It has been recognised for some considerable time that cultural differences impinge on educational processes and outcomes. These differences relate to age, gender and ethnic diversity, the latter being increasingly obvious as greater numbers of students from different ethnic backgrounds have been appearing in Australian universities. However, there has been relatively little concern in the lite...

The choice-constraint approach assumes that the choice of one’s friends will be determined by both individual choices and the constraints imposed by one’s interaction context. Trends towards homophily however, might counteract this effect if actors consistently seek interaction partners with the same background characteristics. In this study we investigate the impact of community level diversit...

DIVERSITY IS a topic frequently discussed in nursing administrative circles. Administrators recognize that the profession must reflect a variety of ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds to provide care to the wide (and growing) diversity of our patients. They understand that few individuals are comfortable entering an arena where they seldom see someone who looks like them, but ef...

Food is a powerful cultural signifier. It can connote inclusiveness, belonging, attachment and be a symbolic expression of social binding. Similarly, food can signify exclusiveness, generate stereotypes and feelings of revulsion and disgust which demarcate boundaries between the us and the other. As Marcel Proust’s teasoaked sweet Madeleine illustrates, food can produce good memories as much as...

In this article a special attention is paid to the to the role of public service broadcaster in cultural diversity societies. The main aims of the author was answering the following questions: how cultural pluralism is implemented by the public service broadcaster in Switzerland? How the Swiss PSB implements the principle of cultural pluralism, particularly in the context of the access of natio...

Culture is a system of shared ideas, concepts, rules and meanings that underlies the way we live--and approach death. Cultural diversity refers to more than ethnic diversity: age, gender, sexual preference, capabilities, education, place of residence, and occupation (including the health professions) contribute to diversity of culture. Clinical decision making involves values and ethical princi...

Cultural origins influence the way patients and health care providers think about care and treatment at the end-of-life. With increasing ethnic diversity there is greater chance that clinical encounters will occur between individuals of different backgrounds, therefore there is greater risk of misunderstanding. Health care providers should be mindful of cultural differences when informing patie...

BACKGROUND Social scientists have suggested that cultural diversity in a nation leads to societal instability. However, societal instability may be affected not only by within-nation or alpha diversity, but also diversity between a nation and its neighbours or beta diversity. It is also necessary to distinguish different domains of diversity, namely linguistic, ethnic and religious, and to dist...

Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits. In the short run, however, immigration and ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New evidence from the US suggests that in ethnica...

This special issue focuses broadly upon questions and themes relating to the current conceptualisations, representations and use of 'ethnicity' (and ethnic minority experiences) within the field of social gerontology. An important aim of this special issue is to explore and address the issue of 'otherness' within the predominant existing frameworks for researching those who are ageing or consid...