Influence of an Intercultural Factor on the Formation of Sociocultural Capital of a Polyethnic City

Abstract

The ideas of managing cultural diversity in the modern world are embodied primarily in the concepts of multiculturalism and interculturalism. Multiculturalism can be defined as ideology, politics and social discourse, which recognizes the legitimacy and value of cultural pluralism, the significance of the diversity of cultural forms. In its turn, this allows to form a single sociocultural space based on the tolerant coexistence of traditional ethnic or national cultures. Interculturalism is based on the dialogical paradigm of coexistence of different cultures: recognition of the heterogeneous nature of cultures, acceptance of the thesis of unity in diversity, identifying cultural diversity as a counterweight to assimilation. On the one hand, universal values create the platform of intercultural interaction within the framework of interculturalism, while on the other hand, there are civic culture and responsibility of ethnic groups for their society. Interculturalism is described as a life resource of a modern multiethnic city, a sociocultural capital that can multiply. Multiculturalism is aimed at preserving minority cultures that causes the conservation of the situation, and interculturalism provides an active and positive dialogue of different cultures with the aim of mutual enrichment. The sociological survey was held in the polycultural Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which has been applying policies and practices of interculturality since 2008. The aim is to analyse the interrelation of interculturality and sociocultural capital. The results indicate that ethnic communities are sufficiently integrated in public space and they are positively perceived by the city community. Therefore, interculturality is a significant resource of sociocultural capital accumulation which can be converted in political capital and it can consolidate a city community.