What is the reason why there is a need of having different culture and values?

Answer 1

The development among human beings of different cultures with different values is essentially guaranteed. Different, separate groups of human beings have created cultures with values that were decisively shaped by their circumstances. As a general rule of thumb, the combination of geographical location and climate dictate how humans can live. Food is one of the most basic of necessities, and how humans can obtain food is governed by geographical location and climate. The lifestyle of a particular people who depend upon growing particular types of crops for their food will be very different from the lifestyle of a particular people who depend upon raising particular types of animals for their food.

The diversity of human cultures, each with their own set of values, gives humanity in general an enormous advantage. If human beings had only one single approach to life, human beings would not have the ability to adapt to different challenges presented by different circumstances. Human beings raised in a particular culture with particular values have, at least, the opportunity to learn from human being raised in cultures with values that are different from their own (sadly, this is an opportunity that is not always exploited). In this way, knowledge acquired from living in specific circumstances can be shared with those who live in different circumstances. The synthesis of different ideas can, in turn, produce new ideas.

As a simple example, the domestication of the horse took place in the Great Eurasian Steppes, which stretch from Eastern Europe to the Pacific coast in East Asia. Because of a lack of adequate rainfall in the Eurasian Steppes, it's difficult to grow enough crops to produce an adequate supply of food. However, there is enough rainfall to allow grass to grow, the main source of food for animals such as horses. People living on Eurasian Steppes domesticated wild horses and used them as a source of food, initially by killing horses and eating their meat, but, later, relying, instead on the milk provided by mares (female horses). These people learned to use horses for other purposes, in particular, as a means of transportation. Initially this involved the use of horses as 'draft' animals to pull vehicles with wheels: wagons and chariots. Eventually, they mastered the difficult skill of riding horses. Techniques and technologies had to be developed through a process of trial and error in order to develop the best means by which one can ride a horse. The people of the Eurasian Steppes came to depend upon horses for most of what they needed in life and developed a unique lifestyle based around horses. Because of the central importance of horse and horse riding in their cultures, they became expert riders, spending more of their lives on the back of horses than standing on their feet.

The peoples of the Eurasian Steppes were not isolated. They were in contact with many other peoples with radically different cultures, cultures with lifestyles that had evolved around the growing of crops (though, they too had domesticated animals, but these only provided, among other things, some of their food). These farming peoples in locations such as China, Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia had not domesticated the horse. It was only through contact with the peoples of the Eurasian Steppes that these farming people learned the skills necessary for raising, caring for, and using horses. They benefitted from the introduction of new means of transportation, such as the use of wagons pulled by horses to transport people and goods. They benefitted from the introduction of new means of waging war, including the use of chariots on the battlefield and, later, by mastering the skills necessary for riding horses, the use of cavalry in warfare.

This is only one example of how the sharing of knowledge between different culture with different values developed by different groups of human beings living under different circumstances can be beneficial.

Answer 2

The term “culturally diverse” is often used interchangeably with the concept of “multiculturalism.”

Sociologist Dr. Caleb Rosado, who specializes in diversity and multiculturalism, described seven important actions involved in the definition of multiculturalism:

1. recognition of the abundant diversity of cultures;
2. respect for the differences;
3. acknowledging the validity of different cultural expressions and contributions;
4. valuing what other cultures offer;
5. encouraging the contribution of diverse groups;
6. empowering people to strengthen themselves and others to achieve their maximum potential by being critical of their own biases; and
7. celebrating rather than just tolerating the differences in order to bring about unity through diversity.