The Curse of Homogeneity

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Source: Time
The rapid development of communication, globalization, and information influx have enabled interactions among people far removed from each other. Even so, the notion of "stranger" persists, a result of human’s inclination to discern differences. In Japan, the term for foreigner is gaijin (外人) which more accurately translates to “outside person”. Ishii Satoshi argued that Koreans and the Chinese living in Japan are not considered gaijin while only those physically different are considered gaijin. Thus the word gaijin and the concept it embodies has a connotation of exclusiveness. Similarly, South Korea with its notoriously high plastic surgery rates, is confined to an idea of a relatively standard appearance as well. The viral images of the 20 beauty queen finalists for Miss Korea 2013, eerily displaying 20 identical faces, certainly seem to support that. The implications of the beauty standard extend beyond superficiality; it speaks volumes about the seemingly unadaptable social values of east asian countries. The reality of cultural homogeneity, a multifaceted entity that provides both stability and stagnation, is that its role is slowly dying out as different cultures integrate with one another.

The most disliked features of Japanese culture in a study about students’ study abroad experiences in Japan include social interdependence, attitude toward foreigners, low status of women and group conformity. If cultural homogeneity is defined by the amount of foreigners in the country, then Japan would qualify as one of the most homogeneous societies. However, this argument is too broad, superficial, and has plenty of counterexamples (i.e. smaller countries have a lower percentage of foreigners). Rather, it is the idea of maintaining the status quo in Japan that enforces the difference of the gaijin and the unwillingness to absorb foreigners who wish to live in Japan.

Cultural homogeneity lies not in physical appearance (although it does play a role), but by a society’s maintenance of the status quo.  Paradigm shifts, when necessary, present a significant problem to the culturally intransigent Japan. The low birth rates in Japan have made it increasingly important to maintain a workforce population, forcing the government to consider letting in more immigrants. In 2014, the fertility rate was 1.4, a far cry from the target of 1.8. The Cabinet Office revealed that reaching such a number would require the entry of 200,000 immigrants a year. Such a move, however, would bring a far more rapid cultural shift than most Japanese, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would be able to handle. Rather, Abe plans to bolster the foreign trainee program in order to replenish much needed labor supply, especially for the upcoming 2020 Olympics.

Arguments against immigrants are focused on the financial and social burden. Companies will have to consider paying salaries, pensions, healthcare and other benefits to immigrants who stay in Japan for an extended amount of time. There is also the concern of the corporate world looking to hire foreign workers on lower wage, thus taking jobs from native citizens.

Pride serves as one of the most significant factors in maintaining cultural homogeneity. Korean children are taught that they are all one type of people, a “homogeneous Korea”. In a poll from multicultural foreigners, 37% of children from these families reported being bullied in Korean schools while 80% of foreigners reported some sort of discrimination, whether that be hateful language or even violence. Perhaps originally a product of nationalism, this so-called pride appears to be more similar to the social intransigence that Japan exhibited. Although the number of foreigners has increased significantly, about 3.2% of the whole population, these foreigners remain excluded from society, not in a sense of sheer deprivation of rights or privileges, but in a sense that the feeling of being a “stranger” persists. Japanese author Ayako Sono’s statement reflects these ideas: “Humans can do together everything from business, research to sports. But living quarters had better be segregated.”

But cultural homogeneity is certainly not the only way of peaceful living among humans. There has been evidence of peaceful and productive results stemming from diverse groups working together. In the United States, many younger companies consist of many genders and races of different backgrounds. Of course, there are still niches of cultural “homogeneity” such as Chinatowns, neighborhoods populated by one ethnicity, friend groups that naturally gravitate towards others of the same race or gender. These groups are formed based on similarities, and the easiest similarity to glean is that of physical appearance. It is only after getting under the physical factor to know a person that the superficial groupings fade away.

At the crux of the issue, similarities translate into understanding which translates into safety. That safety bubble protects a society from the unexpected and unknown. Ayako Sono’s statement can be viewed as one made on blatant prejudice, but can also be viewed as one fearful of the possible disorder that the introduction of a new people may bring (the Civil War, the recent mass rape in Germany, to name a few). So the reluctance to have open arms to all races and ethnicities is quite understandable. But in the globalized world where physical travel and virtual travel are accessible to a growing number of people, the safety net cannot hold forever.

Lucy Zhang is a freshman at Duke University.