Four Skills of Cultural
Diversity Competence
Chapter 2, Skill One:
Understanding Culture as Multilevel
Skill 1: Understand culture as
multilevel (contd.)
Definition of Culture: Human Ways of
Life
Culture Includes:
Ways of thinking and perceiving
- Such as values, beliefs and norms
-A group’s meaning system
-Relates to language use
Ways of doing
-Such as behaviors, lifeways, customs and
material objects
Skill 1: Understand culture as
multilevel (contd.)
The ways of thinking, perceiving and
doing of any specific group:
Are learned, shared and generally
transmitted to their children’s
generation
Influence the thinking and actions of
individual members
Skill 1: Understand culture as
multilevel (contd.)
Culture has two broad components
1. Culture is subjective and objective:
it is invisible (norms, values,
beliefs, assumptions)
it is visible (patterned behaviors,
customs)
Skill 1: Understand culture as
multilevel (contd.)
Culture’s second broad component
2. Culture is multilevel and dynamic
Culture exists at the
Micro level -personal and interpersonal levels
Meso level – group, mid-level agencies/organizations
Macro level-the institution , whole society level
Culture is dynamic because it is continuously shaped
and reshaped by policy decisions (at the meso and
macro levels) and by our daily decisions (at the micro
level)
Skill 1: Understand culture as multilevel (contd.)
Aspects of Culture: the following categories are designed as a thinking tool
for cultural observation and understanding:
1. History
2. Social Status Factors
3. Social Group Interaction Patterns:
Intra-group & Inter-group
4. Value Orientations
5. Language and Communication:
Verbal & Non-verbal
6. Family Life Processes
7. Healing Beliefs and Practices
8. Religion
9. Art and Expressive Forms
10. Diet/Food
11.Recreation
12.Clothes
Aspects of Culture: the following
categories are designed as a thinking tool
for cultural observation and
understanding:
Worksheet # 3, page 29
Purpose: To practice identifying and
thinking about Aspects of Culture
Film Analysis
Skill 1: Level One
Culture at the personal level
As individuals grow up, each
develops a personal identity, a
personal system of meanings which
underlie behavior
Skill 1: Level One
Culture at the personal level
One's personal identity is formed
through interacting within one's
social group (for example,
interacting within one's family,
neighborhood, school, work).
Skill 1:Level One
Culture at the personal level, contd.
Personal identity changes during one’s
lifetime
Ethnicity is one influence on personal
identity.
Other influences include age, race, gender,
ableness, physical appearance, religion,
sexual orientation, and social economic
position
Skill 1: Level One
ASPECTS OF PERSONAL CULTURE: EXAMPLES
One's personal culture or meaning system is comprised of various
aspects, with some aspects being more conscious than others- To
name a few:
Verbal Communication
-voice loudness and inflection
-degree of directness
-topics perceived as appropriate for conversation
Nonverbal Communication
-one's orientation to space and time
-facial expressions
-eye contact
-use of silence
Values
Family Life Processes: Decision-Making Style, Work Habits and Behaviors
Religion: Spiritual Beliefs and Practices
Food and Eating Habits
Dress and Appearance
Skill 1: Level One
Personal Culture Change and Sociocultural Awareness
Different stages of sociocultural awareness
surface in the identity change process
Stage 1 Conformity (blindsight)
Stage 2 Resistance (no, it can’t be)
Stage 3 Redefinition (self-reflection and
practice competencies)
Stage 4 New Identity (yes, it can be and this
is what I can do)
Stage 5 Diversity Competence (this is the
way it is and this is how to deal with it)
Skill 1: Level One :
Culture at the personal level (contd.)
Worksheet # 4, pages 33-34
Experiencing Personal Culture
Purpose: to provide an experience of
your personal culture
Skill 1: Level One :
Culture at the personal level (contd.)
Worksheet # 5, pages 35-37
Identifying the Aspects of Personal
Culture, Part 2
Purpose: to provide an experience of
your personal culture
Skill 1: Level Two
Ethnic & Racial Group
The term ethnic or culture group refers to the
cultural heritage a group shares that relates
to the Aspects of Culture: language, values,
family life processes, religion, etc. and their
associated beliefs and customs.
The beliefs and customs associated with each
Aspect are generally learned from one
generation to the next.
Skill 1: Level Two
Ethnic & Racial Group
The term racial group is also relevant. As a result of
historical social developments among groups in the
United States, “race” is a 500 year old belief that
ascribes differential status to groups of people
within the society based on surface physical
differences (skin color, eye shape)
Although race is defined, perceived, and believed to
be a biological classification of human groups based
on heredity and genetic differences, it has no
scientific base
Humans are the most homogenous species
There is only one race of humans and it is the
human race
Skill 1: Level Two
Ethnic & Racial Group
Worksheet # 6, pages 39-41
Aspects of culture as applied to an
ethnic group
Purpose: to demonstrate an
ethnic/culture group’s aspects of
culture
Skill 1: Level Three
Mainstream (National) Culture of the USA
The United States society is composed of a
mainstream or national culture and many
subcultures, such as Irish American, Mexican
American, African American, Korean American,
Navaho American, Thai American, Samoan
American, Filipino American, Luiseno American
Mainstream culture, originally based on the core
culture of England, is commonly referred to as
"dominant" because it is institutionalized in all
major organizations and institutions (see Aspects on
pages 121-122)
Skill 1: Level Three
Mainstream (National) Culture of
the USA
Since the United States is multicultural,
all of us are to some extant members of
ethnic groups although we may not
personally identify with our
membership.
Skill 1: Level Three
Mainstream (National) Culture of the
USA
Worksheet # 7, pages 43-44
Purpose: to demonstrate an aspect of
U.S. Mainstream culture in relation to
time orientation (a value and a
nonverbal form of communication)
Monochronic and Polychronic
Time
Skill 1: Level Three
Mainstream (National) Culture of the
USA
Worksheet # 8, pages 45-47
Purpose: to demonstrate aspects of U.S.
Mainstream culture.
Skill 1: Level Four
Organization Culture
Organization culture refers to the
policies, procedures, programs, and
processes that organizations employ.
Within each of these organizational
policies, procedures, programs and
processes we find deeply embedded
Aspects of Culture and their beliefs,
assumptions, and customary ways of
behaving and doing
Skill 1: Level Four
Aspects of Organization and U.S. National
Culture
Worksheet # 9, pages 49-51
Purpose: to demonstrate the congruence
between aspects of organization
culture and U.S. national culture
Skill 1:Level Four
Understanding Aspects of Culture/Ethnicity
in an Organization
Worksheet # 10, pages 53-55
Purpose: to demonstrate the need for
cultural understanding in daily life (at
work, etc.)