Global Citizenship: Culture and Diversity in Leisure
One of the foremost complexities that necessitate to be surmounted each time one is trying to make a globalization outlook is the lack of a general acceptance of a distinctive vocabulary. Since we will be attempting to make out any correlation between cultural disparities and Global citizenship in this paper, and considering the recurring difficulty stated prior to making any of these sorts of analysis, the clearest method of commencing such an analysis is by giving a meticulous elucidation of the terms that will be used in such an analysis.
A good point to start when setting out to maneuver around these intellectual territories would be the notion of Global Citizenship. The current world processes of integration such as the EU integration illustrate advancement away from structural concerns to concerns that tackle the very nature of being a global citizen. Global citizenship’ is a modern idea that came out of the notion that each one of us is a citizen of the globe. In legal terms, though, such a concept like global citizen is non-existent. Global Citizenship is concerned with appreciating the need to deal with injustice and disparity, as well as having the aspiration and capacity to labor dynamically towards that. Global citizenship is about holding the Earth as valuable as well as only one of its kind, and conservation of the Earth for the sake of the future generations. Global Citizenship is in tandem with any other comprehension of citizenships;
It is an approach to thinking as well as a dedication towards “making a difference.” The notion has, since it emerged, shifted more and more towards the sort of social body that calls for individual commitment by the affected, instead of the standpoint that the globe is ‘some other person’ or ‘some other place’ concern. The political as well as the legal features of citizenship include the liberty of voting or entry, access to the services, security, movement and maybe most pertinent to tourism are basically the rights that are generally assigned to citizens as persons of a political entity unlike those features of global citizenships inferred by the social charter which refers largely to the ‘ethical obligation.’
Increasingly, Globalization appears to be a terminology that is progressively lacking or being limited in meaning. A number of people are confusing the term with Free Market and its problems. Not in any way despising the vital relation that Globalization and Free Market share, free trade is what is made feasible by globalization (on large extent), however free trade it is not globalization at all. Globalization does not only affect the trade boundaries that may exist between two entities. It is a notion that embodies the disputed visions of a worldwide identity. It is any process in which different societies, who possess a distinctive cultural trait such as language or an outlook to the world (a way of life), are being incorporated into a wider civilization. In an expanded sense; any advance towards amalgamation involving communities, any pact of business or political union involving communities, any novel expertise are advances towards integration; towards collective identity. They are, without a doubt, Globalization.
The second term is culture. A number of precedent scholarly experiences have showed that it is fairly a precarious undertaking to talk about Culture since the disambiguation around the expression is rather massive. For the purposes of this paper, it was preferred to use an anthropological outlook to the notion of Culture. This is so because the most significant function that Culture entails is a human-involving one. Culture ought to be considered as the group of distinguishing material, spiritual, scholarly and expressive facets of a social group, and that it embraces, together with art and literature, ways of life, ways of coexisting, belief and value structures and traditions. Culture may also be considered as communication, considering that that all the relating facets aforementioned are encroached in the social set using both direct along with subtle means of communication.
In a more wide sense, Culture improves communication. Culture is the grounds why some echelons of intimate communication involving societies can be attained. The seal of this progression is the Cultural Identity that each social cluster has. From a long time in the past, a social group with a distinctive cultural identity might have been progress itself as a variety of society inhabiting a particular territory or place. In this regards, Culture can be seen as civilization, but it should not, be taken for granted the relation veiled between both expressions.
Cultural variations and Cultural identity happen to be the different sides of one coin. Cultural variations among social groups are evidenced as cultural identities in those social groups as they attain high expressions of independence and distinctiveness. The procedure by which cultural clusters admire and find out the cultural variations amongst them is known as a cultural differentiation process. This cultural differentiation procedure is not in any way a deterministic procedure. Its procedure varies depending on the period as well as circumstances that are present on every occasion the cultures happen to intermingle. As such, it is rather evident that a number of cultural clusters can coexist in the same location. This phenomenon is referred as Cultural Diversity, and its level of materialization may differ considerably. In some way, what it is not traditionally apparent, regrettably, is a conciliatory way of living together considering the cultural multiplicity.
