What Family and/or Historical Events Have Shaped How You Think About Your Own Cultural Identity

Learning Objectives

1. Define culture.
2. Define personal, social, and cultural identities.
3. Summarize nondominant and ascendant identity development.
4. Explain why divergence matters in the study of culture and identity.

Civilization is a complicated word to define, as there are at least six common means that civilisation is used in the U.s.. For the purposes of exploring the communicative aspects of culture, we will define culture every bit the ongoing negotiation of learned and patterned behavior, attitudes, values, and behaviors. Unpacking the definition, we tin see that culture shouldn't be conceptualized as stable and unchanging. Culture is "negotiated," and every bit we will larn later in this chapter, civilisation is dynamic, and cultural changes can be traced and analyzed to better understand why our guild is the way it is. The definition also points out that civilization is learned, which accounts for the importance of socializing institutions similar family unit, school, peers, and the media. Culture is patterned in that in that location are recognizable widespread similarities among people within a cultural group. There is as well divergence from and resistance to those patterns by individuals and subgroups within a civilization, which is why cultural patterns change over fourth dimension. Last, the definition acknowledges that culture influences our behavior about what is truthful and simulated, our attitudes including our likes and dislikes, our values regarding what is right and wrong, and our behaviors. It is from these cultural influences that our identities are formed.

Personal, Social, and Cultural Identities

Ask yourself the question "Who am I?" Retrieve from our earlier discussion of self-concept that nosotros develop a sense of who we are based on what is reflected back on us from other people. Our parents, friends, teachers, and the media assistance shape our identities. While this happens from birth, most people in Western societies attain a stage in adolescence where maturing cognitive abilities and increased social awareness lead them to begin to reverberate on who they are. This begins a lifelong process of thinking about who nosotros are now, who we were before, and who nosotros will get (Tatum, B. D., 2000). Our identities make up an of import part of our cocky-concept and can be cleaved down into three primary categories: personal, social, and cultural identities (see Tabular array eight.i "Personal, Social, and Cultural Identities").

We must avoid the temptation to think of our identities as constant. Instead, our identities are formed through processes that started before we were built-in and volition go along after we are gone; therefore our identities aren't something we attain or complete. Ii related but singled-out components of our identities are our personal and social identities (Spreckels, J. & Kotthoff, H., 2009). Personal identities include the components of self that are primarily intrapersonal and continued to our life experiences. For example, I consider myself a puzzle lover, and you may place as a fan of hip-hop music. Our social identities are the components of self that are derived from involvement in social groups with which nosotros are interpersonally committed.

Pledging a fraternity or sorority is an example of a social identity.

For example, we may derive aspects of our social identity from our family or from a community of fans for a sports team. Social identities differ from personal identities considering they are externally organized through membership. Our membership may exist voluntary (Greek organization on campus) or involuntary (family) and explicit (we pay dues to our labor union) or implicit (we purchase and heed to hip-hop music). At that place are innumerous options for personal and social identities. While our personal identity choices express who nosotros are, our social identities align us with particular groups. Through our social identities, we make statements about who we are and who nosotros are not.

Table viii.one Personal, Social, and Cultural Identities

Personal	Social	Cultural
Antique Collector	Member of Historical Society	Irish American
Dog Lover	Member of Humane Society	Male person/Female
Cyclist	Fraternity/Sorority Member	Greek American
Singer	High School Music Teacher	Multiracial
Shy	Book Club Fellow member	Heterosexual
Athletic		Gay/Lesbian

