Chapter 5-6 Discussion

Goldenchild1

Diller_CulturalDiversity_6e_PPT_Ch05.pptx

Home >Social Science homework help >Chapter 5-6 Discussion

Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services

By Jerry V. Diller

Chapter 5

Understanding Culture and Cultural Differences

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

5-1 Define culture and identify cultural differences among populations.

5-2 Distinguish between the different dimensions of culture.

5-3 Examine the key aspects of the helping profession as they relate to multicultural counseling.

5-4 Recall definitions of mental health.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

5-5 Compare conflicting cross-cultural service models.

5-6 Contrast adapting generic models and evolving culturally sensitive models.

5-7 Identify cross-cultural treatment models.

What Is Culture? (1 of 2)

Culture consists of traditional ideas, values, and actions.

It is learned, shared, and passed through generations.

What Is Culture? (2 of 2)

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.

Unique paradigms, developed by different cultures, are protected and defended.

Culture Versus 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

Opportunity for pseudoscientific arguments for inferiority among people of color

Social irrelevance in the context of the U.S. historical perception of two groups: “White” and “Of Color”

The Dimensions of Culture (1 of 5)

Differences are referred to as dimensions of worldview (Brown and Landrum-Brown, 1995) and include:

Psychobehavioral modality: Mode of activity that is preferred within a culture

Active engagement (doing)

Passive experiencing (being)

Experiencing with the intention of evolving (becoming)

The Dimensions of Culture (2 of 5)

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

Ethos: Widely held beliefs within a cultural group’s social interactions

Independence vs. interdependence

Individual rights vs. honor and family protection

Egalitarian vs. authoritarian

Control and dominance vs. harmony and deference

The Dimensions of Culture (3 of 5)

Epistemology: Preferred ways of learning in a culture

Cognitive vs. affective/intuitive

Logic: Type of reasoning processes members use

Either-or thinking vs. both-and thinking vs. circular logic

Ontology: Views on the nature of reality

Objective vs. spiritual vs. both

Concept of time: How time is experienced within a culture

Clock-based vs. event-based vs. cyclical

The Dimensions of Culture (4 of 5)

Concept of self: Identification of members as independent beings or as part of a greater collective

Individual self vs. extended self

The Dimensions of Culture (5 of 5)

Societies also have cultural forms (e.g., ritual practices, behavioral prescriptions, and symbols) that support the dimensions of the culture, in addition to unique felt experiences of living

Comparing Cultural Paradigms in America (1 of 5)

Cultural paradigms differ between Whites and four cultures of color in America:

Asian American

Native American

African American

Latin American

Comparing Cultural Paradigms in America (2 of 5)

Nature and the environment

European Americans prefer mastery over nature.

Cultures of color live in harmony with nature.

Comparing Cultural Paradigms in America (3 of 5)

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

Comparing Cultural Paradigms in America (4 of 5)

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.

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.

Comparing Cultural Paradigms in America (5 of 5)

Human nature

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.

Are Theories of Helping Culture-Bound?

Approaches to working cross-culturally are either emic, or etic

Emic: Looking at a culture in light of its indigenous concepts and theories

For instance, health service provision with the understanding of the role of traditional healers

Etic: Looking at a culture from an external lens

For instance, the provision of health care services with the assumption that a given approach is appropriate for all cultural backgrounds

Key Aspects of the Helping Process (1 of 3)

There are four key aspects of the helping process that are potentially problematic:

Verbal expressiveness and self-disclosure

Cultures of color often do not feel comfortable talking about themselves with strangers and are unlikely to respond well to demands for self-disclosure.

Reluctances should not be mistaken for defensiveness, depression, shyness, or passiveness.

Setting long-term goals

Clients of color are more action-oriented and want concrete advice for their problems.

Directive approaches are received better than long-term goals setting, which may seem too abstract and frustrating.

Key Aspects of the Helping Process (2 of 3)

Autoplastic vs. alloplastic approach

Autoplastic approaches place importance on helping the client change to adapt to a situation.

Alloplastic approaches place importance on changing the environment.

Perspective based on perceptions of locus of control and locus of responsibility

Autoplastic vs. alloplastic approach

Asian American culture stresses passive acceptance of reality and focuses on adjusting one’s perception

African Americans prefer to change the environment rather than change themselves.

Northern European culture encourages the confrontation of obstacles.

Key Aspects of the Helping Process (3 of 3)

Definition of mental health

Helping professions apply Northern European views of health and encourage clients to strive toward these characteristics.

Northern European values of health are related to the self (self-reliance, self-actualization).

Cultures of color give less importance to individual autonomy, instead focusing on the health of the extended self or larger collective.

Collective Personality

The example of Arabs/Muslims

Collective social system

A person’s psychology and personal structure are organized around their membership in the group.

Traits include:

Intrafamilial conflict instead of intrapsychic

Mechanisms such as Mosayara (getting along and reacting in socially acceptable ways) and Istighaba (expressing authentic feelings away from social observation)

Collective Versus Individual Treatment Models (1 of 2)

Collective treatment models depend on interaction with other group members to achieve therapeutic outcomes.

Mode of group work is especially helpful when addressing collective trauma.

Utilizes a narrative approach to help the individual incorporate his or her trauma

Collective Versus Individual Treatment Models (2 of 2)

Benefits include:

View of physical and mental issues as communal issues rather than individual problems

Encouraging the use of a broader range of interventions (e.g., expressive arts, rituals, rites of passage, celebration) to bond communities together and facilitate healing

More intensive and short-term.

Encouraging the emergence of new behaviors

Facilitating individual healing through multiple witnessing

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (1 of 6)

Adjusting the helping model to accommodate a culturally diverse client requires:

Altering expectations around self-disclosure, verbal openness, and fluency

Adjusting the level of directive problem-solving utilized

Adapting the view of where change should take place

Individual or environment

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (2 of 6)

Sue and Zane (1987) suggest two additional strategies:

Ensuring the client feels understood in terms of their cultural viewpoint

Ensuring the client receives immediate benefit or reinforcement from the helping process

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (3 of 6)

Eight 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

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (4 of 6)

Eight characteristics of “primitive” culture that have been lost (Diamond, 1987):

Participation in cultural forms

Equating goodness, beauty, and the natural environment

Socioeconomic support as a natural inheritance

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (5 of 6)

The loss of traditional culture results in a radical increase in stress, dysfunction, and mental illness (Diamond, 1987).

Because of these effects of the Western paradigm, some researchers propose alternative models, such as the following:

The creation of ethnic-specific (emic) models which dictate culturally sensitive approaches for members of that community

A return to traditional healing practices from the client’s culture

Conflicting Cross-Cultural Service Models (6 of 6)

The loss of traditional culture results in a radical increase in stress, dysfunction, and mental illness (Diamond, 1987).

Because of these effects of the Western paradigm, some researchers propose alternative models, such as the following:

The incorporation of traditional healing practices with variously acculturated clients

Culturally Sensitive Models

Culturally sensitive models:

Include culture as a central issue

Acknowledge social disparities

Include social justice as an orienting principle

Are nonpathologizing, strength-based, and nonhierarchical in their structure

Truly multicultural counseling will occur when dominant models of helping lose their Northern European perspective.

Summary

Culture is the conscious and unconscious content that a group learns, shares, and transmits from generation to generation that organizes life and helps interpret existence.

Contemporary theories of helping and counseling are themselves culture-bound, embodying the values and style of Northern European culture.

The inclusion of traditional healers and healing practices as part of a broad range of helping services offered to a community