HHS 320 Cultural Awareness in the Human Services

1 Society, Culture, Counseling, and Human Services

As relatively young professions, the fields of counseling and human services continue to emerge and develop as important members of the expanding helping and health care professions. Marking its beginning at the turn of the twentieth century (Gladding, 2000; Vacc & Loesch, 2000), the counseling profession of the twenty-first century consists of many specialty areas including school and educational counseling, mental health services, community counseling, family counseling, career development and placement, geriatric counseling, spiritual counseling, and a host of others. Similarly, the human services profession developed in response to human needs and challenges emerging from the late twentieth century to the present day (National Organization for Human Service Education, 2004a).

Established in 1975, the National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE) brings together professionals and paraprofessionals from a wide array of settings that include community mental health centers, group homes and halfway houses, family, youth, and geriatric agencies, correctional facilities, and many others that parallel those of the counseling profession. In fact, the term counselor is found among many of the human service job titles. A sample listing of occupational titles used by human service workers includes residential counselor, eligibility counselor, drug abuse counselor, crisis intervention counselor, and halfway house counselor (National Organization for Human Service Education, 2004b).

Regardless of the setting in which they deliver services, counselors in all these specialties have a common knowledge base of counseling theory, helping skills, and professional practice. This knowledge base has developed over the profession’s lifetime due to the effort of several associations including the American Counseling Association (ACA) and its divisions, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP), and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), which combined have set standards for counselor preparation and professional practice (Gladding, 2000; Vacc & Loesch, 2000). At the same time, the National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE, 2004a) promotes preparation standards, professional competencies, and ethical standards of practice for human services.

This text focuses on one area of professional preparation and practice: social and cultural foundations. Specifically, it considers the influence of these foundations on effective and ethical counseling and human service relationships.

The influence of social and cultural foundations in counseling and human services has received wide attention in recent decades. In part, this attention is a consequence of the increasing diversity of clients in schools, mental health centers, family clinics, hospitals, and other health care arenas. In addition, the focus on social and cultural factors has been a response to what some theorists and practitioners view as a narrowly developed theoretical basis for the practice of counseling and other forms of helping with diverse populations (Pedersen, 2000). As part of this response, CACREP includes “Social and Cultural Diversity” among its core areas of preparation for professional counselors. In addition, the NBCC requires applicants to document study in social and cultural foundations. Similarly, the Ethical Standards of Human Service Professionals developed by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education, a body of NOHSE, pay particular attention to human diversity issues and services rendered within the context of social communities (NOHSE, 2004a).

The CACREP standards specifically state that preparation in counseling will

provide an understanding of the cultural context of relationships, issues and trends in a multicultural and diverse society related to such factors as culture, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, mental and physical characteristics, education, family values, religious and spiritual values, socioeconomic status and unique characteristics of individuals, couples, families, ethnic groups and communities. (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2001)

The National Board of Certified Counselors is an organization that awards national certification to eligible professionally prepared counselors. Eligibility is determined, in part, by the academic preparation of applicants. According to the NBCC, counselors who are eligible for certification “hold an advanced degree with a major study in counseling” with “graduate-level counseling coursework at a regionally accredited institution of higher education, with at least one course” in each of eight areas of study designated by the NBCC (National Board of Certified Counselors, 2004, p. 4). Among the eight areas of study is Social and Cultural Foundations, which consists of coursework that provides “an understanding of issues and trends in a multicultural and diverse society” (p. 4).

In its ethical standards, the National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE, 2004a) includes several statements pertaining to diverse clientele. In particular, human service professionals

• Advocate for the rights of all members of society, particularly those who are members of minorities and groups at which discriminatory practices have historically been directed. (Statement 16)

• Provide services without discrimination or preference based on age, ethnicity, culture, race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. (Statement 17)

• Are knowledgeable about the cultures and communities within which they practice. They are aware of multiculturalism in society and its impact on the community as well as individuals with the community. They respect individuals and groups and their cultures and beliefs. (Statement 18)

• Are aware of their own cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and values, recognizing the potential for impact on their relationships with others (Statement 19).

• Are aware of sociopolitical issues that differentially affect clients from diverse backgrounds. (Statement 20)

• Seek the training, experience, education, and supervision necessary to ensure their effectiveness in working with culturally diverse client populations. (Statement 21)

Furthermore, NOHSE standards for human service educators include that

• Human service educators develop and demonstrate culturally sensitive knowledge, awareness, and teaching methodology. (Statement 44) (NOHSE 2004a)

The goal of this text is to provide basic information about the social and cultural foundations that guide counselors and human service professionals and, more importantly, assist clients in making decisions about personal and professional goals, career choices, educational plans, personal relationships, and other behaviors to bring more beneficial meaning to their lives. For this reason, this text gives particular attention to social and cultural influences in the context of self-concept development. We begin in this chapter by exploring the meaning of society and culture and their relationship to counseling and human services.

Society

The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (Flexner, 1993) cites its first definition of society as “an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes” and follows with “a body of individuals living as members of a community” (p. 1811). This dictionary definition of society concludes with “a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity for its members” (p. 1811). Each of the above definitions confirms the foundational influence that society plays in the development of human beings.

At first appearance, societies seem simple in design and structure, but as they develop, they become complex, consisting of divisions and substructures that are more diverse and numerous as a society grows. A key to the development of a social structure and a vital factor for counselors and human service professionals to remember is the interaction between an evolving society and the emerging individual. Through the ages, history has taught that great societies emerge, change, and disintegrate because of the rise or fall of individual leaders, or sometimes due to a single act by one person or small group of people. In many of these instances, we identify unique perceptions and actions that began with one individual and ultimately changed the course of events for a particular society. Certainly, on the negative side, we can cite many world leaders who, because of their twisted perceptions and warped personalities, caused grief and sorrow for societies and people. In a more positive vein, we find numerous accounts of politicians, scientists, educators, activists, and ordinary citizens who lessened the daily suffering of people by their positive decisions and caring actions. Exercise 1.1 asks you to choose and reflect on the life of one historic leader.

Exercise 1.1

Think of a historic world figure or some notable personality that you have admired for her or his accomplishments. As you recall the life of this person, list personal factors that distinguished this individual from others of his or her time and place. Share these factors and discuss them with a classmate. Among the factors that you listed, which tend to be socially/culturally influenced? Which, if any, tend to be characteristics that were individually created or developed by the person?

