Flashcards

Democracy and Diversity

Mahati Reddy English 27 cards

As the American national anthem played, the two athletes stood with their heads bowed and raised clenched fists to…

Cards in this deck (27)

1—-Mahati, Vidhi, Saumya and Aditya
2Diversity in DemocracyDiversity in a democracy is not a bad thing at all. It is only natural that diversity would exist in any country. This also allows people to express themselves more clearly.
3Civil rights Movement in AmericaDuring the 1968 Mexico Olympics, a Civil Rights Movement was taking place in America. It was a fight for the rights of African-Americans.
4At the end of the medal ceremony of the 200 m race in the 1968 Mexico Olympics:Tommie Smith won the winner of Gold medal.
Peter Norman, an Australian athlete won the silver medal.
John Carlos won the bronze medal.
5Smith and Carols are both Afro-American athletes.During the medal ceremony they showed their support for the movement against racial discrimination.
6As the American national anthem played, the two athletes stood with their heads bowed and raised clenched fists to symbolize BLACK POWER.While receiving the medals they wore black gloves and black socks to represent black poverty.
7—Peter Norman wore a human right badge on his shirt during the ceremony to show his support to two Afro-Americans.
8The two athletes tried to draw international attention to racial discrimination faced by black people.The international olympic Association held Smith and Carlos guilty for violating the Olympic spirit by making a political statements.
9In USA, they faced criticism from close minded people and their medals were also taken back as punishment for offense.Their action attracted international attention and the world knew about the movement and black conditions in USA.
10Origins of social differenceSocial differences divide similar people from one another, but they also unite very different people. They are based on color and birth.
11—Most of us choose what to study, which occupation to take up and which games or cultural activities to take part in. All these lead to formation of social groups that are based on our choices.
12—Some people choose to
follow a religion other than the one in which they were born.
13It is fairly common for people belonging to the same religion to feel that they do not belong to the same community, because their caste or sect is very different.It is also possible for people from different religions to have the same caste and feel close to each other.
14Overlapping and Cross-cutting differencesSocial divisions come up when a social difference overlaps with other difference.
15When one kind of social difference becomes more important than the other and people start feeling that they belong to different communities, this is known as OVERLAPPING DIFFERENCES.In the United States of America , the blacks are discriminated and In India Dalits are discriminated.
16If social differences CROSS-CUT one another, it means that groups that share a common interest on one issue are likely to be in different sides on a different issue.For e.g. In Netherlands, most of the people are Christians. But then they are divided into two groups , Catholics and Protestants.
17—In the Northern Ireland too, there are Catholics and Protestants , there have been social differences between them and conflicts.
18—Homogeneous society is a society where there are similar people with no ethnic differences among them in the same place.
19—Migrants are group people of who go to other regions with their own culture and ethnicity.
20POLITICS OF SOCIAL DIVISIONSDemocracy involves competition among various political parties. Competition divides society and turns into political divisions which ultimately leads to conflict, violence, or even disintegration of a country.
21Range of outcomesNorthern Ireland of the United Kingdom has been for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethnic – political conflicts.
22If social divisions do exist in a country, they must never be expressed in politics and must never mix.But, In a democracy, it is only natural that political parties would talk about these divisions, make different promises to different communities thus affecting voting.
23—Three factors are responsible for deciding the outcome of political and social divisions.
24People and Identities-If people see their identities as multiple and complementary with national identity, it becomes very easy to accommodate them. If they see their identities as singular, it becomes very hard.Historically, as long as people saw themselves as Catholics or Protestant in Northern Ireland, their differences couldn't be reconciled. Now, Belgians identity as both Belgians and Dutch/French speakers.
25Second factor-How political leaders raise the demand of any community. If demands are within constitutional framework and aren't at the cost of other community, it's easier to fulfill them.The demand for Sinhala as the official language was at the cost of Tamil speakers, and the leaders of different ethnics communities in Yugoslavia gave such demands which couldn't be accommodated in a single country.
26Third Factor-How the government reacts to these demands will determine if a country will be united or not.If it shares power as in Belgium, the country will be a lot more united than if it doesn't, like what happened in Sri Lanka.
27—However, the feeling of equality may take take time to properly be inculcated. A community which has been looked down upon for years will take time to get initiated into the mainstream.