Personal identities may alter often as people take new experiences and develop new interests and hobbies. A current interest in online video games may give mode to an interest in graphic pattern. Social identities practise non change as often considering they accept more fourth dimension to develop, as you must become interpersonally invested. For example, if an interest in online video games leads someone to get a member of a MMORPG, or a massively multiplayer online role-playing game community, that personal identity has led to a social identity that is at present interpersonal and more entrenched. Cultural identities are based on socially constructed categories that teach the states a manner of existence and include expectations for social behavior or ways of acting (Yeah, 1000. A., 2002). Since we are often a part of them since nascency, cultural identities are the least changeable of the three. The ways of being and the social expectations for beliefs within cultural identities do change over time, merely what separates them from most social identities is their historical roots (Collier, 1000. J., 1996). For example, think of how means of beingness and interim have inverse for African Americans since the civil rights movement. Additionally, common means of being and acting within a cultural identity group are expressed through advice. In order to be accepted as a member of a cultural group, members must be acculturated, essentially learning and using a code that other group members will be able to recognize. We are acculturated into our various cultural identities in obvious and less obvious ways. We may literally have a parent or friend tell u.s. what it means to be a man or a woman. We may also unconsciously consume messages from popular civilisation that offering representations of gender.

Any of these identity types tin be ascribed or avowed. Ascribed identities are personal, social, or cultural identities that are placed on us past others, while avowed identities are those that we claim for ourselves (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). Sometimes people ascribe an identity to someone else based on stereotypes. You may see a person who likes to read science-fiction books, watches documentaries, has glasses, and collects Star Expedition memorabilia and label him or her a nerd. If the person doesn't avow that identity, it tin create friction, and that label may fifty-fifty hurt the other person's feelings. But ascribed and avowed identities tin can friction match up. To extend the previous case, there has been a movement in recent years to repossess the label nerd and turn it into a positive, and a nerd subculture has been growing in popularity. For instance, MC Frontalot, a leader in the nerdcore hip-hop movement, says that existence branded a nerd in schoolhouse was terrible, but now he raps nearly "nerdy" things like blogs to sold-out crowds (Shipman, 2007). We tin can see from this case that our ascribed and avowed identities alter over the class of our lives, and sometimes they match up and sometimes not.

Although some identities are essentially permanent, the caste to which nosotros are enlightened of them, as well known equally salience, changes. The intensity with which we avow an identity likewise changes based on context. For example, an African American may not have difficulty deciding which box to check on the demographic department of a survey. But if an African American becomes president of her college's Black Educatee Union, she may more intensely avow her African American identity, which has now become more salient. If she studies away in Africa her junior yr, she may be ascribed an identity of American by her new African friends rather than African American. For the Africans, their visitor'due south identity every bit American is likely more salient than her identity as someone of African descent. If someone is biracial or multiracial, they may modify their racial identification equally they engage in an identity search. One intercultural communication scholar writes of his experiences as an "Asianlatinoamerican" (Yeah, 2002). He notes repressing his Chinese identity every bit an boyish living in Peru and and so subsequently embracing his Chinese identity and learning nearly his family history while in college in the U.s.. This example shows how even national identity fluctuates. Obviously one can alter nationality by becoming a denizen of another state, although most people practice not. My identity as a United states American became very salient for me for the first time in my life when I studied abroad in Sweden.

Throughout modern history, cultural and social influences have established dominant and nondominant groups (Allen, 2011). Dominant identities historically had and currently have more resource and influence, while nondominant identities historically had and currently have less resource and influence. It'due south important to remember that these distinctions are existence made at the societal level, not the individual level. In that location are obviously exceptions, with people in groups considered nondominant obtaining more resources and power than a person in a dominant grouping. Nevertheless, the overall trend is that departure based on cultural groups has been institutionalized, and exceptions practice not change this fact. Because of this uneven distribution of resources and ability, members of dominant groups are granted privileges while nondominant groups are at a disadvantage. The main nondominant groups must face various forms of institutionalized discrimination, including racism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism. As nosotros will hash out later, privilege and disadvantage, similar similarity and difference, are not "all or nothing." No two people are completely different or completely similar, and no 1 person is completely privileged or completely disadvantaged.

Identity Evolution

There are multiple models for examining identity development. Given our focus on how difference matters, we volition examine similarities and differences in nondominant and dominant identity formation. While the stages in this model help us understand how many people feel their identities, identity evolution is complex, and at that place may be variations. We must also remember that people have multiple identities that intersect with each other. And so, as you read, think about how circumstances may be different for an individual with multiple nondominant and/or dominant identities.