Society is the main structure, the overarching influence if you will, of human development and interaction. As such, society is the framework that guides the development of social norms, educational goals and policies, political systems, culture, religious doctrine, family structure, and countless qualities, attributes, and traits embraced by its members. The influence of society is highlighted in sociology as “a central concept … because it is on the level of societies that the most important elements of social life are created and organized” (Johnson, 1995, p. 268). Although counselors and other professionals are most concerned about current issues of society and their influence on the lives of clients, a basic understanding of the evolution of society gives us a historical context from which to understand the present.

The development of human society is a complex phenomenon, particularly when discussions focus on where modern humans first emerged (Bogucki, 1999). Nevertheless, there seems to be agreement that the earliest societies were groups, or “bands,” of people that formed flexible organizations into which members came and went. It also seems that these early groups survived and developed because of their ability to form social relationships, establish friendships, share basic resources, build settlements for protection and shelter, and accumulate materials for the common good of the group. These early groups formed the first societies, what some sociologists refer to as a social structure (Barber, 1992). These social structures allow scientists a mechanism for grouping various people. Identify your own society in Exercise 1.2.

Exercise 1.2

My Society

Review the definition of society, and consider the main society to which you belong. Write the name of this society. Now consider other subsocieties to which you belong and write down those names. (Subsocieties would be organizations and groups to which you belong because of family, cultural, or ethnic influence.) When finished making your list of societies, meet with a classmate and compare/discuss your list of major and subsocieties.

For centuries, scientists have attempted to classify and categorize human beings. Zoologists have based their classification on anatomical morphology—the study of the form and structure of the human organism—and have declared modern humans as Homo sapiens sapiens. For most of the twentieth century, an established practice among anthropologists was to divide humans into subgroups based on geography or race (Campbell, 1975). During this period, biologists also grouped human populations by similar genes or gene combinations, referred to as “gene pools,” that were thought to typify a particular race. Recent genetic studies, however, have demonstrated that no genetic distinction exists within the human population to tell groups apart (Jones, 1993). Therefore, classifications that attempt to group humans by race or some other biological trait are unreliable. Modern genetic findings indicate that variation between individuals that come from the same group or classification might be far greater than any dissimilarity found between individuals from different geographic areas, nations, or countries (Jones, 1993). Despite the conflicts and inconsistencies regarding biological theories of human classification, the start of human society has its basis in biology and evolutionary theory (Megarry, 1995).

A useful video series from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS, http://www.pbs.org/race/000) is Race—The Power of an Illusion, which asks the basic question, What is this thing called race? The series explores assumptions about race, including the largely held belief that people across the globe can be divided biologically along racial lines, and debunks these popular conceptions.

Another equally important sociological structure is culture. While social structure might consist of formal and informal association, communication, gender, economy, kinship, and other factors basic to a society, cultural aspects, such as literature, music, religion, law, philosophy, and values, give each society an identity. More important, it is cultural aspects that more directly influence the identity of individuals and the groups with which they associate.

Culture

Culture is sometimes thought of as “the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.” (Flexner, 1993, p. 488). In addition, culture is relevant to common behaviors and beliefs demonstrated and embraced by various social, ethnic, and other societal groups. Perhaps more important to counselors and other helping professionals is the anthropological definition that culture is “the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another” (Flexner, 1993, p. 488).

The concept of culture in the helping professions finds broad definition and interpretation. For example, Harper (2003) defined culture “as the sum of intergenerationally transmitted and cross-culturally acquired lifestyle ways, behavior patterns, and products of a people that include their language, music, arts and artifacts, beliefs, interpersonal styles, values, habits, history, eating preferences, customs, and social rules (p. 1). Similarly, Baruth and Manning (1999) wrote that culture consists of “institutions, languages, values, religions, genders, sexual orientations, thinking, artistic expressions, and social and interpersonal relationships” (p. 7). In an earlier yet expanded definition for counselors, Sodowsky, Lai, and Plake (1991) noted that culture is “shared values; custom, habits, and rituals; systems of labeling, explanation, and evaluation; social rules of behavior; perceptions regarding human nature, natural phenomena, interpersonal relationships, time, and activity; symbols, art and artifacts; and historical developments” (p. 194).

Today’s literature continues to expand the definition of culture making it a more inclusive concept. When we speak of culture in the sense of its influence on human development, we usually include a range of traits, characteristics, behaviors, beliefs, and other attributes that people incorporate into their own self-concept development and worldview. The counseling literature includes several terms related to culture that are important in understanding clients’ development and perceptions. Among common terms are enculturation, acculturation, assimilation, encapsulation, collectivism, individualism, interculture, intraculture, subculture, and worldview. Each of these concepts is also important in understanding and empathizing with clients, so this text briefly introduces and defines them in the following sections.

Enculturation

Aponte and Johnson (2000a) reported that enculturation is the process of a person becoming a member of a cultural group. It combines both formal and informal relationships to convey knowledge, history, language, awareness, and other aspects of a particular culture to the individual. These learning processes are initiated, influenced, and encouraged through many channels including parents, family, peer groups, and institutions of society that embrace the culture.

The strength with which people become enculturated, that is, identify with a particular culture or group, influences how amenable they might be to other culturally related processes (Aponte & Johnson, 2000a). For example, a Native American child who grows up on a reservation embracing the heritage and legacy of the tribe’s culture might have some difficulty moving into mainstream society where the history of oppression is relived daily through this individual’s unique perceptions. Aponte and Johnson (2000a) noted that if a person is successful through the enculturation process “then an individual will have the competencies needed to function effectively in his or her cultural group of origin” (p. 20). Implicit in this point is that a person who is unsuccessful in the enculturation process would not identify sufficiently with his or her cultural group to function effectively in it. The question left unanswered in this process is, What determines, or who decides, which cultural aspects are accepted or rejected as the person develops? As counselors and human service professionals strive to become culturally competent, they consider this question when starting each new helping relationship.

