Cultural Identity and Cultural Biases Cultural Identity Ones

Cultural Identity and Cultural Biases

Cultural Identity � One’s identity or self-concept is built on an individual’s cultural, social, and personal identities. � Cultural identity refers to one’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group. ◦ It is formed in a process that results from membership in a particular culture. ◦ It involves learning about and accepting the traditions, heritage, language, religions, ancestry, aesthetics, thinking patterns, and social structures of society. ◦ People internalize the beliefs, values, norms, and social practices of their culture and identify with that culture as part of their self-concept.

Cultural Identity � Social identity develops as a consequence of membership in particular groups within one’s culture. ◦ The characteristics and concerns common to most members of such social groups shape the way individuals view their characteristics. ◦ The types of groups with which people identify can vary widely and might include perceived similarities due to age, gender, work, religion, ideology, social class, place (neighborhood, region, and nation), and common interests. (ex. Baseball players, ballet dancers, scientists, etc. )

Cultural Identity � Personal identity refers to people’s unique characteristics, which may differ from those of others in their cultural or social groups. ◦ (ex. You may like cooking, singing, sewing, tennis, etc. but not identify with those as social groups. )

The formation of cultural identity occurs in three stages. � The unexamined cultural identity stage involves a lack of interest in cultural issues as a result of taking one’s own cultural characteristics for granted. ◦ Young children lack awareness of cultural differences. ◦ Cultural identity of many European Americans have remained largely unexamined, b/c of their perceived “normalcy. ” � Cultural identity search involves a process of exploration and questioning about one’s culture in order to learn more about it. (“Who am I? Where do I belong here? What is my culture like? ”) � Cultural identity achievement involves the acceptance of oneself and an internalization of one’s cultural identity. (“My culture is important, I am proud of being _____. ”)

Characteristics of cultural identity � Cultural identities provide a framework for organizing and interpreting one’s experiences of others. � Cultural identities are central to one’s sense of self (similar to your gender and race). � Cultural identities are dynamic and change with one’s ongoing life experiences. ◦ My understanding of being Chinese/American changed when I first came to HK, and still change. � Cultural identities are multifaceted. ◦ Can be simultaneously a student, employee, friend, woman, Southerner, daughter, Christian, Millennial, and more.

Cultural Biases � Social categorizing � Ethnocentrism � Stereotyping � Prejudice � Discrimination � Racism

Cultural Biases � Social categorizing ◦ People impose a pattern on their world by organizing the stimuli into conceptual categories. ◦ Most people think that other people perceive, evaluate, and reason about the world in the same way that they do. ◦ Humans simplify the processing and organizing of information from the environment by identifying certain characteristics as belonging to certain categories of persons and events.

Cultural Biases � Ethnocentrism ◦ Ethnocentrism occurs when the beliefs, values, and practices of one culture are viewed as superior to those of others. ◦ All cultures have a tendency to be ethnocentric. ◦ To be a competent intercultural communicator, you need to recognize how your own culture influences your judgments of others, be aware of your emotional reactions to such judgments, and acknowledge the existence of your judgments to minimize their effect on your communication.

Cultural Biases � Stereotyping ◦ Stereotypes are a form of generalization about a group of people. ◦ Groups can be stereotyped based on their religion, age, occupation, social class, geographical location, and many other characteristics. ◦ Stereotypes can be inaccurate in two ways. �When stereotypes are assumed to apply to all members of a group or category, resulting in a tendency to ignore differences among the individual members of the group. �When the group average, as suggested by a stereotype, is simply wrong or inappropriately exaggerated.

Cultural Biases � Prejudice ◦ Prejudice refers to attitudes toward other people that are based on faulty and inflexible stereotypes. ◦ Prejudice is a universal psychological process; all people have a propensity for prejudice toward others who are unlike themselves. ◦ Functions of prejudice �It helps people organize and simplify the world. �It satisfies a utilitarian or adjustment function. �Expressing prejudicial statements about certain people may cause others, who agree with the statements, to like you more. It is easier to simply dislike and be prejudiced toward members of other groups because they can then be dismissed without going through the effort necessary to adjust to them.

Cultural Biases � Prejudice �It serves an ego-defensive function by protecting a person’s self -esteem. �We maintain our self-esteem by scorning people who differ from us. �It serves a knowledge function. �The rigid application of categories and the prejudicial attitudes assigned to certain behaviors and beliefs provide security and increase predictability.

Cultural Biases � Discrimination ◦ The term discrimination refers to behavioral manifestations of prejudice; it is prejudice in action. ◦ Discrimination occurs in many forms from extremes of segregation and apartheid to biases in housing, employment, education, economic resources, personal safety and legal protections. ◦ It is the unequal treatment of certain individuals because of their membership to a particular group.

Cultural Biases � Racism ◦ At the individual level, racism is conceptually very similar to prejudice. ◦ At the institutional level, racism is the exclusion of certain people from equal participation in the society’s institutions solely because of their race. ◦ At the cultural level, racism denies the existence of the culture of a particular group and involves the rejection of the culture’s beliefs and values. ◦ Although racism is often used synonymously with prejudice and discrimination, the social attributes that distinguish it from these two terms are oppression and power.

Cultural Biases � Forms of racism vary in intensity and degree of expression. ◦ Old-fashioned racism is the most extreme form of racism. ◦ Symbolic racism (also called modern racism) occurs when members of a group with political and economic power believe that members of some other group threaten their traditional values. (ex. “Chinese are taking all our jobs!”) ◦ Aversive racism occurs when individuals who highly value fairness and equality among all racial and cultural groups nevertheless have negative beliefs and feelings about members of a particular race. (“I’m not racist, but I don’t date Indian men. ”) ◦ Genuine likes and dislikes occur when the cultural practices a group displays are not liked by members of another group. ◦ The degree of unfamiliarity can lead to negative attitudes because of lack of experience with the characteristics of their group.

Identity, Biases, Contact, and Cultural Competence � Improving your cultural competence ◦ Describe your own cultural identity; be sure to include both the positive and negative aspects. ◦ Take an honest inventory of the various ways in which you categorize other people and they categorize you. ◦ Be willing to explore various cultural experiences with culturally different others, without invoking prejudice.

Identity, Biases, Contact, and Cultural Competence � We all face intercultural challenges. ◦ One intercultural challenge is the willingness to grapple with the consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and racism at the individual, social, and institutional levels. ◦ Another challenge is contending with the pressing but potentially inflammatory issues of prejudice and discrimination in a manner that is both appropriate and effective. ◦ We are also challenged to function competently in a world that, increasingly, is characterized by multiple cultures inhabiting adjacent and often-overlapping terrain.

Identity, Biases, Contact, and Cultural Competence The ability to adapt to intercultural settings – to maintain positive, healthy relationships with people of cultures other than your own – is the hallmark of the interculturally competent individual.

Discussion Questions If people are born into one culture but raised in another, to which culture(s) do they belong? � Why have so many nations and cultures assumed they were the most civilized, virtuous, or noble people on earth? Are there benefits to being ethnocentric? � What are some of the stereotypes that people hold of your culture? � How can we escape the ethnocentric tendency to use our own cultural categories to interpret other cultures? � Is it possible for European Americans to be the recipients of any form of racism in the United States? �