Nondominant Identity Development

There are four stages of nondominant identity evolution (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). The kickoff stage is unexamined identity, which is characterized by a lack of awareness of or lack of interest in one's identity. For example, a young woman who will later on identify as a lesbian may not yet realize that a nondominant sexual orientation is part of her identity. Also, a young African American man may question his teachers or parents about the value of what he'southward learning during Black History Month. When a person'south lack of interest in their own identity is replaced past an investment in a dominant group's identity, they may motion to the next stage, which is conformity.

In the conformity phase, an individual internalizes or adopts the values and norms of the dominant group, often in an effort not to be perceived equally different. Individuals may endeavour to assimilate into the dominant civilization by changing their appearance, their mannerisms, the fashion they talk, or even their proper name. Moises, a Chicano man interviewed in a research project about identities, narrated how he inverse his "Mexican sounding" proper name to Moses, which was easier for his eye-school classmates and teachers to say (Jones Jr., 2009). He too identified every bit white instead of Mexican American or Chicano because he saw how his teachers treated the other kids with "brown skin." Additionally, some gay or lesbian people in this stage of identity development may attempt to "act straight." In either case, some people move to the next stage, resistance and separation, when they realize that despite their efforts they are all the same perceived as different by and non included in the dominant group.

In the resistance and separation stage, an individual with a nondominant identity may shift away from the conformity of the previous stage to engage in deportment that claiming the ascendant identity group. Individuals in this stage may besides actively try to divide themselves from the dominant group, interacting simply with those who share their nondominant identity. For example, there has been a Deaf culture move in the United States for decades. This motion includes people who are hearing impaired and believe that their use of a specific language, American Sign Linguistic communication (ASL), and other cultural practices constitutes a unique culture, which they symbolize by capitalizing the D in Deafened (Allen, 2011).

Many hearing-dumb people in the U.s. use American Sign Language (ASL), which is recognized as an official language.

While this is not a separatist motion, a person who is hearing impaired may find refuge in such a group after experiencing discrimination from hearing people. Staying in this stage may indicate a lack of critical thinking if a person endorses the values of the nondominant group without question.

The integration phase marks a flow where individuals with a nondominant identity have achieved a balance between embracing their own identities and valuing other dominant and nondominant identities. Although there may still be rest anger from the discrimination and prejudice they have faced, they may direct this energy into positive outlets such every bit working to end discrimination for their own or other groups. Moises, the Chicano homo I mentioned earlier, now works to support the Chicano community in his urban center and also has actively supported gay rights and women's rights.

Dominant Identity Development

Dominant identity development consists of five stages (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). The unexamined stage of dominant identity formation is similar to nondominant in that individuals in this stage exercise not retrieve about their or others' identities. Although they may exist aware of differences—for example, between races and genders—they either don't realize there is a hierarchy that treats some people differently than others or they don't think the hierarchy applies to them. For instance, a white person may take detect that a person of color was elected to a prominent office. However, he or she may not see the underlying reason that information technology is noticeable—namely, that the overwhelming majority of our land'south leaders are white. Different people with a nondominant identity who normally accept to acknowledge the positioning of their identity due to discrimination and prejudice they encounter, people with dominant identities may stay in the unexamined stage for a long time.