Acculturation

Acculturation is the process of assuming new ways and behaviors of a culture that is different from one’s culture of origin, while retaining some of the beliefs and attributes of one’s native culture. It is a dynamic process that occurs when different cultural groups interact, exchange aspects of their cultures, and adapt to these exchanges. Most often in research and professional literature, acculturation refers to adaptation of the beliefs, traits, and behaviors of a dominant culture by persons of a minority group who have significant contact with the dominant group. At the same time, acculturation processes can happen at global or local levels of interaction, are multidimensional, multifaceted, and multidirectional, and can include two or many cultures. Identify cultural aspects that influenced your personal development in Exercise 1.3.

Exercise 1.3

My Culture and Counseling

Think about three dominant cultural aspects that have influenced your development as a person and write them down. Now, write down three cultural aspects that have influenced your decision to become a counselor or other professional helper. Share your lists with a classmate and discuss.

Roysircar (2003) noted that acculturation has received wide attention from researchers in recent decades and that population projections for the United States through the next fifty years and across various ethnic groups should encourage further investigation of this process. Furthermore, she emphasized that the research thus far has found that “due to each group’s unique culture and sociopolitical history with the dominant group, certain issues are more salient for one ethnic group than for others” (Roysircar, 2003, pp. 165–166). Nevertheless, despite these differences it appears that, at least among immigrants to the United States, “researchers have increasingly come to recognize that all ethnic minority individuals can, at some level, relate to issues of acculturation and retention of ethnic identity in White American society” (p. 166). Nearly thirty survey instruments developed during the past twenty years to measure perceptions about acculturation and ethnic identity highlight this finding (Roysircar, 2003).

Acculturation not only occurs when immigrants come to a new country. It also happens when people migrate within a society that consists of multiple cultures. We observe and experience this frequently in the United States, where it is commonplace for people to relocate to various parts of the country for career, educational, family, or health reasons. Frequently, people talk about their relocation in terms of “culture shock” experienced in the first few months or years of living in a new region. College students who attend school in unfamiliar parts of the country often express feelings of being out of place and sometimes have difficulty adjusting to their chosen college or university because of cultural differences. People who adjust to these moves successfully experience an acculturation process through which they adapt to certain traditions, beliefs, and behaviors while retaining aspects of their former or original culture that are important to them. Perhaps you can relate to this process to some degree because of an experience in your life. Read my account of “Moving South” in Narrative 1.1 and see if you have had a similar experience with acculturation in your development.

NARRATIVE 1.1 • Moving South

My wife and I grew up on Long Island, N.Y., as post–World War II “baby boomers.” I left in the mid-1960s to attend college in Vermont. After graduation, we married and returned to Vermont, where I began graduate school and accepted a teaching position in social studies at a rural secondary school. After finishing my master’s degree, I became a school counselor in a junior high school. Two years later, we moved to North Carolina, where I took an elementary counseling position and soon after began doctoral study in counseling.

Our move to this beautiful part of the country introduced many new cultural experiences. We learned early about the important role religion plays in southern community life. When meeting people for the first time, we were often asked, “What church will you join?” We perceived this as an unusual question, one that we could not recall ever being asked by New Englanders or New Yorkers.

Of course, we spoke differently than the southern people we met, and that often became a source of humor for our new acquaintances and us. In the elementary school for example, it took a while to get used to the common greeting, “Hey!” and my female colleagues often chuckled when I addressed them as “You guys.” I will always remember the puzzled look on one student who asked, “Are you a Yankee?” when I responded, “No, I am a Dodger fan.”

This was the early 1970s and many southern communities had begun to desegregate their schools. Having grown up in a community where students of all races and backgrounds attended the same public schools, I was puzzled by some of my White colleagues’ comments and behaviors toward Black students, colleagues, and parents. What I did not realize was that they too were learning to adjust to cultural changes perhaps more significant than mine were. At the same time, the Black students and community were adjusting to new opportunities and challenges brought about through school desegregation. As I reflect on these experiences, I now see that acculturation also occurs among members within a society because of social and political changes. People who are successful in adapting to the changes move forward in productive ways with their lives. Those who are not successful tend to falter. In my experience of moving to North Carolina and working in the public schools of that place and time, I recall teachers and students of different racial and social backgrounds who accepted the changes, embraced the opportunity to expand their cultural views, and as a result, became better teachers and stronger students.

One aspect of acculturation that is of particular importance to counselors and other professional helpers is the related stress of incorporating new cultural aspects into one’s life while holding to an ethnic identity. Berry (1980), Roysircar (2003), and others have noted that acculturative stress occurs when individuals do not have sufficient support and resources to make the necessary adjustments to adapt to a new culture. Therefore, stress might result from culture shock fueled by great differences in beliefs and patterns, lack of resources such as financial support to become educated or trained, perceived discrimination or hatefulness, feelings of rejection, fear for one’s safety, sense of isolation, lack of encouragement and support from family, guilt about leaving one’s homeland or family, homesickness, or other factors. Sometimes, acculturative stress is disabling enough to require intervention or treatment, which a counselor or other professional helper might provide. This text considers stress as a social/cultural issue in a later chapter.

Assimilation

Learning theorists define assimilation as the cognitive process by which people bring new information in the form of mental structures into their understanding of the world around them. For example, a young child forms mental structures of dogs, cats, horses, and cows and is able to understand them as animals. When the child views an unfamiliar creature, say a platypus, for the first time, existing mental structures allow him or her to assimilate this new knowledge (the platypus) as “most likely another animal.”

From a sociological perspective, assimilation is the process by which a person (or group) is accepted, absorbed, and integrated into a new culture (Helms & Cook, 1999). As such, assimilation is likely to interact and intertwine with acculturation that was defined earlier. Similar to acculturation, assimilative processes might contribute to stressful experiences particularly as related to an individual’s ethnic identity. Writing about Asian Americans, Maki and Kitano (2002) noted that assimilation “refers to the processes of acculturation and becoming ‘Americanized’” (p. 113). They presented a two-by-two model that illustrates the interaction between assimilation processes and the person’s level of ethnic identity. Their model will be presented in Chapter 4 of this text.

Ivey (2000) noted that cultural assimilation, as used in the United States, highlights the impact of the environment, especially when considering the expectation the U.S. has had for immigrants to embrace the American standard. “The impact of culture is so strong that those who come to our country have little choice but to assimilate … the power of an environment to shape and direct behavior in the largest sense should be evident” (p. 212).

