. This leads to enhanced quality of commodities available in the market as every producer wants to produce the most indigenous product while taking into consideration the current tastes and preferences. The result is an increased range of products from which consumers can choose from.
Increased variety is crucial in enhancing living standards of people. Furthermore, this increases chances of people to learn more about a given culture and thus appreciate it the more. It is important to note that increased variety also eliminates monotony of given products which would easily be misconceived (Jain & Triandis 1997).
Most importantly, commercial multiculturalism helps in enhancing understanding among the community. This leads to development of objectivity in the way people view issues of different cultures.
By understanding the material culture of a given ethnic group people will be able to change their perspective towards that ethnic group. In this regard, multiculturalism helps in opening up people’s minds when dealing with cultural issues (Eriksen 2012).
Unfortunately, commercial multiculturalism does not always lead to positive impacts in society as it may be depicted in this discussion. There are various negative impacts of commercial multiculturalism that have been identified. To begin with, there are some ethnic groups which due to commercial multiculturalism want to deeply associate with their cultural commodities.
These people seldom purchase commodities that have indications of other culture. As a result, their interaction with people from other communities is highly affected by this behavior (Dwyer & Crang 2002). In the end, these groups of people isolate themselves from the others.
This is not good for national integration as it creates negative attitudes and increases tension among people. Moreover this type of separation increases probabilities of discrimination.
Moreover, commercial multiculturalism brings on board more information about other cultures. Though this may sound good from the onset, some people have used it wrongly. The information enables people to compare their cultural traits with that of others especially fashion. Misinformed people then start comparing their culture with that of other people and categorize the cultures as being either superior or inferior.
This has been known to increase tension among people from different cultural backgrounds in the society (Vang 2010). Similarly, in the move to ensure that they keep with the changing customer demand, producers introduce some new ideas into their commodities.
Much as this creativity is good, it has been noted that it leads to loss of some very crucial aspects of the original culture thus leading to emergence of a different subcultures. Additionally, commercial multiculturalism tends to increase the concentration of people from the same cultural background in the same area. This limits chances of integration and makes people to differentiate themselves from others.
Cultural interaction cannot be avoided. In fact, most of the things that are present in the society are as a result of cultural interaction. The current dressing fashions have cultural traits from at least two cultures. People eat foods that were previously reserved for particular communities only. Globalization has increased the movement of people from one place to the other. However, culture maintenance is critical.
Material culture being one aspect of culture that can easily be influenced, it needs to be preserved. As a result, commercial multiculturalism is essential to ensure that people from various ethnic backgrounds are able to access the commodities they desire. Moreover, in order to boost positive intermingling among people, it would be important to have affairs of everybody catered for. Commercial Multiculturalism is crucial in achieving this.
Reference List
Dwyer, C & Crang, P 2002, ‘Fashion Ethnicities: The Commercial Spaces of Multiculture’, Ethnicities, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 410-430.
Eriksen, J 2012, The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism, Telos Press Publishing, New York.
Jain, KR & Triandis HC 1997, Management of Research and Development Organizations: Managing the Unmanageable, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.
Parekh, B 2002, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Vang, CT 2010, An Educational Psychology of Methods in Multicultural Education, Peter Lang, Bern.