Concept Identification Project

HDF 110

IDEAS CONCEPTS AND THEORIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO UNDERSTANDING PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION

What is the difference between race, ethnicity and culture?

RACE

ETHNICITY

CULTURE

Before we continue to explore the concept of culture…a brief lesson in systemic thinking…

Five Levels of Systemic Environments (Bronfenbrenner,1979)

Microsystem- The developmental context nearest the individual and represents those interactions in which people are directly involved (family, school, friends, church, community, neighborhood)

Mesosystem- Contains the elements present in the Microsystem, but concentrates on the interaction between them (i.e. How does the church affect the family? What is the relationship between the school and the neighborhood?)

Exosystem-Consists of the fabrics of society in which policies are made and ultimately have an impact on the microsystem and the individual. Examples include educational systems, religious systems, economic systems, media and technology, political system, legal system, etc…

Macrosystem- Recognizes that a society has a set of overarching cultural values and beliefs that establish implicit and explicit rules about what or what is not acceptable behavior. American Culture vs. Middle Eastern Culture.

Chronosystem- Reflects changes that happen over time (women’s rights, definition of family or marriage, social and economic discrimination) Or the impact of the historical time in which a person lives on their development.

Back to thinking about culture…

Some common Misconceptions that White Americans have about culture:

Culture is Foreign-This idea is based on the belief that culture is derived from another country or society…basically, that it is “imported” from somewhere else.

Culture Belongs to Someone Else-There is research evidence that many white Americans attribute culture to others in society, but not to themselves. This definition implies that there is no discernable American Culture, which is untrue. (O’Connor, 1993)

Culture is Exotic-Many people believe that culture only encompasses unusual practices such as body painting in India, Native American pow wows, etc…rather than seeing local voting practices, a county fair, or high school sports events as culturally significant.

Culture and Ethnicity are Synonymous-While ethnicity likely influences culture, it is only ONE of many factors that influence a person’s cultural identity. On a personal level, is the sense that a person has of being part of their ethnic community including family experiences passed down from one generation to the next. Culture is a multi-dimensional construct that also includes additional identifiers such as social class, gender, location, and membership or identification with other subgroups.

Culture Should Be Color Blind or “I Don’t See Color” -A common approach is to emphasize the similarities “we are all the same” between people and to ignore the differences. This can be done by well-meaning people in that that believe everyone should be treated equally. Unfortunately, NOT noticing somebody is black ignores the rich history and culture, just as ONLY noticing somebody is black ignores their individuality.

Culture is Primarily External-Many people think that culture consists simply of the artifacts or outward appearance or behavior of a particular group. People often point specifically to clothing, appearance, housing types or location, food items and rituals. These identifiers link people together and separate them from us. A “sameness” is assumed if you are in that group. This way of seeing culture does not appreciate the inner feelings, thoughts, or experiences of the people in a group and fails to recognize the influence and interaction of other cultural groups to which a person belongs.

Culture is ACQUIRED and EVOLVES Over time:

Culture is learned-Learned through the reactions of others in the group to people adhering to the norms of that group or going against them. Rewards and/or punishment direct people’s behavior. The rewards and punishment can be tacit or tangible.

Culture is shared-The members of the group often agree on the main/salient points concerning what is important in the culture.

Culture contains variations among people in the same culture group-Not everyone in the same cultural group shares all of the belief of that group. People can belong to several cultural groups at a time, and the values between them might not be the same.

Culture is adaptive-It is possible for culture to adapt over time to accommodate changes in the environment (at several levels) People over time eliminate traditions and rituals and add new ones.