Encapsulation

When people are unaware, unreceptive, and intolerant of the views of other cultures, to the point where they live as if there is only one culture and one worldview, they become encapsulated in their own culture. To encapsulate something means to put it into capsule form or a nutshell, an efficient way of behaving or summarizing life events. The danger inherent in encapsultation is that in the process of summarizing, we may exclude other perspectives. In the field of perceptual psychology, the phrase “phenomenal absolutism” describes the process or stance where a person maintains a righteous posture, believing that he or she is most always correct and that people who disagree are wrong or untrustworthy (Schmidt, 1994). When people become encapsulated in their own worldview, it is similar to this posture of phenomenal absolutism.

Professional counselors and human service workers avoid becoming encapsulated in their cultural views. To do otherwise would jeopardize their helping relationships, because cultural competency is required in every instance. Before the professions began emphasizing and researching cultural aspects and diversity in helping relationships, counselors and other helpers learned to apply theories and techniques uniformly without regard for, or sensitivity to, cultural differences. Today, as noted earlier, the professions require an understanding, awareness, and acceptance of the cultural differences that exist in all helping relationships (CACREP, 2001; NBCC, 2004; NOHSE, 2004a).

Exercise 1.4

Encapsulation

Reflect on some strong values you hold. Write down these values. As you reflect on them, consider their influence on your decisions as a counselor or other professional helper. How will these beliefs allow you to interact with clients who do not hold the same view? What will you do if these beliefs prevent you from helping a client?

Collectivism

In recent years, one aspect of cultural difference that authorities have highlighted is the collectivistic philosophy of some groups in contrast to the individualistic emphasis of others, particularly Western and White cultures (Helms & Cook, 1999; Parham & Brown, 2003; Pedersen, 2002; Robinson, 2005). Collectivism describes the belief that the group is more important than individuals are because everyone is part of a group, tribe, family, or other type of unit. Furthermore, each individual owes a debt to the group to which he or she belongs because survival and development would be less likely without the culture and support of that network. In summary, collectivistic influence is particularly important in societies and cultures that value interdependence more than independence.

Counseling and other helping professions historically have embraced theories of practice that focus on the goals and aspirations of the individual and egocentric concepts such as self-development, self-confidence, and independence. In contrast, collectivistic perspectives tend to embrace values that are socially centered, such as community goals, group responsibility, social interest, social welfare, and dependence on group authority. For this reason, some experts in the field of multicultural counseling have questioned the limitations of Western psychological theories when applied to diverse client populations (Pedersen, 2002; Robinson, 2005).

In certain instances, proponents of psychological and counseling theories, many of which have been popular among counselors and human service professions for decades, have attempted to show how “individualistic” approaches retain some sensitivity to cultural diversity. As one example, Sweeney (1998) reviewed the tenets of Adlerian counseling, also known as Individual Psychology, within the context of multicultural counseling. He noted that researchers and theorists who examined different approaches “reaffirm the Adlerian contention that the values that move persons toward social interest are also those that promote the individual and the community … By being congruent with the philosophy, values, and practices of Adlerian theory, however, counseling practitioners increase the probability of being appropriate in their interventions with culturally diverse groups” (Sweeney, 1998, pp. 33–34). Furthermore, Sweeney (1998) listed personal characteristics of Alfred Adler and the promise his theory might hold as an approach to use with clients across cultures. These characteristics include his advocacy for women’s rights (with his wife), a holistic view of human development, sensitivity to what is considered normal and abnormal in mental health, the role of spirituality and religion in life, group responsibility and the importance of family and community, tolerance of sexual preference and orientation, conflict in gender roles, and the influence of oppression and discrimination on lifestyle development of individuals (Sweeney, 1998, pp. 31–37).

Other authorities have also attempted to adapt existing theories for appropriate use with diverse clients. In explaining his theory of developmental counseling and therapy (DCT), Ivey (1993) noted, “Traditional Western therapy too often seeks to change individuals and families in isolation … full awareness that an entire community network of extended family and professional helpers may be required to bring about significant and lasting change” (p. 232). He also illustrated that professional helpers need to understand the core condition of empathy in a broader context across helping relationships with many different clients. Rather than understanding counseling and other helping relationships as simply interactions between two participants, the therapist and client, Ivey (2000) wrote, “It could be said that four participants may be found in the interview: the therapist, with his or her cultural and historical background, and the client, with his or her cultural and historical background” (p. 317).

As important as collectivism is in counseling across cultural groups, counselors and other helpers (who, themselves, are also culturally diverse) most often work with individual people to help them make appropriate life decisions. While these decisions are made within a holistic context considering the cultural and historical background of both the client and the therapist, it remains the ultimate responsibility of the client, that individual person, to make decisions. Therefore, successful counselors and human service professionals balance their understanding and appreciation of collectivism with an acceptance for the unique perceptions of individuals from all different cultural backgrounds.

Individualism

An individualistic culture is, as the name implies, one that emphasizes and prefers individual development often to the extent that it disregards group welfare. Helms and Cook (1999) defined an individualistic culture as one “based on gratification of the individual’s personal needs and desires. Consequently, in such cultures, a person’s behavior is more likely to be motivated by the quest for personal fulfillment and self-interests rather than group survival” (p. 21). When taken to this extreme, counselors and other helping professionals who focus on individual clients without regard to cultural perspectives have the potential to do more harm than good.

Within multicultural counseling, authorities give significant attention to the individualistic philosophy of Western culture and, subsequently, the psychological and counseling theories generated over the past hundred years. Essentially, this focus describes the differences between individualistic and collectivistic philosophies and the cultural biases inherent in an individualistic stance. Attention given to individualism has focused particularly on American and Western European cultures. As one example, Robinson (2005) stated, “In individualism, the person is regarded as discrete from other beings and is considered the essential cornerstone of society,” and furthermore, “because Western society is philosophically oriented to individualism, individuals are the primary referent point and are separate from others” (p. 7).

Pedersen (2000) noted that when counseling theories focus on individual development while ignoring the contribution and influence of families, groups, cultures, and societies to which clients belong, they make assumptions that demonstrate bias against more collective perspectives. By neglecting collective worldviews and overemphasizing self-development, Western theories of counseling and professional helping demonstrate that a “lack of sensitivity to the discomfort engendered in an ethnic client by such a focus can lead to ineffective treatment and early termination” (Aponte & Johnson, 2000a, p. 32).

