Multiculturalism and Stereotypes in Society

Running head: SOCIOLOGY 1
Sociology
Student Name
Institution

SOCIOLOGY 2
Introduction
The world is comprised of billions of people who are from different cultures and that is
the reason every individual needs to adopt multiculturalism so as to promote peace and
prosperity. Some cultures according to various people are dominant than others and this leads to
discrimination on the basis of culture, gender, race and many other aspects which human beings
have no control over. Multiculturalism refers to a situation where different cultures in society
have equal rights and opportunities and minority voices are not silenced or regarded as
unimportant (Pedersen, 2013). Multiculturalism is not the case in many societies due to poor
education system which has failed to come up with ways of promoting effective multiculturalism
in many schools. This reflective paper is written to highlight my cultural plunge in a society
where I am the minority.
What I learned about culture, values or practices through my experience
I am a Muslim from Middle East nations and I attended a school where the dominant
group is students who are non-Muslims. Stereotypes hinder multiculturalism in society (Obiakor,
2012). Students in this particular school still associate Muslims or people from Middle East
nations as terrorists or people who are comfortable terminating lives. For instance, during
biology lesson practical my group members always appoint me to dissect different animals as
they claimed that I looked more comfortable doing it than other students. During storytelling
sessions, every bad story was always associated with the Middle East nation. In the classroom,
some students would always defend me as they believed that all people are equal and they should
not be judged by their skin appearance or their religion.

SOCIOLOGY 3
In every society, there are people who totally embrace multiculturalism but they are
afraid to take positive actions that can help avoid the existing stereotypes. They are accused of
being naïve or people who act good so as to benefit from the benefits associated with people of
the minority culture. People do not embrace multiculturalism as the school only had a church but
had no mosques or temple for non-Christian students in the school. This implies that the
dominant religion in the area is more valued than other religions and other religions are viewed
as minorities and this is not the right path towards promoting multiculturalism (Utley, Obiakor,
& Bakken, 2011).
Insights learned that I would not Have Had
My experience in a full Christian school also made me gain some insights which I could
not have learned if I had not taken the initiative to visit the school. Many people in the society
want to practice multiculturalism but stereotypes which exist in our societies prevent people
from embracing other people's cultures and this leads to creation of dominant and minority
cultures (Berry, 2013). Some students in the school told me that they were willing to learn about
Muslim culture but the bad picture which is portrayed by society makes them have negative
perceptions towards the religion. This made me realize that with a good education system in
place, multiculturalism will easily be embraced.
Confirmed Prior Knowledge/Ideas
My experience in the school also enabled me to confirm my prior knowledge that
discrimination on the basis of race, religion or skin color exist in many societies. Even in the
USA, a country which is termed as the father of democracy still has not embraced