Perspective on Diversity

I asked three friends to describe what culture and diversity meant.  I got very similar answers from all of them. My friend Desirela, who would be considered from a different culture than me said that culture was a society where evvalues and customs and traditions that keep a group together. She said that diversity is the difference within the group.

Michele answered that culture is the type of lifestyle that a community lives by and diversity is several cultures living together on one common ground. I think her answer is also in line with what we are learning. Culture is about your community and how you live as well as your individual family.

I think something that was omitted was how everyone’s unique experiences affect their perception of culture and diversity. Until this class, I would not have thought to include all the aspects of my individual life as part of my culture. I would have simply said I was Caucasian, now I realize that my social identities within that culture make me who I am.

Listening to the definitions of my friends I find it interesting that they included comments about traditions and rules communities in their definitions of culture. Those understood rules of a culture that are unspoken are some of the most difficult things to learn when you leave your own family and go out into the world. There is a wonderful book “Bridges out of Poverty” in it the author talks about the unspoken rules of poverty, middle class and wealth and how these rules can trip up both the person living in poverty and a person from another socioeconomic status who is trying to work with the person in poverty.  eryone has the same values and rules on how they should live.   This is consistent with what we are learning.  A family’s culture does set rules and boundaries for itself.

My friend Tiffany who is a psychology student said that culture is a common set of

References

Ruby, P., Philip, D., & Terie, D. S. (2001). Bridges out of poverty. Highlands TX: Aha Process Inc.