Terminology used to describe goals and outcomes of counseling and therapy might confirm this apparent overemphasis on individualism. Frequently, we read and hear about clinical or educational objectives to help clients focus on their self-development, gain self-confidence, discover their true self, reach self-fulfillment, or become more self-reliant. While these goals may seem appropriate on the surface, such focus might bother clients whose cultures emphasize humility and deference to group welfare over self-interest. At the same time, the language and terminology used in Western practice unnecessarily dichotomizes individual development and collective perspectives. For example, mental health practitioners often use terms contrary to “self” definitions that indicate supposed deficient traits and characteristics. These include descriptions such as immature, enmeshed, needy, and dependent, which therapists, counselors, teachers, and others use to label clients and students who remain attached to and inseparable from their family or other supportive group (Helms & Cook, 1999).

The lesson here is not to discount the individual in the counseling process, but to find balance between what the client wants to achieve or change in life and the cultural influences from family, tribe, community, or other unit to which the client feels allegiance. Many collective cultures embrace aspects of self-development within the context of the group. For example, African perspectives assume that self-knowledge is an essential ingredient to achieve mental health (Parham & Brown, 2003). Similarly, individualistic societies, such as the United States, place emphasis on community, family, and other group structures as making significant contribution to healthy human development. Therefore, it is not an either-or proposition for the helping professions. The point is that professional counselors and human service providers understand collectivistic and individualistic philosophies, have command of the approaches they use, and know their relationship to divergent views. Most important, culturally competent professionals learn about their clients’ backgrounds and the collective influences that contribute to and guide their worldviews.

Chapters 2 and 3 of this text consider the emerging self in the counseling process and attempt to relate self-perceptions to collective influences. In this way, this text appreciates and encourages a balanced perspective between these two important concepts. Counselors and human service providers who work with diverse populations want to be knowledgeable about how their clients operate according to collective and individual viewpoints.

Interculture and Intraculture

Meaning “between or across cultures,” intercultural experiences help people expand their perspective of self and others and subsequently their worldview. When individuals perceive cross-cultural experiences in a positive fashion, they increase their intercultural sensitivity. By becoming sensitive to other cultural views, people move away from an encapsulated framework that limits their development as fully functioning, mentally healthy participants in a broader, more inclusive society. In contrast, when fear and ignorance of other cultures guide perspectives, or when limited exposure to intercultural experiences has not been positive, people are less inclined to be sensitive to differing views and cultural patterns.

Intraculture refers to those factors within a culture that affect development and influence behavior. In counseling, intracultural factors might include a client’s economic status, social class, educational background, degree of acculturation, family background and functioning, and rural or urban identification.

Pedersen (1996) emphasized that the significance of within-culture differences may be more important than apparent between-culture differences. By attaining a full picture of between- and within-group differences, counselors and other helpers are less inclined to place all clients from particular cultures into single or stereotypical categories. For example, because a particular client happens to be an Asian American does not automatically mean that the client shares the common intracultural attributes and characteristics associated with that culture. By listening and giving full attention to the client’s concerns and perspectives, a counselor or other helper is in better position to assess the cultural, intercultural, intracultural, and individual differences expressed by each client and avoid stereotypical responses.

Subculture

In every society and culture, subgroups form, and members of those particular societies and cultures distinguish themselves by identifying with and belonging to certain subgroups, subsystems, or subcultures. These communities consist of members who join because of an ethnic, religious, economic, educational, social, or other attraction. To illustrate the important role that subgroups play in U.S. society and individual development, consider for a moment high school students and the countless opportunities they have to join groups. To begin, each student takes a schedule of classes, oftentimes assigned based on academic ability and past achievement. Students might follow this schedule with the same classmates for an entire school year. They might also join organizations such as the drama club, forensic society, newspaper staff, band, and others. Some win positions on athletic teams such as football, lacrosse, swimming, baseball, softball, track, and basketball. All these formal opportunities to join subgroups are supplemented by the informal peer groups that students establish. Consequently, school counselors must consider not only the dominant culture in a student’s life, but also the numerous subcultures in and out of school that influence a student’s perceptions and development (Pedersen & Carey, 2003).

When recognizing the subcultures with which clients identify, professional helpers again use caution not to overcategorize or overclassify because of assumptions commonly made about those groups. A prison counselor working with an inmate who identifies with a particular gang is careful not to assume that the inmate embraces all the tenets and beliefs espoused by that subculture. Instead, the counselor seeks to understand which views and values the prisoner follows, and helps to assess whether the prisoner believes that those views are beneficial in reaching long-term goals.

All the subcultures and subgroups to which people belong stimulate the perspectives they have incorporated from their dominant culture. This complex process gives each individual a multifaceted view of themselves and the world in which they live. All these factors come together to be processed by each person in a unique manner and incorporated into a private worldview.

Exercise 1.5

Subcultures and Values

Make a list of the subcultures and subgroups to which you belong. Write down as many as you want. Next to each group or organization, write down the most important value that encouraged you to join that group. In a third column, write down any value or belief held by the group or organization that you do not hold to be true. Share your lists with another classmate or person. What have you learned from this exercise? How will this learning help you as a counselor or human service provider?

Worldview

People’s experiences combine with family, societal, cultural, educational, spiritual, and other encounters to help them construct a worldview. All these influences notwithstanding, establishing a worldview by an individual person is a private process by which he or she forms a belief system. Regardless of how society and culture are dominant influences in a person’s development, people’s psychic makeup allows them to process information and construct a unique worldview. The creation of a unique worldview presents challenges for the person as she or he interacts with other perspectives. In counseling, for example, the client’s worldview interacts with his or her primary cultural worldview as well as with the counselor’s worldview. In addition, if a dominant cultural worldview differs from the client’s cultural worldview, the interaction of those perspectives might also influence the helping process, particularly if the counselor’s views reflect the dominant cultural perspective.

Use of the term worldview sometimes identifies an essential aspect of ethnic groups and cultures. As one example, Aponte and Johnson (2000a) stated, “Worldview constitutes part of the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups as well as the dominant culture” (p. 31). Therefore, counselors and other helpers typically use the term worldview in attempting to understand both the client’s perspective of society, culture, family, and other life influences and the minority and dominant cultural worldviews that coexist in society.