Culture and Leisure Industry
Globalization has come with numerous opportunities as well as challenges. The Leisure Industry has taken over a continuum of functions in regards to cultural diversity ranging from inhibition to celebration of the diversity. The leisure industry is related to behaviors outside of vocations such as sporting events, recreation, cultural quests, and social events. Many global organizations have unequivocally utilized leisure activities to socially bring together culturally varied groups. On one end of the continuum, leisure activities are based on the argument that one culture (the dominant one) can influence the other though using leisure activities to take on their cultural values as well as language. The expected outcome is that cultural variations will in a simple manner and flawlessly distribute “the American melting pot style.”
However, through this approach, in the phase of integration and amalgamation leisure activities, many people from the minority cultural groups will find that their liberty in leisure selection will be inhibited by available choices, fairness, admission as well as segregation issues on the basis of cultural as well as linguistic disparities. This approach also risks having the leisure activities participation being regularly exploited to further the cultural activities of the dominant customs as well as power relations. At the opposing end of the continuum is the utilization of the leisure industry to celebrate, as opposed to suppressing, cultural variations. In these cases, leisure activities have offered communities the space for liberation, openings to confront pigeonholes as well as paths to oppose social creation of marginalized cultural identities. Song, dance, sports, cuisine, as well as dress are all types of leisure activities that cultural marginal communities use for happiness as well as the serious endeavor of cultural preservation, delineation in addition to expression. Participation in leisure activities can also play a part in the transformation of prevailing power relations by facing up to the established ‘pecking order’ in a certain multicultural society. Personal, joint, and communal forces can all coalesce to establish the shape or end result of leisure activities participation.
As the humanity becomes more and more incorporated and as the ability to move around the globe increases, individuals from diverse cultural settings are finding themselves doing things next to each other. At present more than ever, the demand for diverse cultures to coexist with and comprehend each other is much stronger. The leisure industries such as sports globally have realized that they play very significant roles in the developing cultural sensitivity amongst the world citizens. Owing to the rising movement of individuals all over the world, and due to the growing population multiplicity (in regards to cultural backdrops), the leisure industry is beginning to realize the significance of intercultural multiplicity. As individuals move from one nation to the other, populations of numerous regions as well as nations all over the globe has turned out to be culturally assorted.
This multiplicity is reflected by the make up of leisure activities and policies in the industry. For instance, the world cup is being held on a rotational basis in different continents. Sports, in general, are having a large-scale global appeal such as the football World Cup, the Olympics, the Pan-American Games etc. This multiplicity is not restricted to global activities. Many national sports organizations (including teams), for instance, are adopting international outlooks (Maguire, 2005, p.18). Effects of globalization such as the emergence of the digital culture, and the internet are shifting the manner in which curators, artists, as well as museum managers are operating the present day’s realm of art. Modern day art is turning out to be a blend all kinds of media that include audio as well as video. Living in this modern information era, with the rapid developments in technology as well as communication, sports specialists hold that the field is profoundly impacted by the global drifts that sway the economy.
The entertainment industry is another cultural facet of the modern world that is developing gradually due to the effects of Globalization. Entertainment is now being utilized as an intellectual frame, a standpoint, a window, or an angle for enhanced appreciation and comprehension of culture, society, as well as everything else that is human in the globe’s industrial financial systems. Globalization is affecting entertainment profoundly. Perhaps in the future media giants such as Time Warner, Disney as well as universal, will succumb to firms such as Sony, Nokia and Samsung. These firms are gradually shifting towards producing content that plays on their appliances. Globalization is impacting the arts and entertainment in such a great way.
The copyright security is being utilized for protection in the performing arts as well as in athletic fields. However, some players in the Leisure industry have tried to eradicate patents from such activities. For instance, some open-source record labels are a response in opposition to what some artists view as corporate control of their music through methods of copyright. They hold that imagination demands that musicians re-assign as well as re-construe music along with sounds to facilitate their creation of truly original compositions.
Tourism is an added facet of leisure that is being affected by globalization. Clearly, individuals all over the globe desire to travel around and go for holidays in distant places. Nations are working hard to attract tourist from different cultural backgrounds. Numerous bodies such as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) have been significantly drawn in in the creation of a global tourism industry. Globalization has made the world a smaller place. As such global citizens can move to different destinations in the world with ease. Travel is now comparatively more affordable with the development of new transport and communication technology. It is now feasible for the world citizens to move around the world owing to the falling rates of transport. This point to the fact that individuals can witness first hand how individuals from diverse cultures do whatever it is they do.
