Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I spoke to three people who differed in gender, age, race, and class. They each gave their definitions of culture and diversity, which differed but also had similarities between them.

The first individual defined culture as tendencies and traditions of a group of people. He defined diversity as a mixture of cultures.

The second individual defined culture as heritage, standards, history of society, and social, family and religious values. There is also artistic and literary culture, and stories that are passed down to generations. He defined diversity as the things we discuss from different social groups, including cultural, and racial values that are part of one group as opposed to another.

The third individual defined culture as a collection of specific social norms, socioeconomic status, attitudes, morals, race/ethnicities, beliefs, and means by which people live in a given community. She identified diversity as a collection of several social norms, socioeconomic status, attitudes, race/ethnicities, morals, beliefs and means by which people live in a given community.

I have learned about different aspects of culture and diversity in this course, and some aspects were included in the individuals’ definitions. For example, the second individual included history and religion in their definition of culture, which is considered “deep culture” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 56).  The first individual broadly described culture as tendencies and traditions, which I believe would be considered as “surface culture” because it is a single layer of what culture encompasses (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 56). The third individual described diversity almost equally to culture, which in their opinion they view both concepts similarly. She mentioned ethnicity and socioeconomic status, which are discussed as cultural frameworks in Gonzalez-Mena’s (2008) article.

Two of the individuals described diversity differently, and I believe that can be attributed to how diversity is perceived in their culture. For example, the first individual stated it simply as a mixture of cultures, focusing more on the diversity between family culture and dynamic. However, the second individual explained that diversity relates to many aspects including social, culture, and racial values that can be compared to certain groups. The third individual defined diversity and culture almost identically, and they explained the only difference was between the vocabulary “specific” and “several.” Culture has specific attributes, whereas diversity encompasses several. I do not believe there is a right or wrong answer when it comes to defining culture or diversity, because those definitions are a product of culture.

Aspects that we omitted in the definitions included relations to dominant culture, and the comparison between cultural dynamics. The second individual discussed the comparison between cultures, which could relate to dominant and subordinate cultures, but the other individuals did not touch upon the subject. None of the individuals discussed how family cultures can be separate from social cultures, but I believe that is because I asked the individuals to define culture which does not lead to detail and description.   

Talking about culture and diversity with other individuals influenced my own thinking about these topics because I realized there was diversity in the answers themselves. The way we view culture and diversity is a product of our own culture and what we have learned from our cultures. I view culture, as the multiple concepts including language, traditions, values, food, and history, that make a group of people feel connected. However, I believe my definition of culture has been influenced by this course and by the answers of the individuals.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.