In some respects, the construction of an individual’s worldview is analogous to other constructs found in counseling theory. For example, as we will explore in Chapter 2, self-concept theory maintains that the self is “our own private mental image of ourselves, a collection of beliefs about the kind of person we are” (Hamachek, 1992, p. 26). In constructing a self-concept (an unconscious process), people incorporate many of the characteristics and beliefs that comprise a worldview. As an illustration, Alfred Adler’s theory of lifestyle development poses “a combination of beliefs about self, others, and the world on which his or her expectations are based” (Sweeney, 1998, p. 267). Although most counseling theories have emerged from European culture and were largely developed by White, male theorists, many nevertheless consist of constructs that parallel the concept of a worldview. Therefore, it is important that professional helpers understand the theoretical approaches they choose and determine the appropriateness of various theories when working with clients of divergent worldviews.

Diversity and Counseling

In U.S. society, many people relate diversity to multiculturalism, minority groups, affirmative action, political correctness, and other terms or concepts that evoke emotional responses. In part, these responses are a reflection of the conflict inherent between opposing views on a wide continuum of perspectives about divergent groups and cultures. On one end of this continuum, views value social sameness, uniformity, and similarity because they contribute to feelings of security, safety, and comfort. Diversity, multiculturalism, integration, and related concepts threaten this perspective. At the other end of the spectrum is the view that embraces and celebrates cultural, ethnic, spiritual, and other differences in the belief that variety adds richness to life, contributes to acceptance and compassion, elevates learning, and enhances the human spirit. Segregation, egocentricity, strict individualism, superiority, and similar ideas are contrary to this worldview.

Although diversity is related to the concept of multiculturalism, it is not a belief or value. Rather, the term diversity helps to describe society according to certain identifiers. In the spectrum of perceptions about diversity, the view that desires sameness and conformity might conclude that diversity weakens society, while an opposing view maintains that acceptance of differences leads to a peaceful, long-lasting social order. Robinson (2005) noted, “Diversity across age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class attests to the strengths of a heterogeneous culture” (p. 2).

With diversity comes a need to understand different conceptualizations of shared experiences. For illustrative purposes, we consider concepts about which awareness and understanding might prove beneficial when working with diverse clientele. These concepts are time, language, privilege, and orientation to nature.

Orientation to Time

Cultures conceptualize time in various ways. As one popular expression exclaims, “Time flies!” A Western or American perception, this expression perpetuates a monochronic belief that time is a finite concept that is best focused on individual tasks, scheduled carefully, and monitored rigidly. In contrast, other world cultures conceptualize time as polychronic, meaning that people prefer doing several tasks at a time, view time as flexible, and change plans often and easily (Hall, 1983).

As an example of polychronic culture, Spanish people tend to act as though time is in limitless abundance. Consequently, they might appear more at ease about time schedules and work deadlines. In contrast, European Americans often strictly organize their time and maintain a full schedule of activity to make life more fulfilling. If “time flies” in America, it might crawl in Spain. It is not that Spanish people or members of other polychronic cultures are not task minded and proud of the work they accomplish; they simply go about completing their work with different views about time and schedules.

Polychronic cultures focus on time spent developing working relationships. This perspective views personal relationships as essential to the performance of scheduled tasks. The two concepts—tasks and personal relationships—are inseparable. Consequently, polychronic cultures distribute time among the most important tasks, including personal relationships. Sometimes, if relationships become more important than the scheduled task, the task may take longer to accomplish, and that is acceptable.

A monochronic lifestyle values punctuality. For many Americans, being on time is extremely important. As a diverse society, not all Americans are consistent in their punctuality, but generally, the public remains conscious of time. For example, customary manners expect that people will keep appointments on time and even arrive before the time indicated. Some events, such as social gatherings and parties, might have flexibility, but a phone call or other form of notification is expected when people are going to be late or unable to keep an engagement. Other cultures do not necessarily demonstrate such rigidity. For people from more polychronic cultures, behaving in a timely manner is a matter of how a particular situation feels to a person rather than a need to “be on schedule” or “finish the task on time.” In this sense, time is not simply an objective fact related to a given situation. Instead, time is only one of countless elements that comprise the whole experience.

Robinson (2005) observed that Americans also value the future, as demonstrated by the propensity to look ahead and make plans. In contrast, other cultures value the past and present more than the future. Counselors and human service providers who know how their perspective of past, present, and future influences their self-concept development are in better position to understand their clients’ views of past events, present time, and future promises. Exercise 1.6 asks you to explore some of these time-related elements.

Exercise 1.6

Instructions: Draw three circles to represent the past, present, and future. You may draw circles of any size, realizing that the size of a circle represents its importance to you. The larger a circle, the more important that particular concept of time is to you. You may also place the circles any distance from one another or may have them interacting in some fashion with each other. The sample below gives an illustration and explanation.

In the sample above, the person apparently sees the past as separate from the present and future. The past is also the smallest circle, and therefore least important, while the present is the largest, or most important, of these time concepts.

After drawing your circles to represent past, present, and future, share with a classmate and answer the questions below.

1. What element of time is most important to you? How does this view influence your relationships, and how might it affect your practice as a counselor?

2. What relationships did you illustrate among the three circles? How do these views about past, present, and future manifest themselves in your behavior?

3. What role do you think development plays in these perceptions? For example, at a younger age would you have drawn a different illustration? How about at an older age? What might these differences mean in counseling clients from diverse cultures at various developmental levels?

Exercise 1.7

Understanding Monochronic and Polychronic Perspectives

Instructions: Review the statements in each column and make a judgment about them. After considering all the statements, determine how close you are to being monochronic or polychronic in your attitudes about time and tasks.

Monochronic

Polychronic

• Prefer to handle one task at a time

• Time is measurable and inflexible

• Work time and personal time are separate concepts

• Works tasks are focused and well organized

• When late for an appointment, I apologize

• When people are late, I get annoyed, angry, frustrated, impatient (etc.)