Regardless of the fact that people see how other cultures live all over the globe through the mass media, these images can stimulate people to utilize the services of the travel industry. The tourism sector is a huge subdivision of the leisure business. According to John Urry (1990, p 13) has investigated the way that tourism industry has altered in the last few years. A key stimulus for tourists is to try to find things at things they would not usually see. Urry refers to this as tourist ‘gaze’. People will want to visit nations and cities of which images they have seen in the media and carrying their own photos (still and in motion) home with them. Urry indentified two kinds of gaze: the collective gaze along with the romantic gaze.
Collective gaze is when additional individuals are obligatory in order to confer the much-loved atmosphere to a location a tourist would want to visit. For instance, a club requires being busy so that patrons can enjoy its experience further. These kinds of tourist attractions use mass produced leisure. This evidently connects to what sociologists might consider as mass culture and is linked with the working class culture. Romantic gaze, according to Urry, is when people desire to be alone in places where they visit to see; for instance, to reflect on the splendor of a mountain in a particular place. This kind of tourists travels to places to appreciate the language, art, literature, and ambiance of the location. Sociologists may consider these middle as well as upper class individuals to go for leisure vacations in this mind frame. These people appreciate the ‘high culture’, have the longing for learning, and teach themselves the traditions of a nation.
Globalizing the leisure industry such as the arts, tourism, and sports sectors is integrating a side of humanity in concert in an approach that has not been witnessed before. The majority people look at globalization as largely being pertinent to the labor force, but in the leisure, industry people are increasingly converging to a place from all over the globe for pure pleasure. So the cultural diversity in the leisure industry is being greatly impacted by globalization, how should this diversity be managed?
Managing Diversity vs. Equal Opportunities
In its conventional shape, equal opportunities has been explained as rights founded, tolerant , entrenched in legal observance, founded upon parity through `equality′ and qualification with a focus on non prejudice, and bent in the direction of rising the percentage of women and additional marginal clusters in higher-ranking roles in associations (Kirton and Green, 2000). Diversity ought to be seen as just a substitution for the traditional equal opportunities rule: it ought to be a corporate principle, an essential component of the company strategy, an official business aim (Jehn, 2001, p.246). Perhaps the most essential advance in advance to equality in commerce in the previous two decades has been the introduction of diversity management as the next chief approach together with equal opportunities (Cornelius & Gagnon 2002, p.32)
Managing cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is significant for the 21st century leisure industry owing to the aforementioned soaring level of mobility across continents, nations, and societies, which affects upon both professions, as well as the society (Wang, J. 2004, p.17). Most sectors of the leisure industry are enjoying amazing development in the past few years, where a blend of factors has spawned noteworthy global activities such as tourism and sport activities. Despite the many obvious benefits, the leisure industry still has to deal with the a few challenges of cultural multiplicity (Wang, J. 2004, p.10).
Challenges of Cultural Diversity
The Communication Challenge
Dissimilar languages in addition to a range of cultural backdrops increase the intricacy of communication between the people involved in the industry. Language is at all times seen as a crucial feature among the set of features that constitute the identity of cultural (Flew, T. (2005). Just like Geert Hofstede, famously quipped in an interview, the comprehension of other languages is nearly a essential, even though inadequate, provision for the comprehension of the culture phenomenon (Powell, 2006, p.13). Differences in language frequently lead to miscommunication if any communication occurs at all. Another factor that is the reason for communication gaps is the cultural setting diversities.
Instead of coming by nature, communication capability is a learned procedure similar to other skills, which consequently swells the intricacy of personnel and consumers with diverse cultural to appreciate each other rapidly and appropriately. Additionally, intercultural communication possibly presents additional explicit challenges than a communication within a single culture. Due to diverse knowledge or familiarity, individuals in an intercultural communication will find it harder to construe others’ behavior, and this raises their doubt of how other individuals will react to a communication (Kersten, 2000, p.13). Diverse cultural origins often stimulate misunderstanding if communication is ineffective. Ability to effectively communicate is very vital since persons who fail to carry out successful intercultural communication often feel to be excluded. This feeling provokes feelings such as mistrust, lack of self-belief as well as hostility.
