7 ms·

Homogeneous?! Switzerland is a confederacy and home to three distinct linguistic/cultural populations.

cyann 8y ago
4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_language
labster 8y ago
Compared to the United States, this is very homogeneous.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- buboard 8y ago
  US people seem to underestimate how homogeneous the US is. It's quite a thing to know that you won t have to change habits when you travel across.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    I guess you haven't visited the East or West Coasts of the U.S.?
    - projektir 8y ago
      I've moved from the East coast to the West coast and there's basically no difference in my view.
    - buboard 8y ago
      at least from central all the way to the west, it doesnt feel like you re among very different people. You can find similar or bigger differences by going from south to north italy. And this is just 1 country
      - toasterlovin 8y ago
        Let's just consider a single city in the United States: Los Angeles. The population of Los Angeles metropolitan area is 13 million people (so, larger than all of Switzerland). Here are some interesting demographic stats about Los Angeles: Less than 60% of people in LA were born in the US. There are less whites (<30%) than hispanics (47%). There are also 10% asians, 10% blacks. On top of that, I can tell you that there are neighborhoods in Los Angeles where specific ethnicities are so concentrated that the street signs are largely or entirely in foreign languages. This is true for the following languages: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Armenian, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, and Spanish.
        buboard 8y ago
        yet they all eat at mcdonalds, shop at 7-elevens and have thanksgiving parties. Here is another test: do you see many satellite dishes in immigrant neighborhoods?
        toasterlovin 8y ago
        Right, so because the whole world drinks Coke and buys furniture from Ikea, we're all just one global monoculture, right? I get that Switzerland is not a monoculture. But to pretend that it's more diverse than the US is just a joke.
- 1wd 8y ago
  Statistics disagree: Rank Country Ethnic Fractionalization Index Cultural Diversity Index 63 Switzerland 0.575 0.418 85 United States 0.491 0.271 159 North Korea 0.002 0.002 Ethnic, Linguistic and Religious Fractionalization Switzerland 0.531400 0.544100 0.608300 United States 0.490100 0.564700 0.824100 Korea, North 0.002000 0.002100 0.660400 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_ethnic_and_cultural_diversity_level https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_et...
  - labster 8y ago
    Statistics don't represent the whole story. How many indigenous groups are in Switzerland? How many language families are native to Switzerland? By my count, two, where in the United States it is over twenty. When's the last time Switzerland had a civil war (I mean, war between the cantons)? Is there a deeply ingrained bias against other Swiss depending only on how they look? Even in the supposedly mainstream culture, I have almost nothing in common with "Red Tribe" Americans. Just because we share a language, ethnic identity, and religious category does not mean we are homogenous by any means. I often have much more in common with people of a different ethnicity and religion than those statistics would indicate.
    - 1wd 8y ago
      I'm sure you are right. I don't know anything about language families native to Switzerland. The census in Switzerland counts over 40 main languages spoken in Switzerland. 64% German. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Switzerland#Other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Switzerland#Other... In the US the census only counts 32 languages spoken at home. 70% English only. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States Probably these are not comparable and this doesn't really prove anything. > When's the last time Switzerland had a civil war 1847, but I don't understand how that's relevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund_War > Is there a deeply ingrained bias against other Swiss depending only on how they look? Sadly, yes. Immigrating and becoming Swiss is difficult, but it does happen. Swiss with a migration background suffer a higher rate of racial discrimination. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/migration-integration/integrationindikatoren/indikatoren/erfahrung.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerun... I don't know how this compares to the US.
refurb 8y ago
Three distinct European cultures.
totfz 8y ago
White and Christian, white and Christian, and white and Christian. That's all that matters. :)

4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romansh_language

labster 8y ago

Compared to the United States, this is very homogeneous.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
buboard 8y ago
US people seem to underestimate how homogeneous the US is. It's quite a thing to know that you won t have to change habits when you travel across.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  I guess you haven't visited the East or West Coasts of the U.S.?
  - projektir 8y ago
    I've moved from the East coast to the West coast and there's basically no difference in my view.
  - buboard 8y ago
    at least from central all the way to the west, it doesnt feel like you re among very different people. You can find similar or bigger differences by going from south to north italy. And this is just 1 country
    - toasterlovin 8y ago
      Let's just consider a single city in the United States: Los Angeles. The population of Los Angeles metropolitan area is 13 million people (so, larger than all of Switzerland). Here are some interesting demographic stats about Los Angeles: Less than 60% of people in LA were born in the US. There are less whites (<30%) than hispanics (47%). There are also 10% asians, 10% blacks. On top of that, I can tell you that there are neighborhoods in Los Angeles where specific ethnicities are so concentrated that the street signs are largely or entirely in foreign languages. This is true for the following languages: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Armenian, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, and Spanish.
      - buboard 8y ago
        yet they all eat at mcdonalds, shop at 7-elevens and have thanksgiving parties. Here is another test: do you see many satellite dishes in immigrant neighborhoods?
        toasterlovin 8y ago
        Right, so because the whole world drinks Coke and buys furniture from Ikea, we're all just one global monoculture, right? I get that Switzerland is not a monoculture. But to pretend that it's more diverse than the US is just a joke.
1wd 8y ago
Statistics disagree: Rank Country Ethnic Fractionalization Index Cultural Diversity Index 63 Switzerland 0.575 0.418 85 United States 0.491 0.271 159 North Korea 0.002 0.002 Ethnic, Linguistic and Religious Fractionalization Switzerland 0.531400 0.544100 0.608300 United States 0.490100 0.564700 0.824100 Korea, North 0.002000 0.002100 0.660400 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_ethnic_and_cultural_diversity_level https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_et...
- labster 8y ago
  Statistics don't represent the whole story. How many indigenous groups are in Switzerland? How many language families are native to Switzerland? By my count, two, where in the United States it is over twenty. When's the last time Switzerland had a civil war (I mean, war between the cantons)? Is there a deeply ingrained bias against other Swiss depending only on how they look? Even in the supposedly mainstream culture, I have almost nothing in common with "Red Tribe" Americans. Just because we share a language, ethnic identity, and religious category does not mean we are homogenous by any means. I often have much more in common with people of a different ethnicity and religion than those statistics would indicate.
  - 1wd 8y ago
    I'm sure you are right. I don't know anything about language families native to Switzerland. The census in Switzerland counts over 40 main languages spoken in Switzerland. 64% German. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Switzerland#Other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Switzerland#Other... In the US the census only counts 32 languages spoken at home. 70% English only. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States Probably these are not comparable and this doesn't really prove anything. > When's the last time Switzerland had a civil war 1847, but I don't understand how that's relevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderbund_War > Is there a deeply ingrained bias against other Swiss depending only on how they look? Sadly, yes. Immigrating and becoming Swiss is difficult, but it does happen. Swiss with a migration background suffer a higher rate of racial discrimination. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/migration-integration/integrationindikatoren/indikatoren/erfahrung.html https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerun... I don't know how this compares to the US.

refurb 8y ago

Three distinct European cultures.

totfz 8y ago

White and Christian, white and Christian, and white and Christian. That's all that matters. :)