Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I have asked two professional colleagues and one family member to share their definitions of culture and diversity.  Included in these definitions are aspects similar to what I have been studying in my Perspectives on Culture and Diversity college class.  The immediate common denominator between the aspects I have been studying and the definitions is reference to how complex the topics are, the individual definitions are complex and all three definitions touched on some aspect of deep culture; values, hierarchy, and roles are just a few to mention.  An example on what has been omitted from the definitions is any reference to the dominant culture and how social, political and economic power can dictate what ‘normal’ culture  should look like.

Reflecting on the following definitions of culture and diversity has helped me gain a deeper understanding of each person as individuals.  Each individual has contributed to my amazement of how complex and rich our world is.  The definitions are a true reflection of Janet Gonzalez-Mena’s philosophy in that, “diversity is a benefit” and “identity formation should be an additive process” (Laureate Education, 2011).  Our diversity makes a beautiful tapestry with each and every thread of the tapestry adding to the beauty of our world.

Family Response:

Culture is influenced by each individual’s family dynamics, values, and/or a group (not necessarily family) of individuals who have the same belief system and ideals.

Diversity is individual beliefs and ideas which have a variety of differences compared to that of your friends and sometimes family.

Colleague Response:

It is easier for me to answer diversity before culture.  Diversity is about differences and culture is about agreed upon norms.  As I answer the question I am in my current work place that celebrates diversity and acknowledges diversity of people in a much more subdued manner than my last work place.  In my last work place, the journey each morning from the elevator to my office would offer me the opportunity to hear four different languages before I arrived at my desk.  People dressed differently, spoke different languages and were more than willing to share their different music, food, and norms with me at a company sponsored luncheon, concert, book signing, or holiday event specific to their part of the world.  I felt there was equity in the work place because of this celebration of the diversity and the diversity in the seating around the board room, the executive lounge, and the manager’s meetings.

Culture for me is about a set of norms or rules to which a group of people have agreed.  I think we have social norms, family norms, work norms, geographic norms and ethnic norms.  I think we all belong to more than one culture and cannot be boxed into just having one set of cultural norms that serves as the moniker of how we define each other.  I remember being in a class once and having an African American student say that in black families’ grandmothers were the strongest in the family and everyone did as she said; I was quick to say not in my family; my father was the head of the household and head of the family.   However, I am also one to quickly acknowledge the importance of a grandmother in the African American family, music, gospel and southern cooking (Oh wait, that’s the cultural norm of an African American girl from the South.)

Another Colleague Response:

I believe culture is the knowledge, experience, skills, beliefs, behaviors, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, concepts of the world, motives, symbols, and material objects that are passed along by communication and imitation, explicitly and implicitly, from one generation to the next through social learning of a particular group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people.

I believe diversity is the individuality of people that consists of not only race, age, ethnicity, and gender but also the wide variety of unique qualities possessed by people such as:  the unique combination of skills, competencies, attributes, knowledge, personality traits, culture, background, viewpoints, religion, education, work style, communication style, organizational role, economic status, geographic origin, and all of the encompassing characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals  and that affect the way we think and do things. I believe that recognition of each person’s diversity enhances productivity, effectiveness, and competitiveness.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Walden University). (2011). EDUC 6164. Culture and Diversity (DVD). In Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. Baltimore, MD.