Discrimination Issues
As a visually leaning kind, human beings are inclined to detect differences and endeavor to be with their kind. Throughout history, most of the bloodiest warfare has been involving different cultural clusters. This suggests that people are disposed to make foes based on cultural variations. Among the reason for this phenomenon is that culture, after it has been developed, rejects changes. Culture aids a people to recognize and reinforce their sense of belonging. Another reason is that people with diverse cultural origins are inclined towards protecting their culture, at times conflicts easily emerge in multicultural settings (Flew, 2005. P.103). It is foolhardy to ignore that cultural diversities increase the chances of discrimination issues amongst workers and to consumers. Direct as well as indirect discrimination amongst personnel and to consumers and amongst them are frequently reported in cultural diverse leisure industries (Wang, J. 2004, p.9). Owing to stereotypes, marginal workers may get jobs in lower-skill ranks while some consumers may get ‘second rate’ services. Further, cultural diversity result into miscommunication which in turn frequently cause misconstruction, which arouse additional instances of discrimination.
Training Challenges
Diversity training is aimed at stimulating respect and raising the sensitivity for all of the cultural disparities amongst workforce and consumers in the leisure industry. In the leisure industry, to build up a culturally assorted personnel and consumer cluster, it is necessary to diminish cultural ethnocentrism as well as narrow view in the workforce (Lim & Noriega, 2007, p.70). Multicultural training plays a major role in increasing the alertness of cultural diversity in personnel and develops a culturally enhanced atmosphere in the industry. Players in the sector need to have training to be able to understand the needs and advantages of cultural diversity. It will enable them to improve their understanding and skills of interacting with individuals from diverse cultural origins. However, no particular course can adequately train personnel for contact with all global cultures. Moreover, how to carry out the training and the interim control as well as the training overheads are further challenges to the modern leisure industry sector which is dedicated to exploit cultural multiplicity.
Recommendations of Managing Cultural Diversity
Even though challenges are present, a number of approaches can successfully assist the leisure industry to take advantage of cultural diversity.
Now, leadership approaches must be receptive to cultural diversities so they can evaluate their personal perceptions as well as behaviors and handle the varied workforce and clientele more correctly, or else these cultural barricades will cause distress and pressure (Neilson & Ned, 2005). Managers ought to first comprehend that mainstream and marginal cultures do not at all times share experiences. As such, they should create programs that boost consciousness of cultural diversity, improve positive attitudes toward this diversity, realize similar viewpoints amongst cultural groups, are flexible in communication, and those that express personal anxieties and confusions when faced with cultural difficulties (Elmuti, 2001, p.13). The managers should implement an Employee Relationship Management System. Creating a family like atmosphere can effectively lead to cultural integration (Frabotta, 2001, p.46).
Another factor can ensure successful cultural diversity managing is training program. To satisfy the cultural diversity tests, the leisure industry must be sensitive to diversity. Diversity training is crucial and necessary to aid businesses in the industry become aggressive and thriving (Weaver & Wilborn, 2002, p.79). These training programs can aid managers to gain awareness about diverse cultures and hence develop abilities of managing cultural multiplicity challenges. By offering this training, the workforce can demonstrate additional respect to individuals with diverse cultural origins and attain more comprehension of others’ (Fernandez, Kleiner & Sturz, 2005, p.63).
To manage the diversity, managers must overcome the stereotypes and enhance fairness. Instances of ethnocentrism prejudice and cultural typecasting can still be witnessed nowadays. For instance, Asian workers may be seen as excellent learners that are gifted academically, while people from the Middle East may be labeled as terrorists. This can easily result in discrimination. The idea that one’s culture is superior over others cans also lead to discrimination. Any leisure business that is devoted to diversity must be conscious of ethnocentrism, prejudice, and stereotypes to make and implement successful strategies to surmount biases (Ruggless, 2003, p, 43). Fair handling is very essential, not sufficient in facing up to the cultural challenges. Treating persons as individuals is vital (Day, 2007, p. 216)”.
The cutthroat global economy, globalization of businesses, and swift changes in demographic leanings and labor arrangement are presenting immense challenges to the leisure industry. Comprehending, appreciating, and managing diversity is a vital part of the modern leisure industry. Cultural diversity presents huge opportunities, possibilities, and advantages to businesses in the leisure industry. However, this industry is facing the challenge of managing the multicultural publics (which include workers and consumers and their interactions). Barriers like communication barrier, prejudice, and stereotypes must be surmounted. To boost the consciousness as well as sensitivities of cultural diversity management, associated training plans ought to be deliberated, and executed in the industry.