ABSTRACT
From the Americas to Australia, and throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, nations and people are confronting increased cultural diversity in their economic, political, and social spheres. Many changes occurring within the borders of most nations force people of different backgrounds to interact in ways never imagined a generation ago. The international business community continues to expand; indigenous people claim their fair share and influence in determining the use of their nation’s resources, or desire autonomy and a voice in determining the direction of their own fate; marginalized groups continue to coalesce and demand equal opportunity and greater representation; guest workers or migrant laborers continue to swell national borders, with an estimated 10 million found throughout Europe alone; and refugees continue to stream across borders to the extent that there are presently as many as 24 million people worldwide who live within the borders of another nation (Childers & Urquhart, 1994). Although so-called domestic minorities exist within all countries, immigrant minorities are on the increase in many. The former benefit by equal legal status, which is not afforded to the latter. However, nowhere is constitutional equality sufficient to counterbalance the realities many face in their schools and communities, on the job, or in society in general (Khoi, 1994). The differences those outside the mainstream experience seem to be more in degree than in nature.
