Cultural Diversity and Diversity in Family Structure: Family Strengths
and Challenges
-Ethnic Groups
•Have different strengths that can be seen at:
-Individual level
-Family level
-Cultural level
•Diversity of different ethnic groups provides a broad range of options and ideas
-Provides a broad range of options and ideas
-Improves the ability to solve problems and create new idea
-Why Culture Matters
•Everything in families happens within a cultural context
-Definition of family
•Class: What does it look like and who does it consist of
-How intimacy is expressed
•Class: is it through emotional or financial support
-What it means to be male and female
•Class: Different cultures has different ways of what male and female roles are. Man
proposes to female.
-Role expectations
-Most often programs and policies focus on the values evident in mainstream society
•Class: In mainstream society most people should go to college however it is not
applicable to everyone
-Concepts of Race, Culture, and Ethnicity
•Race- Common physical characteristics of a group
-Originally arose as a way to explain the diversity of the human population
worldwide
-Class: Color of skin
•Ethnicity- Nationality or ancestry
-Class: It is more descriptive and refers to region of world and their culture.
•Culture- How people make sense of their environment and their experiences.
-Class: It gives you more information for example if you're black and from a
certain tribe in Africa.
-Values, beliefs and practices
•Class: American culture is very materialistic. We work hard to have money and to
have nice things. Other cultures might value family time or traveling.
•Determining membership in an ethnic or cultural group
-Key issue is whether the individual believes he or she is a member of that group
-Classifications cannot be based solely on:
•Religious views
•Language
•Ancestry
•Physical characteristics
-US Demographics and Future Trends
•The United States is more ethnically diverse than ever before
-Class: US is like a big melting pot.
•The most recent census indicated that the population distribution is as follows:
-White 72%
-Hispanic or Latino 16%
-African American or Black 13%
•Class: This is the first census that Blacks are not majority minority. Hispanics
surpassed them.
-Asian 6%
-American Indian or Alaska Native 1%
-Figure 2.2- Increasing Diversity in America from 2000-2050
•Each group will increase causing more diversity.
-Ethnic Group “quick facts”
•The population is largest ethnic group and the fastest-growing minority Hispanic
population.
•Only 8% of are foreign bornAfrican Americans
-
-
-Class: Most are born in US but they trace ancestry back to Africa so they are still
referred to as African American.
•More recent immigrants are from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.Asian
•Asian Americans have the highest income level of all minority groups and higher than
whites.
•There are more than 560 tribes that make up the and American Indian Alaska Native
population.
•AI/AN tribes have their own form of governance, culture, and history.
-Class: They have distant areas with their own police and government. Most casinos
are on Indian reservations because they don't have the same rules as us.
Immigration and Family Life
•Ethnic composition of the immigrant population is primarily Latino and Asian.
•Many immigrants come to U.S. without documentation or have allowed their
documentation to expire.
-There are indications that one-third of children who have immigrant parents have at least
one parent that is undocumented.
•Class: Children born in U.S. are U.S. citizens even if parents are immigrants.
Challenge to Researchers
•Conducting research with minority populations
-Be respectful of the wishes of cultural groups
-Collaborate with and develop partnerships with members and organizations in diverse
cultures
•Accept the conditions imposed by the community.
-Know about belief systems
-Challenge to Practitioners
•Relying on cultural heritage is the most effective way for people to be:
-Resilient
-Capable of handling difficulties
•Positive ethnic identity has a positive influence on the lives of youth
-Ethnic identity: Geographic origin of a particular group and accepting the
traditions and values of one’s culture.
-Cultural Competence
•Effectiveness in working with a variety of cultural groups
•Components
-Awareness
•Self-exploration leads to self-awareness
•Class: Must be aware of your beliefs and practice to know others are different
-Knowlege
-Skills
•Class: How would you cause social change as a researcher
-Kinship
•Relatedness of certain individuals within a group
•Describes the norms that govern:
-Marital forms
-Family structure and organization
-Inheritance
-Authority
-Residence
-Kin Relationships Across Cultures
•Nuclear family: Smallest, most elementary kinship unit
-Conjugal family system: Emphasizes the relationships formed through
marriage
-Class: This would be mom, dad, and kids.
•Consanguineal family systems: Emphasize blood ties more than marital ties
-Extended family: Consists of a nuclear family and those people related to its
members by blood ties
-Class: This would be mom, dad, kids, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.
