For Sasha!
WHAT IS Culture?
CHAD 202 (online)
Week 3
Mona Ressaissi
Culture Vs. Race
Race is a problematic biological factor, while culture is a social factor
Issues with the concept of race include:
Variability within physical characteristics
Emotionally and politically charged connotations
History of race-related oppression
What is Culture?
Culture consists of traditional ideas, values, and actions
It is learned, shared, and passed through generations
Making use of dimensions to assist in defining culture for human services
Culture defines our paradigm (the set of shared assumptions about how the world works) and defines our perceptions and realities, informing our view of what is real and what is right
It is also a way of learning to respond to life’s common problems
Cultures use a variety of dimensions in their paradigm
Unique paradigms, developed by different cultures, are protected and defended
Societies also have cultural forms (e.g., ritual practices, behavioral prescriptions, and symbols) that support the dimensions of the culture, in addition to uniquely felt experiences of living
Cultural Paradigms In America
Cultural paradigms differ between Whites and four cultures of color in America:
Asian American
Native American
African American
Latino/a American
Dimension Of Culture: Psychobehavioral modality
Mode of activity that is preferred within a culture
Active engagement (doing)
Passive experiencing (being)
Experiencing with the intention of evolving (becoming)
Examples in America: Work and activity
European, Asian, and African Americans are doing oriented, with a focus on initiating activity to reach a specific goal
Latino/a and Native Americans are being-becoming oriented, with a focus on process and the present moment
Dimension Of Culture: Axiology
Interpersonal values that are taught in a culture
Competition vs. cooperation
Emotional restraint vs. expressiveness
Direct vs. indirect verbal expression
Help seeking vs. saving face
Dimension Of Culture: ethos
Widely-held beliefs within a cultural group’s social interactions
Independence vs. interdependence
Individual vs. family
Egalitarian vs. authoritarian
Example in America: People relations
European Americans focus on the individual and actualization of the self
Cultures of color have a collateral focus, involving doing things for the family
European and African Americans perceive human nature as having the potential for good and bad
Asian, Latino/a, and Native Americans hold the view that human nature is good
Dimension Of Culture: EPISTEMOLOGY
Preferred ways of learning in a culture
Cognitive
affective/intuitive
Dimension Of Culture: LOGIC
Type of reasoning processes members use
Either-or thinking
both-and thinking
circular logic
Dimension Of Culture: CONCEPT OF TIME
How time is experienced within a culture
Clock-based vs. event-based vs. cyclical
Example in America: time orientation
European Americans are future-oriented
Planning, producing, controlling
Compartmentalized and incremental
Asian and Latino/a cultures are past-present-oriented
Past history is alive and influences present reality
Native American and African American cultures are present-oriented
Focus on here and now
Dimension Of Culture: ONTOLOGY
Views on the nature of reality
Objective
spiritual
Both
Example in America -Nature and the environment
European Americans prefer mastery over nature
Cultures of color live in harmony with nature
Dimension Of Culture: CONCEPT OF SELF
Identification of members as independent beings or as part of a greater collective
Individual self vs. extended self
Lost Characteristics Of “Primitive” Culture
8 characteristics of “primitive” culture that have been lost (Diamond, 1987):
Nurturance of the individual
Engaging relationships throughout life
Forms of institutionalized deviance
Celebration and fusion of the sacred through ritual
Engagement with nature
Participation in cultural forms
Equating goodness and beauty with natural environment
Socioeconomic support as a natural inheritance
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Lost “primitive culture”
The loss of traditional culture results in a radical increase in stress, dysfunction, and mental illness (Diamond, 1987)