• Like multi-tasking (doing several things at once)

• Time is unpredictable and flexible

• Work time and personal matters often blend or overlap

• Work schedules are flexible and change readily

• When I am late, most people will understand

• When people are late, I think something has held them up and hope they are alright

Culturally effective professionals consider varying perspectives about time and elements related to time such as past, present, and future. By understanding monochronic or polychronic views, counselors and other helpers place themselves in better position to learn about and appreciate the time references of their clients. Exercise 1.7 asks you to explore different perspectives of time and task orientation. By using this exercise, you might have better understanding of your own perspective on time and work schedules, and at the same time develop greater appreciation for alternative views.

Language

Language is an essential element in every relationship, but it is especially important when counseling clients from divergent backgrounds, particularly refugees and immigrants who often have no knowledge of the dominant language. In the United States, lack of proficiency in English presents numerous barriers preventing access to social services, educational programs, and employment opportunities. At the same time, weak command of English by U.S. native citizens also creates obstacles and might become fuel for existing racist or classist attitudes.

Linear research models have considered the use of language in acculturation studies to measure increased usage of the dominant language in comparison to a decreased use of people’s language of origin (Roysircar, 2003). When such relationships are noted, the result is typically perceived as increased acculturation. Padilla (1980) noted that preference for, in addition to use of, a language plays an important role in acculturation. Combined, preference for a particular language and use of that language establish the social playing field for members of society.

When a society limits itself to one acceptable language, it sends a clear message of isolation and exclusion to people who do not have command of that language. By demonstrating acceptance of other languages (such as bilingual application forms), a society extends itself to diverse groups, allowing them to retain preference for their native language while learning to use the dominant language.

Exercise 1.8

What Did You Say?

Instructions: Think of a place where you did not understand the language spoken. Perhaps you were visiting another country, or maybe you were eating in a fine European, Asian, Indian, or other restaurant that did not use English translations on its menus. Maybe you were in a college lecture where the professor used English, yet you could not understand much of the vocabulary in the lesson! (Sometimes, our own native tongue can seem foreign to us.) After you recall the experience, answer the questions below.

1. What feelings about this experience come to mind?

2. What did you try to do about the situation?

3. Was anyone helpful? Hurtful?

4. Thinking back to that time and place, what could have made it a better experience?

Knowing how it feels not to speak the language of an adopted country is a first step in understanding diversity and the difficulties immigrants and refugees face. Likewise, when counselors and other helpers reflect upon their personal beliefs about languages that are different from their native tongue, they move closer to appreciating diverse cultures and understanding the frustrations that some clients might experience in adapting to a new society. Exercise 1.8 asks you to revisit an experience when language was a serious barrier.

Advocacy is another important element when working with clients who do not have command of the dominant language. What professionals do to seek assistance through interpreters, supportive networks, referrals to services that speak a client’s language, and translation material is indicative of their understanding and empathy as well as advocacy beyond the helping relationship.

Unearned Privilege

When people hold membership in a dominant group, they automatically have privilege bestowed upon them by association. In contrast, people in minority, oppressed groups often retain labels such as “disadvantaged” or “underprivileged.” Both of these conclusions are unearned. The privilege held by dominant group members is due mostly to social position, while they relegate less fortunate members to lower status by virtue of race, religion, culture, or other factors.

Privilege knows no culture, race, social class, or other status variable. We find privilege expressed within groups and between groups. As such, among members of the poorest segment of a society, some have more privilege than others do. Likewise, in wealthier levels of society there is also a hierarchy of privilege—the richest among the rich. Sometimes, people earn privilege due to effort and productivity, or due to qualities of acceptance and sensitivity. Other times, people receive privilege because of unearned qualities such as attractiveness, height, skin tone, racial identity, gender, employment, perceived social class, or other status.

Exercise 1.9

Privilege: Those Who Have It and What They Say

Instructions: Read each of the statements and decide how each fits into your perceptual world. Determine how each statement might contain misguided perceptions related to privilege, both earned and unearned.

“If he only would apply himself, he could succeed.”

“That group needs to help itself, like we do.”

“They cannot continue to blame past history for their present failings.”

“It’s always racial. When are they going to get over it?”

“I worked my way up to this position, and I expect others to do the same.”

“All this complaining helps no one.”

“Without her sex appeal, she would not have been as successful.”

“Women [or men] don’t realize how good they have it.”

“It seems like the more the government does for them, they more they want.”

“There’s no free lunch.”

People with privilege often take it for granted. In addition, they mistakenly assume other members of society have equal privilege and, consequently, equal opportunity. Such misguided notions “may lead to expectations that blind us to the experiences of others” (Smith, Richards, & MacGranley, 2004, p. 7). When such assumptions persist, they become part of the fabric of society and everyday life, and they counteract hopes of moving society toward democratic ideals of fairness, equity, and liberty. One way to check your assumptions regarding privilege is to examine common thoughts expressed in frequently heard statements. Exercise 1.9 lists some common expressions related to assumptions about the concept of privilege.

White unearned privilege became the norm in the United States as an outcome of intentional and unintentional segregation of the Black and White races, continued oppression of Native Americans, abuse of Chinese laborers, and internment of thousands of Japanese families during World War II. Only through policies that have demanded racial inclusion and promoted social justice has the United States started in recent decades to eradicate White privilege (Arredondo & Rice, 2004). More than a decade ago, McIntosh (1989) published a list of provocative notions related to White unearned privilege. In the article, she listed 25 privileges associated with skin color that she doubted her African American associates could equally rely on. Much of what she listed then still applies today.

Privilege pervades all aspects of society. It is not just blatant racism, sexism, or other forms of prejudice demonstrated in specific incidents. Privilege is generalized and affects residency, educational attendance, choice of religious worship, social participation, consumer treatment, and countless other functions of a society. Narrative 1.2 gives an example of common gender bias and unearned male privilege.

NARRATIVE 1.2 • Gender and Privilege

An exercise I use when teaching the social and cultural foundations class to counselor education students is to ask them to recall a time when they felt slighted, excluded, rejected, or otherwise discriminated because of something over which they had no control. In past years, I have noticed how many female students have recalled incidents in the marketplace involving gender discrimination. Often, these recollections of women being mistreated were interactions with car dealers or auto service stations about buying an automobile or having it repaired. In subsequent class discussions, other female students would universally recall and comment about similar experiences. In one such discussion, a woman recalled that she could not get satisfaction from a car dealer on a repair she thought should be covered under warranty. Later that same day, her husband went down to the dealership, and the service department repaired the car under warranty without hassle.

