Lecture 1 culture and diversity week 1&2
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Diversity of experience is essential for innovation. A scientific endeavor will be most successful when it attracts a diverse range of perspectives and capitalizes on the creative sparks that arise from differences in cultures, backgrounds, and life experiences. acknowledging the value each perspective provides.
Lecture 1 culture and diversity week 1&2
- 1. "There is no better fertile ground for innovation than a diversity of experience. And that diversity of experience arises from a difference of cultures, ethnicities, and life backgrounds. A successful scientific endeavor is one that attracts a diversity of experience, draws upon the breadth and depth of that experience, and cultivates those differences, acknowledging the creativity they spark." Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone
- 2. Diversity represents all the ways we are different. Laws provide the first basis for diversity: equal employment opportunity. Laws based on historical discrimination against certain groups in our society: race, gender, color, religion, national origin, disability, etc. Diversity includes all of the above concepts: The recognition and valuing of differences between people.
- 3. Forming a working culture and practices that recognise, respect, value and harness difference for the benefit of the organisations, institutions and individual patients.
- 4. Future workforce will have huge demographic variations (postmodern society) Institutions, organizations and companies report competitive advantage as the key driver of diversity efforts Diverse markets require diverse operatives (consumerism).
- 5. Diversity does not pit one culture against another for dominance; it only allows for cultural differences to be a part of society. Example: employed to solve business challenges. Diversity acknowledges and uses these inherent differences to drive innovation as a way of creating better organizational performance and competitive advantage.
- 6. Gender Age/generation Ethnicity Nationality Language/dialect Skin colour Religion Class Stratification ( wealth, family background) Region(N/S, urban/rural) Country/region of origin Country/region of residence Educational level Occupation Sexual orientation Political orientation Disability Culture (beliefs, expectations, behaviours)
- 7. • 1- Primary Categories: Genetic characteristics that affect a persons self-image and socialization, appear to be unlearned and are difficult to modify – Age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities and qualities, and sexual and affectional orientation • 2- Secondary categories: Learned characteristics that a person acquires and modifies throughout life – Education, work experience, income, marital status, religious beliefs, geographic location, parental status, behavioral style
- 8. 1- Ethnic or Ethnicity 2- Cultural 3- Universal
- 9. The sense of identification that a cultural group collectively has, largely based on the group’s common heritage.
- 11. Factors inherent in human selfhood and the "psyche" home family values relationship styles foundational beliefs holding a related group of people together.
- 12. Worldview issues entails: a common history customs sense of oneness social structures holding the related people together
- 13. An ethnic group is a group of human individuals who share a common, unique self-identity. An ethnic group is also called a “people” or a “people group.” A common technical term for an ethnic group is “ethnolinguistic.”
- 14. The “ethno” in “ethnolinguistic” refers to other aspects of culture that make up “ethnicity.” Usually there is a common self-name and a sense of common identity of individuals identified with the group.
- 15. Some other common ethnic factors that define or distinguish a people are: 1. a common history, 2. customs, 3. family and clan identities, 4. marriage rules and practices, 5. age-grades and other obligation covenants, 6. inheritance patterns and rules.
- 16. • Racial group:Racial group: inherited biological traits Myths: racial superiority, racial purity • Ethnic group:Ethnic group: shared cultural traits • Minority groupMinority group:: shared distinctive identity, treated unequally by dominant group • Prejudice (attitude):Prejudice (attitude): rigid, often irrational, generalization about an entire category of people (can be positive or negative)
- 17. Culture refers to the way of life of a people. Specifically, culture consists of the material and nonmaterial forms that people from and share with each other. Material culture :The tangible products humans create, like houses, roads, clothes, technologies, etc. Nonmaterial culture:The intangible products that humans create, like beliefs, values, ideas and norms.
- 18. 1. Adaptation to the environment Our cultures reflect our efforts to adapt to the environment. 2. Blueprint for living Culture provides a ready-made blueprint for living. 3. Symbiotic relationship We form culture, and it forms us. 4. It is learned Culture is learned, not biologically transmitted.
- 19. Most species rely on biologically transmitted instincts to survive. Humans have few complex instincts and rely instead on learned information. There are roughly thousands (7000) cultures across the globe and there is great diversity among them. However, this number is in decline due to globalization forces.
- 20. A. Nonmaterial components 1. symbols 2. language 3. values and beliefs 4. norms B. Material components The importance of technology All objects, buildings etc.
- 21. Complex social phenomenon. Shared beliefs, values and attitudes that guide behaviour of members. Dynamic concept - keeps changing.
- 22. Culture Assimilation Acculturation. When minority groups living within the dominant group loose the cultural characteristics that make them different. Stereotyping – involves assigning characteristics to a group of people without considering specific individuality.
