Cultural DiversitySOC/305Cultural DiversitySome people ignore culture diversity, while most do not even know what it means. Culture diversity is actually the quality of different or diverse cultures. This is opposed to mono-culture or cultural decay. A great example of culture diversity is
Hawaii. Before Hawaii was conquered Europeans, the Hawaiian culture only existed.
Since then, Hawaii has changed and been westernized. The Hawaiian culture has been replaced with American culture. Culture diversity also refers to having a respect for other's differences. It is also a variety of cultures in a specific region or in the world as a whole. Dimensions of Cultural Diversity
There is a theory among anthropologists explaining that humans first emerged in
Africa over two million years ago. Slowly people have spread throughout the world, adapting to different conditions and to changes in global and local climates as well.
Now, the obvious cultural differences between people are the languages spoken, different dress attire and traditions. Also, there are major variations in the way societies are organized. Culture dimensions are actually psychological dimensions, or value construct. This can be used to describe a specific culture.
Race and ethnicity is exceedingly complex in the United States. Considering the racial stereotypes, college students reported seeing white people dressed in baggy jeans, while wearing gold chains and drinking malt liquor to represent “gangstas.” Some of them added black face makeup to complete the appearance. These escapades are not limited to misguided youth. National retailers stock a “Kung Fool” ensemble complete with Japanese kimono and a buck-toothed slant-eyed mask. Also available is “Vato Loco,” a stereotyped caricature of a bandanna-clad tattooed Latino gang thug (Mueller, Dirks, and Pica 2007; Obama 2008).
Here is another example of culture diversity. A few years ago in 2006, an uproar began when Black students at a high school in Louisiana. The college students wanted to sit under a tree, this was traditionally known as the “White tree” in the courtyard. The school officials agreed, and thought it was only fair to allow this.The very next day, three nooses hung from the tree. The college students responsible for this were white. The men were suspended, but hate crime charges were not filed against any of them. In the horrible aftermath, fights broke out, including one in which Black students beat up a
White schoolmate, who was treated at a hospital, released, and attended a school event the same evening. The Black juveniles were charged as adults for attempted murder. In response to massive demonstrations drawing protesters from across the nation, the charges were reduced. The use of the nooses were not limited to only youth. The next fall, an African American college professor found a noose on the doorknob of her office door. The hangman’s noose was used to hang African Americans; it is a symbolic of at least 4,700 U.S. lynching’s from the 1880s through the 1960s.
(Richard T. Schaefer. 2011)
Ethnics I Identify With
The ethnic, cultural, or other groups I identify with would be of Hispanic and
Cherokee Indian decent My mother is Cherokee Indian and my father and his entire side of the family are from Cuba. Studies show that according to projections by the census bureau, the proportion of residents of the United States who are White and non-
Hispanic will decrease significantly by the year 2100. By contrast, there will be a striking rise in the proportion of both Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans.
(Source: 2008 data from American Community Survey 2009, and data for 2100 from Bureau of the Census 2004.)
The United States is a diverse nation. Even though the composition of the population is changing and 15 percent of the United States is Hispanic, problems of prejudice, discrimination, and mistrust remain.