Book Name  Indian Society (Class 12 – NCERT)

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1. The Importance of Community Identity

1.1. Communities, Nations and Nation-States

1.2. Cultural Diversity and India as a Nation-state

2. Regionalism in the Indian Context

3. Religion-related Issues and Identities

3.1. Minority Rights and Nation Building

3.2. Communalism, Secularism and the Nation-state

4. State and Civil Society

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The Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Chapter – 6

Table of Contents
  • Social institutions like the family and the market can bring people together, create collective identities, and strengthen social cohesion.

  • The same institutions can also be sources of inequality and exclusion.

  • Cultural diversity refers to the presence of many different social groups and communities within a society.

  • Communities are defined by cultural markers such as language, religion, sect, race, or caste.

  • Cultural diversity can create difficulties when diverse communities are part of a larger entity like a nation.

  • Challenges arise because cultural identities are powerful, can arouse intense passions, and mobilise large numbers of people.

  • Economic and social inequalities often accompany cultural differences, adding complexity.

  • Efforts to address inequalities or injustices faced by one community can provoke opposition from other communities.

  • Scarce resources like river waters, jobs, or government funds intensify conflicts and make management of diversity more difficult.

The Importance of Community Identity

  • Every human needs a sense of stable identity to function in the world.

  • Questions like Who am I? How am I different from others? What goals should I have? arise from childhood.

  • Answers to these questions are shaped by socialisation, taught by family and community.

  • Socialisation involves dialogue, negotiation, and struggle with significant others like parents, family, kin, and community.

  • The community provides language (mother tongue) and cultural values that anchor self-identity.

  • Community identity is based on birth and belonging, not on acquired qualifications or accomplishments.

  • Such identities are called ascriptive identities, determined by birth with no choice involved.

  • People often feel security and satisfaction in belonging to communities they were accidentally born into.

  • Strong identification with communities occurs without passing exams or demonstrating competence, unlike professions or sports.

  • Ascriptive identities are hard to shake off; even if disowned, others may continue to identify us by them.

  • Emotional attachment to community identity is strong due to its unconditional and inescapable nature.

  • Overlapping circles of community ties (family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region, religion) give meaning and identity.

  • People often react emotionally or violently when their community identity is perceived to be threatened.

  • Ascriptive identities and community feeling are universal; everyone has a motherland, mother tongue, family, faith.

  • Most people have potential for commitment and loyalty to their identities.

  • Conflicts involving communities (nation, language, religion, caste, region) are difficult to resolve.

  • Each side in a conflict tends to see the other as the enemy, exaggerating their own virtues and the other’s vices.

  • In war, patriots believe God and truth are on their side, creating mirror-image perceptions of the other.

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