Cultural Aspects of Immigrants Incorporation into Canadian Society and Economy
Abstract
Segregation and assimilation patterns are common for intercultural interaction. The displays and consequences of these processes are different on micro- and macro-sociological level. While the quantitative sociological data may indicate high standards of intercommunication within an ethnically diversified society, the qualitative data of one-on-one intercommunication can indicate different processes happening in the society. This paper will use interactionism as a sociological perspective to investigate indications of segregation and assimilation as cultural aspects of immigrants incorporation into Canadian society and economy.
Cultural Aspects of Immigrants
Incorporation into Canadian Society and Economy IntroductionCanada is a culturally diversified state and the majority of Canadian citizens are proud about the multiculturalism of their state according to the report of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2013, p.5). Multiculturalism is connected with strong political commitment to maintain diversity by acknowledging the lawfulness of disagreements if people obey the legal and ethical rules in handling the disagreements, according to Fleras (2012, p. 113). However, the policies of tolerance towards ethnic diversities often induce concerns about the negative consequences caused by multiculturalism to the welfare of the state.
Whereas the indications of satisfaction by multiculturalism in Canada can be seen in the official surveys and similar formal quantitative data, the one-on-one situations reveal certain cultural tensions in the society. The tensions are present in the everyday cultural interactions between the social groups determining the expectations of the Canadian citizens and concerns of immigrants connected with assimilation and segregation, according to the statements of Fleras (2012, p. 98). Expectations and concerns of assimilation refer to the idea that immigrants, as minorities, are forced to give up some of their identity and acquire the features of the dominant culture causing no significant changes to this dominate culture. Hence, some Canadians expect assimilation from immigrants, while immigrants are concerned about the necessity of assimilation, which is displayed by their commitment to raising a point of third-language public television services, according to the statements by Lincoln et al. (2004, p.2 ).
Segregation expectations and concerns are connected with higher requirements put on immigrants in workplace or social intercommunication. That is, some Canadians are expecting better treatment from the state compared to immigrants, while immigrants are concerned about passing the segregation threshold in order to receive equal treatment from the state.The constraints of immigrants incorporation into Canadian society and economy are often connected with everyday cultural conflicts based on myths and stereotypes circulating in the society, language issues and political address of the situation. Symbolic Interactionism as a sociological perspective suggests a theoretical framework, which is helpful in examining the relationships of individuals within a certain society. This perspective is based on the idea that communication, which represents exchange of meaning through the system of language and symbols, identifies the way people make sense of their social worlds, as stated by Keirns et al. (2013, p. 21). This perspective will be used in this paper to address the raised cultural question of this paper. …