•Plural marriage or polygamy
-Polygyny: Man has more than one mate
•Class: More common form of polygamy
-
-
-
-- Polyandry: Woman has more than one mate
•Monogamy: Man or woman has only one mate
•Pseudo-kin group: Relationships resembling kinship ties develop among
unrelated individuals.
-Godparent/Godchild
•Class: They act like kinship but not really. They are just close to family
•Cultural norms influence:
-Family structure
-Lineage: Lines of descent
-Who holds authority in a family
-Where newly married couples should reside
•Descent- Traced by gender
-Matrilineal societies: Trace descent through females
-Patrilineal societies: Trace descent through males
-Bilateral descent: Children are equally tied to relatives of both the parents
•Common in Western societies
•A “family tree” approach
•Norms for lines of descent may or may not be linked to lines of authority within a
kinship group
-Matriarchal group: Females exercise the authority
-Patriarchal group: Males exercise the authority
•Egalitarian groups: Rights and perspectives of both genders and all generations are
respected.
•Norms of residence for newly married couples
-Matrilocal society: Couples live with or near the wife’s kin
-Patrilocal societies: Couples live with or near the husband’s kind
-Neolocal society: Couples establish a separate, autonomous residence
-Family Strengths and Challenges Across Ethnic Groups
•Strengths of White Families
-Commitment to family
-Enjoyable time together
-Ability to manage stress and crisis effectively
-Spiritual well-being
•Class: Less religious more spiritual and feeling of oneness with the world
-Positive communication
-Appreciation and affection
•Strengths of African American Families
-Strong kinship bonds
•Class: This includes extended family and relatives.
-Flexibility in family roles
•Class: Mothers work outside the home. Women have more power within the
family.
-Strong motivation to achieve
•Class: In education and wanting their children to go to college
-Strong religious orientation
•Class: Churches act as families
-Egalitarian marriages
•Class: More equality among husband and wife
•Strengths of Latino Families
-Familism
-Children are highly values
-Religion
•Class: Many are Catholic and centered around that religion
-Family members provide support to each other
•Class: They are very altruistic.
•Strengths of Asian American Families
-Strong family orientation
•Class: Nuclear and extended family esp. grandparents
-Filial piety
•Class: Elders hold important place in family
-High value on education
-Well-disciplined children
-Extended-family support
-Family loyalty
•Strengths of American Indian Families
-Extended-family system
-Spiritual beliefs
•Class: Connection with universe and high connection in family
-High family cohesion
-Respect for elders
-Bilingual language skills
-Tribal support system
-Cross-Cultural Family Studies
•Focus on how particular cultural contexts influence a wide variety of issues
-Class: It can affect family behaviors, power and gender roles, education and
religious families, martial style, child bearing.
•Tend to focus on:
-How are families in the US different from those in other parts of the world
•Class: Culture around the world is also carried on in US as well because US is like a
melting pot.
-How are they similar
•Ethnocentrism: Assumption that ones own culture is the standard by which other
cultures should be judged.
-Class: Culture can influence families patterns and ways that a family can be structured,
but it is not a researches place to judge. There is more than one right way.
-Challenges for Ethnic Families
•Assimilation: Old cultural traits and values are relinquished and replaced by those of the
dominant culture.
-Class: In the US, we don't have this mandatory assimilation that makes them change
their beliefs to American ones.
•Acculturation: Cultural traits and values from one ethnic group become blended with
those of the dominant culture.
-Class: This is something like moving into or accepting another culture.
•Segregation: Ethnic group isolates itself or is forced into isolation within the
dominant culture.
•Stereotypes: Standardized, oversimplified, and mean-spirited views
•Prejudice: Prejudging; closely linked with stereotyping
•Racism: Develops when the most powerful group in a society creates an elaborate
mythology about a minority group
-Class: Closely related to ethnocentrism or even a byproduct
•Multiracial Marriages: Marriages between two people from two different cultural or
ethnic groups
-Class: American Indian and American Asians are most common
•Relationships between men and women: Different socialization processes and
biological inheritances produce misunderstand and conflict
-Class: In western societies, women have more options. In rural societies they have
less options for things such as divorce and relationship status.
•Relationships between parents and children: Conflicts arise because younger generation
strives to create a relatively independent life AND older generation tries to maintain
control of the children.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
