Cultural Acceptance - A Research Project

Eva: Introduction

This project will be conducting a research on how does Internet affect our culture acceptance. Internet has greatly reformed our value systems by exposing us to the value of a foreign culture, extending the physical contact zone to the enormous cyber one. Living under this contact zone, how has our view towards another culture changed? Have we become less biased towards another culture? Have we learn to appreciate another culture? These are the questions this research tries to address,  with a focus on our appreciation towards a foreign culture.

This study will be conducted through online survey, targeting on individuals born in the cyber age; that is, individuals who are born in the late nineties.

Anna: Purpose

The world we live in is one of increasing cultural diversity and multiculturality, in part because of the power of the internet. Using the internet, we are able to connect with millions of others around the world every hour of every day. The power to do this is something that we haven’t seen before in the course of human history. The internet is obviously such a powerful tool, and clearly affects each and every one of us in some way. Our goal is to understand and discover more about how the internet increases our understanding of various cultures and ethnicities. We aim to discover if it is indeed possible to be more culturally accepting because you are exposed to the culture of others on a daily basis.

Our project also emphasizes the importance of music in the lives of individuals. We hope that by analyzing the music that people listen to, we can understand more about what they appreciate within a culture and why they appreciate that culture. We also hope to see if music actually does have such a powerful impact on the lives of people; if it plays a role in whether people experience more bias towards a specific culture.

Eva: Method

This survey will be conducted using an online survey, which will be posted on Facebook for the targeted individuals to complete. The survey will include investigation of the culture background of the subjects, the online habits of the subjects, and a test on their appreciation towards another culture. The exact questions to be used for testing their cultural appreciation are still uncertain; however, the basic jist of these questions are known. We will be recording clips of music from various cultures and playing them back to the subjects; the subjects will then have to identify which of these is their favorite. We will also be showing the subjects various artworks from different cultures, and again, the subjects will be asked to identify which one is their favorite. Then, the subject will be asked to write down their favorite genre(s) of music.

Anna: Conclusion

In conclusion, we hope that this study will allow us to understand more about what actually increases cultural understanding among individuals, and if the internet is truly responsible for making us more culturally accepting. In this increasingly multicultural world we live in, cultural diversity and acceptance are of the utmost importance. It is vital that an individual can work well with people from various cultures, and for that, cultural acceptance is a necessity. That is why we hope this study will shed more light on the power the internet has to increase cultural acceptance.