Special Issue "Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Pluralism"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Lionel Obadia
Center for Researches and Studies in Anthropology (CREA), Department of Anthropology, University of Lyon 2, Campus Porte des Alpes, 5 avenue Pierre Mendès-France, F-69676 Bron (Cedex), France
E-Mail:
Interests: religion and nature; cultural and traditional forms of development and sustainability; non-western forms of development; the globalization of standards of development and ecology; critical perspectives on sustainability; beliefs and ideologies of “environment” and their applications; cultural habits towards material culture; recycling and politics of pollution reduction

Dear Colleagues,

In the 18^th – 19^th centuries, social sciences and especially Anthropology were born on the axiomatic conjecture that the human condition balanced between the unity of mankind (or “culture”) and the diversity of humanities (or “cultures”). One century and a half later, the knowledge on human “universal” features has overall expanded in conjunction with the awareness of the plurality of social and cultural forms in history. “Pluralism”, however, is possibly one of the major political matters and scholarly topics. Modernity and Globalization are indeed supposed to have increased the fragmentation of cultures on one side and increased the number of ethnic claims on the other side. Theoretically speaking, “culture” and “ethnicity” are far to be conceptual equivalents, although both are, to a certain extent, identity markers, shaped by political issues, historical conditions, ideological frameworks. This issue aims at bringing together a collection of research papers or conceptual essays exploring the vast array of theoretical and methodological questions addressed to the relationships between “cultural pluralism” and “ethnic diversity”, such as theoretical problems, political programs aiming at the recognition or on the contrary, the overlooking of human differences, national or regional perspectives on the characterization of the “ethnic”, qualitative and quantitative approaches of diversity (techniques, limits, prospects), contextualized strategic stances beneath ethnicity assignations and/or claims, (in) adequations between cultural and ethnic forms.

Prof. Dr. Lionel Obadia
Guest Editor

All manuscripts should be submitted to diversity@mdpi.org with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

For the first two issues, to be published in 2009 and 2010, the Article Processing Charges (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• culture
• ethnicity
• identity
• pluralism
• diversity
• universalism
• history
• politics
• models
• methods
• measure

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Gender Invariance of Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale Factor Structure
Author:Thomas Idiculla
Affiliation: Mental Health Services Evaluation Department, McLean BASIS Plus, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill St, Belmont, MA 02478, USA; E-Mail: TIDICULLA@PARTNERS.ORG
Abstract: The Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale 24 (BASIS-24) is a psychiatric assessment and outcome measure used for inpatient and outpatient populations. Earlier studies examined the reliability and validity of the BASIS-24, but none empirically examined its factor structure across gender. The purposeof this study was therefore to assess the construct validity of the BASIS-24 six-factor model and find evidence of configural, metric, strong and strict factorial invariance across gender. The sample consisted of 1398 psychiatric inpatients from 11 facilities nation-wide. The single confirmatory factor analysis showed the original six-factor model of BASIS-24 provided an acceptable fit to the male and female samples at admission and discharge. These findings suggest that BASIS-24 can be used with confidence in practice settings in which practitioners require an assessment of symptoms across gender with inpatient population.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Diversity or Solidarity? Making Sense of the 'New' Social Democracy
Authors: Nicholas Johns and Mark Hyde; E-Mails: N.R.Johns@plymouth.ac.uk (N.J.); M.Hyde@plymouth.ac.uk (M.H.)
Abstract: One of the key discussions emerging from within the centre and centre left of British politics is the means of combining a commitment to diversity with the aim of achieving social solidarity. While there has been a populist strand to this debate recently with the contribution of writers such as Goodhart (2003, 2004) who has argued that diversity specifically undermines the willingness of the majority (white Anglo-Saxons) to pay for collective welfare provision, there has also been recognition of the difficulty of promoting difference and unity from within even the more sympathetic elements of the academic literature (Wolfe and Klausen, 2000). The purpose of this paper is to consider the nature of this dilemma and to propose a tentative solution. In essence we suggest that the problem lies not in creating a fit between the two elements for the sake of making the ‘new’ social democracy work (Jayasuriya, 2000) but in building outwards from a workable concept of social justice.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Diversity, Growth and Conflict: Theory and Evidence
Authors: Gerald Schneider ¹ and Nina Wiesehomeier ²
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Politics and Management, University of Konstanz, Germany; E-Mail: gerald.schneider@uni-konstanz.de
² Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Abstract: This article re-examines recent studies that link diverse forms of social diversity – ethnic polarization and fractionalization – to development problems and an increased risk of civil war. We review the theoretical arguments in favour of a connection between diversity and these social outcomes and discuss the inter-linkage between economic growth and internal conflict in situations of extreme diversity. We argue based on the new theoretical literature that the effects of diversity and especially polarity on social outcomes are less clear-cut than some recent studies suggest. Our analysis demonstrates that ethnically polarized countries have no substantially higher risk of violent conflict and that fractionalization rather than polarization seems to be negatively related to economic growth. We argue that the future study of ethnic diversity has to pay closer attention to the role that institutions play in the polarization-conflict nexus.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Role of Volunteering in an Era of Cultural Transition: Can it Provide a Role Identity for Older People?
Authors: Jeni Warburton and Rachel Winterton
Affiliation: John Richards Research Initiative into Rural Aged Care, La Trobe University, Wodonga, Victoria, Australia; E-Mail: J.Warburton@latrobe.edu.au (J.W.)
Abstract: In western countries, one of the key challenges facing people as they age is their loss of social roles, which can result in a shrinking social world. This challenges the capacity of ageing populations to age well. One important response to the loss of role identity is to volunteer, as the evidence suggests that this provides value and meaning to the lives of older people and enhances their health and well-being. Far less, however, is known on the role of volunteering for older people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Here, the evidence presents a more complex picture. Recent research from Australia, for example, suggests that those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds make an important contribution to their communities by maintaining and transmitting their cultural knowledge and traditions. This provides them with a clear social role when other roles are undoubtedly denied them. Furthermore, the importance of this role is underscored by the significance of cultural generativity to positive human development.
However, the significance of these activities within a non-western culture is more controversial as cultural erosion is leading to a shift in roles for older people. Volunteering is becoming a highly publicized and political activity in many Asian countries, partly as a result of globalization and increased contact with western cultures. While this has the potential to open up new roles, and role identities, for older people, it also marks a major cultural transition. This highlights a paradox, in that as these roles open up, traditional, familial roles are in decline. The erosion of traditional culture is threatening the concept of filial piety and older people’s traditional roles within their families. How these challenges are managed is critical in a globally ageing world.
These issues are debated within this paper, which focuses on the shifting roles of older people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The paper draws on the growing body of international evidence relating to volunteering by older people, including a new stream of literature exploring volunteering within Asian cultures.