Culturally adept counselors and other helping professionals understand the function of privilege, and they particularly understand how their racial identity, social class, or other status might influence counseling relationships. By taking time in the counseling relationship to learn about clients’ perceptions and feelings regarding privileges they have or do not have, counselors might learn more about their clients’ worldviews.

Orientation to Nature

Related to spiritual aspects of self-view and worldview is a person’s orientation to nature and its relationship to humankind. According to formative work by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), one theory of the nature orientation includes three different perspectives that suggest people either (a) obey and submit to nature as an all-influencing force, (b) achieve harmony with nature, or (c) attain mastery over nature. By understanding perceptions people have regarding their environment and natural surroundings, counselors and other helpers gain some awareness about how clients might view internal and external controls in their lives.

Using Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s theory (1961), professional helpers might conclude that people who view nature as all-powerful relinquish responsibility to an external force over which they feel there is no control. Clients who operate from this assumption might believe that when nature takes its course, nothing people can do will protect them from inevitable fate. Consequently, natural hazards such as hurricanes, monsoons, and avalanches are unavoidable and the destruction they cause is inescapable. Likewise, supernatural events such as divine intervention and miracles are beyond the power of humankind. Therefore, such clients live with the belief that nature determines fate.

The perspective of living in harmony with nature includes a holistic view of life. As we will learn in a later chapter, Native American philosophy often incorporates a harmonious view of human–nature relationships. Clients who tend to have a harmonious relationship with nature recognize the interaction and connectedness among humans, nature, and the supernatural rather than viewing them as three separate entities. The notion of living in harmony conveys a responsibility to care for nature, respect its power, and achieve peaceful coexistence to benefit all humankind.

Mastery of nature includes the belief that natural forces are to be harnessed and controlled for the betterment of humankind. Exploring, conquering, changing, and otherwise mastering the environment is the ultimate goal to benefit society. Robinson (2005) posited that this nature orientation describes American culture, and pointed to the example of how land was taken from Native Americans by the White man’s government.

Several other theories of the human–nature orientation exist in scientific and philosophic literature (Thompson, Ellis, & Wildavsky, 1990; Worster, 1994). Various theories speculate many possibilities about the status of nature and its relationship to humans. Some views include (a) that nature is random and unpredictable, (b) that nature is stable and resilient, yet vulnerable to major disturbance or catastrophic change, (c) that nature is stable and capable of repairing itself no matter how much destruction humans or natural events cause, and (d) that nature is vulnerable and its balance can be undermined by the smallest of interferences (Thompson et al., 1990). At the same time, other theories of nature emphasize faith in a Creator and caution that interference by humans should be minimized out of respect for all that is nature and that which nature offers. These varying perspectives present models for counselors and other professional helpers to understand how clients view themselves in relation to natural and supernatural phenomena. More specifically, they provide ideas around which professionals can assess how clients view spirituality, religious beliefs, natural phenomena, and their connectedness with the environment. Through such assessment, counselors and clients are better able to understand beliefs about fate, responsibility, internal and external control, free will, and other factors that influence self-development and worldview.

This text explores various factors, including inherent biases, related to the practice of counseling and human services, and considers models or approaches that address these issues while building cultural sensitivity. In addition, this text presents foundational theories related to self-concept development that might influence the selection of approaches to use when counseling or providing other human services. The process of selecting appropriate approaches to counseling and other forms of helping, applying credible assessment procedures, and using culturally sensitive skills and interventions requires thoughtful consideration of various implications for the counselor (or human service worker), the client, and the helping relationship. For this reason, each chapter throughout this text will conclude with a section titled “Counseling Inferences.”

Exercise 1.10

Diversity Experience

This exercise is a private reflection about an experience you may have had with a person who seemed culturally different from you. Use it to explore your developing worldview.

Instructions: Think of an interaction or observation you have had concerning a person who appeared culturally different from you. Reflect on your thoughts and reaction to what the person said or did. Recall your feelings and responses. Did you say anything? How do you feel about your reaction today? If the same situation occurred again, how might you react?

Counseling Inferences

This chapter has introduced concepts and terms related to social and cultural foundations of professional counseling and human services. As counselors and other helpers learn about these concepts and incorporate the language of diversity into their professional practice, they become aware of the impact and meaning this knowledge might have on their effectiveness with different clients.

Increasing diversity among and within groups in the United States has implications for counselors and other professional helpers who work in a variety of settings. The literature and research seem to indicate that helping a broad spectrum of clients requires self-awareness, communication skills compatible with clients’ language and nonverbal cues, understanding and appreciation of clients’ cultural values, attitudes, and behaviors, and resource information that will be helpful to different clients (Pedersen, Draguns, Lonner, & Trimble, 2002; Robinson, 2005). The first step in achieving this level of competency is for professional helpers to become aware of how their culture and background will influence choices made in relationships formed with clients who are different from them. Knowledge of cultural, ethnic, spiritual, and other diverse identities is another area counselors and human service providers need in working with a wide range of clients. Equally important is their appreciation of the strengths that a client’s culture contributes to healthy development and a full life.

Competent professionals also understand that the resistance within their own profession to accepting multiculturalism is a major force in the development of approaches to counseling. Sue (1998) compiled a number of bases for this resistance. For example, many people see a connection between multiculturalism and concepts such as affirmative action, civil rights, and reverse discrimination, which provoke negative responses. In addition, some counselors favor a more universal perspective believing that all traditional practices in counseling and therapy will work equally well across client groups regardless of cultural differences. A lack of measurable competencies for cross-cultural approaches and adequate standards of professional practice also have contributed to this resistance, as has the dearth of research findings to validate such approaches and standards. Scarcity of empirical research, however, has long been a challenge of the counseling and human service professions regardless of the approaches used in therapy and other helping relationships.

A final point for professional counselors and human service providers to consider in working across populations is that no person is defined entirely by his or her cultural background. Human beings are born into this world with the capacity to perceive events and draw conclusions about those experiences. It is those conclusions that help define a person’s worldview. At the same time, it is the helper’s role and responsibility to understand the unique worldview of a person within the context of the society and cultures that influence his or her development. In the next chapter, we will explore the emerging self of the person and learn how self-concept development interacts with society and culture.