Cultural Pluralism and Communication

Cultural pluralism refers to conceptions of cultural heterogeneity, the term pluralism being understood in contrast to substance individualism. In general, pluralism denotes anti-monadism. Accounts of cultural pluralism stretch over a broad spectrum, from the atomistic view of plurality as a collection of autonomously coexisting and individually defined cultures to the view of culture as an intrinsically heterogenous phenomenon within which distinct clusters cannot be identified. In between these two poles, different schools account for various construals of cultural boundaries, from less to more easily permeable. Views on cultural pluralism are underpinned by the mutually implicit notions of boundary, difference, and identity. Scholarly notions often carry an ideological charge, as exhibited by the common “liberal pluralism” notion. Construing cultural pluralism depends on how the boundary between two (or more) cultures is defined and, consequently, what is deemed cultural identity. Because various concepts of boundary, difference, and identity circulate in different disciplines, there is no clear consensus on a scholarly use of “cultural pluralism.” In many cases, it relates to conceptions about language heterogeneity and the relation between (natural) language and cognition. As such, cultural pluralism is not the specific object of any particular discipline. Approaches are usually interdisciplinary and stretch throughout the broad spectrum of humanities and social sciences, with inputs from other sciences (systems theory, game theory, evolutionary biology). While the notion is plentifully debated and used in a variety of scholarly concerns, there are no dedicated academic journals or textbooks. Discussions on cultural pluralism often take communication as a main concern, as questions on intercultural dialog and cultural conflicts are implicit. In brief, the study of cultural pluralism implies studying the communication processes between the elements that constitute a plurality (be it distinct or overlapping cultures or different communities belonging to similar cultural spaces). On most accounts, the notion of cultural identity also supposes construals of otherness and, therefore, dialogism. Invoked in various paradigms, cultural pluralism cannot be pinpointed as a defined technical term. The usage of “cultural pluralism” as a specific terminology was debated academically, in a focused way, in the third quarter of the 20th century, in the North American context, arguably in the wake of the civil rights movement. Conversations here relied on earlier American anthropology and concerned matters of cultural and immigration policy. The notion has specific connotations in educational research, where social and cultural inclusivity are considered. Many scholarly works address cultural pluralism, directly or through their implications, by using different and cognate terms such as dialogism, speech community, heterogeneity, or multiculturalism. Given the state of the art in relevant areas and the nature of the concept, this attempt to systematically overview the main bibliographical sources for cultural pluralism cannot offer an exhaustive account. For this reason, while there is a vast amount of literature that studies cultural pluralism practically, in specific communities and regions, this overview focuses on theoretical studies.