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Statistics disagree: Rank Country Ethnic Fractionalization Index Cultural Diversity Index 63 Switzerland 0.575 0.418 85 United States 0.4

by 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.
- int_19h 8y ago
  Thing is, Swiss are a purely civic nation, not an ethnic one - just like Americans. So your complaint that you "have almost nothing in common with the Red Tribe" is important to understand in context - the American civic nation is no longer a thing as a single entity, but it wasn't always the case. And for Swiss, it is the case today, but it is not necessarily the case tomorrow. What keeps a civic nation together is its politics, and if you get a sufficiently broad rift in the populace, that can kill it.
- repolfx 8y ago
  I live in Switzerland. A lot of these questions are extremely US-centric in worldview. I'll try and answer them anyway. Firstly, how do you define 'indigenous group'? Switzerland is in central Europe, it wasn't colonised in recent times. There are a lot of people from all across Europe here, and in particular lots of immigrants from places like Turkey and the Balkans, i.e. Muslim. I don't know if they'd count or not. Language families is again a vague term, but there are at minimum four: German, Italian, French and Romansch. However the reality is much more complex. German is only used in formal and written settings, the daily spoken language is a mishmash of what are euphemistically called "Swiss German dialects" but in reality are almost entirely different languages to German. German people cannot understand them, for example. Imagine trying to understand medieval English and you're in the right general area but 10x worse. These dialects also vary significantly across different cities. Oh, and of course English is both widely spoken and used in daily life due to the huge foreign population that has never got to grips with the chaotic language situation. Switzerland had its last civil war in 1847, so roughly in the same time period as the USA did. With respect to 'deeply ingrained bias based on only how they look', this is exceptionally US centric. There have been ethno-religious conflicts all over the world and throughout history between people who look identical. Just look at the history of the Troubles in Ireland, or the state of Africa. The USA is actually quite unusual in having such serious racial tensions based purely on skin colour. There's nothing special about Switzerland in not having those problems, it certainly doesn't make the society "homogenous".
toasterlovin 8y ago
Switzerland has a population of 8 million. The US has 38 million black descendants of slaves, 34 million descendants of Mexicans, 5 million Puerto Ricans, 4 million Chinese, 3 million Indians, 2.7 million Filipinos, etc.

by 1wd 8y ago

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.
int_19h 8y ago
Thing is, Swiss are a purely civic nation, not an ethnic one - just like Americans. So your complaint that you "have almost nothing in common with the Red Tribe" is important to understand in context - the American civic nation is no longer a thing as a single entity, but it wasn't always the case. And for Swiss, it is the case today, but it is not necessarily the case tomorrow. What keeps a civic nation together is its politics, and if you get a sufficiently broad rift in the populace, that can kill it.
repolfx 8y ago
I live in Switzerland. A lot of these questions are extremely US-centric in worldview. I'll try and answer them anyway. Firstly, how do you define 'indigenous group'? Switzerland is in central Europe, it wasn't colonised in recent times. There are a lot of people from all across Europe here, and in particular lots of immigrants from places like Turkey and the Balkans, i.e. Muslim. I don't know if they'd count or not. Language families is again a vague term, but there are at minimum four: German, Italian, French and Romansch. However the reality is much more complex. German is only used in formal and written settings, the daily spoken language is a mishmash of what are euphemistically called "Swiss German dialects" but in reality are almost entirely different languages to German. German people cannot understand them, for example. Imagine trying to understand medieval English and you're in the right general area but 10x worse. These dialects also vary significantly across different cities. Oh, and of course English is both widely spoken and used in daily life due to the huge foreign population that has never got to grips with the chaotic language situation. Switzerland had its last civil war in 1847, so roughly in the same time period as the USA did. With respect to 'deeply ingrained bias based on only how they look', this is exceptionally US centric. There have been ethno-religious conflicts all over the world and throughout history between people who look identical. Just look at the history of the Troubles in Ireland, or the state of Africa. The USA is actually quite unusual in having such serious racial tensions based purely on skin colour. There's nothing special about Switzerland in not having those problems, it certainly doesn't make the society "homogenous".

toasterlovin 8y ago

Switzerland has a population of 8 million. The US has 38 million black descendants of slaves, 34 million descendants of Mexicans, 5 million Puerto Ricans, 4 million Chinese, 3 million Indians, 2.7 million Filipinos, etc.