Last time I felt the lack of questions about multiculturalism. It often correlates with political affiliation, but I don’t know how it holds in this community.
Two examples come to my mind:
What is your opinion of the regulation of people from a country with a non-Western culture immigrating into countries with a western culture? (I specified it because it both seems that the overwhelming majority of the community lives in a Western country, and that the topic of multiculturalism is most hotly debated in such countries)
There could be around 5 or 6 answers between (and including) the extremes of “let absolutely everyone in without any selection criteria or any upper limit at all” and “close all borders, don’t let anyone in”, with several in-between answers like “allow them in, but only in amounts which wouldn’t completely change the ethnic and cultural majorities of the regions”,or “allow them in, but based on some selection criteria regarding education, social class, etc.”
In the case of immigrants from a non-Western culture into a country with Western culture, how would you like for the people to culturally adjust?
Possible answers, going through the whole scale between the two extremes:
“The newcomers should completely embrace the culture of their new home”
“The newcomers should mostly adopt to the culture of their new homes, while the natives should make at least a few small steps to accommodate them”
“They both should move equal distances in the direction of each other”
“The natives should mostly adopt to the culture of the newcomers, while the newcomers should make at least a few small steps to become acquainted with the cultural history of their new home ”
“The natives should completely embrace the culture of the newcomers, so that they can freely live as they used to live in their old home, without being forced to abandon any of their values”
(and to add an option outside of the scale of who should change:) “Neither should change anything in their culture, they should live in parallel societies among each other, each keeping their own cultural values and not interfering with the other”
Folks often make elaborate claims about their own cultures’ values, and equally elaborate claims about the cultures of people they are afraid of.
These claims may not always be well-founded or intellectually honest.
The survey might get more honest answers by asking questions like, “Do you believe that immigration to your country threatens you, benefits you, or …?”
“Do you believe that immigration to your country threatens you, benefits you, or …?”
This question will not help much. Also, a very simple immigration-related question was included in the last survey, but it was just about “immigration” in general being good or not. And of course, most people here on LW, unless they want to identify themselves as some racist xenophobes, will answer to such a question with “yes, it’s a good thing”. There is a social pressure to answer like that, in case the word “immigration” is mentioned without being any more specific. So such a question will not get us any useful information about how the members of this community feel about the topic.
This is why it would be better to include a scale. Not just “immigration” but “how much immigration”?
No one but the utmost bigot will say that 5 people from a foreign culture coming to a town of 20000 will have negative consequences. However, no one but the most gullible would believe that 50000 people from a foreign culture coming to a town of 20000 in a very short time interval will not lead to any problems, or that they would integrate instead of forcing their own values on the population.
Last time I felt the lack of questions about multiculturalism. It often correlates with political affiliation, but I don’t know how it holds in this community.
Two examples come to my mind:
What is your opinion of the regulation of people from a country with a non-Western culture immigrating into countries with a western culture? (I specified it because it both seems that the overwhelming majority of the community lives in a Western country, and that the topic of multiculturalism is most hotly debated in such countries) There could be around 5 or 6 answers between (and including) the extremes of “let absolutely everyone in without any selection criteria or any upper limit at all” and “close all borders, don’t let anyone in”, with several in-between answers like “allow them in, but only in amounts which wouldn’t completely change the ethnic and cultural majorities of the regions”,or “allow them in, but based on some selection criteria regarding education, social class, etc.”
In the case of immigrants from a non-Western culture into a country with Western culture, how would you like for the people to culturally adjust?
Possible answers, going through the whole scale between the two extremes:
“The newcomers should completely embrace the culture of their new home”
“The newcomers should mostly adopt to the culture of their new homes, while the natives should make at least a few small steps to accommodate them”
“They both should move equal distances in the direction of each other”
“The natives should mostly adopt to the culture of the newcomers, while the newcomers should make at least a few small steps to become acquainted with the cultural history of their new home ”
“The natives should completely embrace the culture of the newcomers, so that they can freely live as they used to live in their old home, without being forced to abandon any of their values”
(and to add an option outside of the scale of who should change:) “Neither should change anything in their culture, they should live in parallel societies among each other, each keeping their own cultural values and not interfering with the other”
“Non-Western” is too broad a term here. People who object to immigration on cultural grounds have something more specific in mind than “non-Western”.
A valid concern. Do you have a better formulation in mind, which is still not too much specific?
Culture with radical disagreement on values?
Folks often make elaborate claims about their own cultures’ values, and equally elaborate claims about the cultures of people they are afraid of.
These claims may not always be well-founded or intellectually honest.
The survey might get more honest answers by asking questions like, “Do you believe that immigration to your country threatens you, benefits you, or …?”
This question will not help much. Also, a very simple immigration-related question was included in the last survey, but it was just about “immigration” in general being good or not. And of course, most people here on LW, unless they want to identify themselves as some racist xenophobes, will answer to such a question with “yes, it’s a good thing”. There is a social pressure to answer like that, in case the word “immigration” is mentioned without being any more specific. So such a question will not get us any useful information about how the members of this community feel about the topic.
This is why it would be better to include a scale. Not just “immigration” but “how much immigration”?
No one but the utmost bigot will say that 5 people from a foreign culture coming to a town of 20000 will have negative consequences. However, no one but the most gullible would believe that 50000 people from a foreign culture coming to a town of 20000 in a very short time interval will not lead to any problems, or that they would integrate instead of forcing their own values on the population.