I asked my husband, sister and co-worker their definition of
culture and diversity. Each person had a different perspective. My husband’s definition of culture is based
around a person’s lifestyle. It is the
way they eat, live and their set of beliefs. Diversity is a melting pot of many
different cultures to make unique populations of people. My sister defined culture as a group of
people who have similar values and beliefs.
She feels diversity is the opposite of culture. It is the different
values and beliefs of people in the same place.
My co-worker defined culture as the encompassment of different groups
including work place, ethnicities and religious groups. She believes that
people behave differently based on which group they are with. Diversity is the differences within a
culture. Diversity may connect
individuals to their cultural group.
I think each definition is reflective of the aspects of
culture and diversity that I have studied within this course. I think each
definition is individual to each person’s life experience. It is difficult for me to evaluate their
definitions of culture and diversity because I see how it is reflective of
their own life.
I think my husband and sister could have been more
descriptive in their definition of culture. Within their definition I feel as
though they were only describing “surface” culture and could have thought
harder into “deep” culture. Obviously, my co-worker is a part of early
childhood education and had a solid definition.
As I said earlier, after listening and talking with each of
individual about their definition of culture I could tie in their definition to
their own life experiences. For example,
my sister lives in an area that is not very diverse and I believe her
definition reflects that. It is important for me to respect individual definitions
of culture and diversity and to remember there is no right or wrong answer.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI do too found that the three people I interviewed mentioned mostly facts of -what I now know is- the surface culture. I also thought that the definitions these three persons gave me are related to their experiences and their environment.
This assignment led me to realize that the people’s mindset is part of their culture, and vice versa culture influences their mindset.
Thanks for sharing Amber!
You made a great point that I did not even think of. You said that each definition that you received from either culture or diversity is individualized to each person’s life experience. That makes complete sense! Everyone has their own twist on the definitions related to what they experienced. It doesn’t make their understanding of the words wrong because it is not exactly what you perceive it to be. I think that both of these words are broad definitions and can go many ways.
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteI agree that people normally view culture from their own viewpoints. This makes it harder to evaluate cultural views. In my findings, people saw culture as their own beliefs and values and diversity as any differences from their own culture.
We do see our culture through our own lens. However we may have difficulty seeing a deeper culture within our culture. We may associate ourselves with a culture that we have little to no investment in. For instance, the inheritance of a religious group, rather than the beliefs found below the surface.
ReplyDelete