Week 3- Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

My three friend’s/families’ responses:

*80 Year Old White Male

 Definition of Culture

Culture in this definition refers to human male and female behavior.   It refers to:  knowledge; religious, political, and other beliefs; language, traditions, art, law, morals, customs, capabilities, and habits acquired by members of a society (an organized community).

Definition of Diversity

Diversity in this definition refers to human diversity.  It refers to the differences/variations in:  race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, mental abilities, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and other ideologies, language.

*50 Year Old White Female

Definition of Culture

How you are raised. Your customs, holidays, celebration traditions.   It is our custom to celebrate Thanksgiving at my parents’ house with my immediate family. It is the custom with Bill's family to sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus on Christmas. It was the family custom on my mom's side to take dance and music lessons. Culture can also mean the type of surroundings that are the norm. A farming community might have a different culture than a big city. For example, kids drive tractors early and work in the fields in the country and that becomes part of your culture. A positive, loving home offers a different culture to a child than one where the parents are alcoholics or abusive. It's kind of what you get used to and it can effect who you become.

Definition of Diversity

How people are different from each other...skin color, gender, religion, socio-economic, even where you are raised (country vs city...east coast vs midwest). Diversity can affect your culture.

*40 Year Old Hispanic Female

Definition of Culture

I define culture as a group's shared customs/traditions, art, values, language, sometimes religious beliefs.

Definition of Diversity

I define diversity as having many cultures within an environment.

Each of the participants’ answers to culture I feel have been touched on in my studies in this course. They all discussed the customs and traditions, which I have learned, are the surface culture. Two responses added that culture includes values, language, religious beliefs as mentioned in my studies. Another response mentioned a child’s living environment affecting ones culture.

This course has focused a lot on the dominant culture and all three responses omitted anything about the dominant culture and any experiences concerning this. It would have been interesting to hear what each person thought. I know when the Hispanic female came to America she did not know English and she had a teacher that put her in the back of the classroom and would not support her much.

Thinking about the others’ definitions of culture and diversity has reaffirmed my beliefs/definitions. Through my discussions, reflective journals, blogs, and applications I have touched on all the same points the responses did.