- 23. Cultural Imposition – the belief that everyone should conform to the majority belief system. The tendency for health personnel to impose their beliefs practices and values of other cultures, because they believe that their ideas are superior. Cultural conflict – when one ridicules others beliefs and traditions in an effort to make his or her own values more secure
- 24. • All cultures change. • Industrial cultures are in perpetual rapid change. • Sometimes one part of the cultural system may change more quickly than another, which lags behind. – This is called cultural lag: inconsistencies within a cultural system resulting from unequal rates of change by the elements of the system. – Example:Technology has made it possible to keep a brain dead person technically alive, but our legal system has not yet caught up with the rights of the patient
- 25. Feelings an individual experiences when placed in a different and often strange culture and may result in psychological discomfort or disturbances. Ethnocentrism: The belief that one’s own ideas, beliefs and practices are the best and superior.
- 26. Identify factors that effect behavior by cultural assessment Values, religion, dietary practices, family lines of authority, family life patterns and beliefs and practices related to health and illness
- 28. Gender Age Ethnicity Language Skin colour Socio-economic status Occupation Sexual orientation Political ideology Disability and health Cultural beliefs, expectations Sea level
- 29. Which cultural groups would others say you belong to (top of iceberg)? Which other cultural groups do you feel you belong to (bottom of iceberg)? • Which aspects of culture are the most important for you? What most defines you? • How has your ethnicity and class background provided strengths / challenges? • How do cultural factors affect your behaviour and communication styles at work and elsewhere?
- 30. Involves the ability to recognize and embrace similarities and differences among nations and cultures and then approach key organizational and strategic issues with an open and curious mind.
- 31. Culture = the dominant pattern of living, thinking, and believing that is developed and transmitted by people, consciously or unconsciously, to subsequent generations Cultural values = those consciously and subconsciously deeply held beliefs that specify general preferences, behaviors, and define what is right and wrong.
- 32. Understand, appreciate, and use cultural factors that can affect behavior. Appreciate the influence of work-related values on decisions, preferences, and practices. Understand and motivate employees with different values and attitudes.
- 33. Communicate in the local language. Deal effectively with extreme conditions in foreign countries. Utilize a global mindset (use a worldwide perspective to constantly assess threats or opportunities).
- 34. Universalism: A perspective that views people from different cultures as largely the same. Observed cultural variability exists only at a superficial level. Though there is much variability in the languages people speak, this variability is superficial. The majority of linguistic structures, such as the use of grammar, are universal.
- 35. Cultural relativism arose from cultural anthropology as people truly explored the peoples of the world. Implies that there is no right or wrong answers to any questions. We must “walk a mile in another man’s shoes” in order to truly understand them. Behaviors are the result of the unique history of the individual.
- 36. Relativism: A perspective that maintains that cultural diversity in ways of thinking reflects genuinely different psychological processes and that culture and thought are mutually constituted. Cultural practices lead to different ways of thinking. What we think influences what we do, but also, what we do influences what we think. Assumes that differing cultural practices reflect solutions to differing problems in differing contexts.
- 37. People mistakenly believe that they must think from either a culturally universal or culturally relative framework. In truth there is a continuity between the extremes of cultural universality and cultural relativity. Personally, I believe the ideal thinking should fall somewhere closer to relativity, but definitely not at the extreme.
- 38. People have a standard of behavior to which they expect other people to adhere. This standard has been called Universal Morality or Natural Law. All people know about this law and break it. There must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.
- 39. Across 30 cultures people were asked to assign adjectives as belonging to males or females in their culture. Many “universal” ratings appeared. Men were more…active, hardheaded, greedy, robust, loud, obnoxious, etc. Women were more…affectionate, fickle, talkative, touchy, pleasant, etc. Possibly based on universal differences between genders?
- 40. According to EvolutionaryTheory, physical isolation of a population can lead to rapid speciation due to different selective pressures from different environments. Different species arise as a reflection of the unique environment and the pressures it exhibits. Isolation of human populations has historically led to the development of different cultures. Different cultures arise as a result of having to solve universal problems in a unique environment.
- 41. Eating Cultures near water tend to eat seafood. Cultures in places with little rain might become pastoral and focus on grazing animals.
- 42. Shelter Local materials will be used to protect against local climates.
- 43. Law There is a need to impose a common morality upon a group of people that interact. ▪ If we disagreed on what was acceptable behavior, chaos might ensue.
- 44. Humans have universal problems but…. Each culture solves and expresses these problems in unique ways. Is it our right to say one solution is “good” while another solution is “bad”. While we say their solution is bad, they say our solution is bad. Can we use universal thinking to make statements about behaviors which might be relative?
Editor's Notes
- #39: - -”These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can not really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.” -In The Chronicles of Narnia he describes Universal Morality as the "Deep magic" which everyone knew. -People often complain that one set of moral ideas is better than another, but what this actually argues for is that there exists some "Real Morality" to which they are comparing other moralities.
- #41: -Despite the unique environments and cultures which arise, most people face similar shared problems. -When cultures isolate, they address universal human needs in unique ways which reflect the time and place. -In recent years we find that the mechanisms which traditionally kept populations isolated (namely distance) are disappearing. As these mechanisms disappear we find a single universal cultural emerging.
- #42: -A common problem arose, how to put food into the mouth without the use of fingers. -Different cultures solved the problem in different ways.
- #45: -Though we condemn the harsh treatment of women in many Middle Eastern cultures, they condemn the liberal treatment of women in western societies.