Chapter 6 Cultural Identity

1. Chapter 6 Cultural Identity • Cultural Identity • Cultural Biases • Intercultural Contact • Intercultural Communicator

2. Cultural Identity • Nature of Identity • Cultural identity: belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group • Ethnic Identity: generally defined on the basis of cultural criteria (customs, language) • Racial Identity: generally defined on the basis of physical criteria (skin color, facial features)

3. Identity Social Identity: Memberships that are particular to cultural identity Personal Identity: Activities that differ from cultural identity; Sexuality; individuality

4. Identity • Gender identity • Pink or Blue? • Nature or Nurture? • Brain Research: Color, texture, motion, Language • Age Identity • Infant/Child • Adolescent • Adult • Middle Age • Senior Citizen • Mixed Identity

5. Identity • Religious identity • Socioeconomic Identity • National/Regional Identity

6. Identity Development • Unexamined Cultural Identity • Cultural Identity Search • Cultural Identity Achievement

7. White Privilege • Normative Race Privilege • Dominant culture • Individual Identity • Guilt for being white • Perceptions of Privilege • Loss of privilege • (reading)

8. Ethnocentrism • The tendency people have to evaluate others according to their own standards and experience • While this tendency can help bind people together, it can also present serious obstacles to cross-cultural interactions (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

9. Categorization is the cognitive process by which all human beings simplify their world by grouping similar stimuli Our categories give meaning to our perceptions A prototype image best characterizes the meaning of a category Example: for the category “bird,” we usually think of robins, not chickens Categorization (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

10. Stereotypes • Stereotypes are socially constructed categories of people • They usually obscure differences within groups • They are frequently negative and play to ethnocentric ideas of “the other” (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

11. Understanding Prejudice and Racism • Ethnocentrism leads people to believe that their own “ways” are good and “natural” • Prejudice implies a lack of thought or care in making a judgment about others • While racial and ethnic prejudice can be expressed both positively and negatively, in the United States it is most often negative (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

12. Racism, Cont’d • Symbolic Racism • Tokenism • Aversive Racism • Likes & dislikes • Degree of unfamiliarity

13. Extreme Cases of Prejudice • Racism—the transformation of prejudicial attitudes through the use of power directed toward those one regards as inferior • Hate Groups—any organized body that denigrates select groups of people based on ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual orientation • White Privilege—the largely unconscious acceptance by dominant groups of privileges denied to oppressed groups • Racial Profiling—law enforcement practices aimed at those who “fit” a particular profile—usually age, ethnicity, and/or race (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e

14. Something to Think About “One of the higher callings for young people in the coming century will be working to increase intercultural understanding. Such people will be the missionaries of the age, spreading light among groups. . .by giving them a modern vision of the new global community.” —Carl Coon (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved. Cushner/McClelland/Safford, Human Diversity in Education, 5/e