In the acceptance stage, a person with a ascendant identity passively or actively accepts that some people are treated differently than others only doesn't do anything internally or externally to address it. In the passive acceptance stage, we must be cautious not to arraign individuals with dominant identities for internalizing racist, sexist, or heterosexist "norms." The socializing institutions we discussed earlier (family, peers, media, organized religion, and pedagogy) frequently make oppression seem normal and natural. For case, I have had students who struggle to see that they are in this phase say things like "I know that racism exists, just my parents taught me to be a good person and come across everyone equally equal." While this is admirable, seeing everyone as equal doesn't make it and so. And people who insist that nosotros are all equal may claim that minorities are exaggerating their circumstances or "whining" and just need to "work harder" or "get over information technology." The person making these statements acknowledges deviation but doesn't come across their privilege or the institutional perpetuation of various "-isms." Although I've encountered many more than people in the passive state of credence than the active land, some may progress to an active state where they acknowledge inequality and are proud to exist in the "superior" group. In either instance, many people never progress from this stage. If they do, it's usually because of repeated encounters with individuals or situations that challenge their acceptance of the status quo, such as befriending someone from a nondominant group or taking a course related to civilisation.

The resistance stage of dominant identity formation is a major modify from the previous in that an individual acknowledges the unearned advantages they are given and feels guilt or shame about it. Having taught about various types of privilege for years, I've encountered many students who want to return their privilege or disown it. These individuals may begin to disassociate with their own ascendant group because they feel like a curtain has been opened and their sensation of the inequality makes it difficult for them to interact with others in their dominant grouping. Merely it's important to acknowledge that becoming enlightened of your white privilege, for instance, doesn't mean that every person of colour is going to want to take you equally an ally, so retreating to them may not be the most productive move. While moving to this step is a marked improvement in regards to becoming a more than enlightened and socially just person, getting stuck in the resistance stage isn't productive, considering people are oft retreating rather than trying to address injustice. For some, deciding to share what they've learned with others who share their dominant identity moves them to the next phase.

People in the redefinition stage revise negative views of their identity held in the previous stage and begin to admit their privilege and try to employ the power they are granted to work for social justice. They realize that they tin can claim their dominant identity as heterosexual, able-bodied, male person, white, and then on, and perform their identity in ways that counter norms. A male participant in a enquiry project on identity said the post-obit about redefining his male identity:

I don't want to affirm my maleness the same way that maleness is asserted all effectually us all the time. I don't want to contribute to sexism. So I take to be conscious of that. There's that guilt. Simply and so, I try to utilize my maleness in positive means, like when I'm talking to other men well-nigh male privilege (Jones, Jr., 2009).

The concluding stage of dominant identity formation is integration. This phase is reached when redefinition is complete and people tin integrate their ascendant identity into all aspects of their life, finding opportunities to brainwash others about privilege while also being a responsive marry to people in nondominant identities. As an case, some heterosexual people who detect out a friend or family member is gay or lesbian may have to face their dominant heterosexual identity for the get-go time, which may atomic number 82 them through these diverse stages. Every bit a sign of integration, some may bring together an organization like PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), where they can be around others who share their dominant identity as heterosexuals only as well understand with their loved ones.

Heterosexual people with gay family members or friends may join the group PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) every bit a part of the redefinition and/or integration stage of their ascendant identity evolution.

Knowing more about various types of identities and some mutual experiences of how dominant and nondominant identities are formed prepares us to delve into more specifics well-nigh why difference matters.

Divergence Matters

Whenever we encounter someone, we detect similarities and differences. While both are important, information technology is often the differences that are highlighted and that contribute to communication troubles. We don't only come across similarities and differences on an individual level. In fact, we besides place people into in-groups and out-groups based on the similarities and differences nosotros perceive. This is important considering we then tend to react to someone nosotros perceive as a member of an out-group based on the characteristics nosotros attach to the group rather than the individual (Allen, 2011). In these situations, it is more probable that stereotypes and prejudice will influence our communication. Learning about departure and why it matters will help us exist more competent communicators. The flip side of emphasizing departure is to claim that no differences exist and that you see everyone as a human being existence. Rather than trying to ignore difference and run across each person as a unique private, we should know the history of how differences came to be so socially and culturally significant and how they go along to affect u.s.a. today.

Civilization and identity are complex. Y'all may be wondering how some groups came to be ascendant and others nondominant. These differences are not natural, which can be seen as nosotros unpack how various identities have changed over time in the next section. At that place is, however, an ideology of domination that makes it seem natural and normal to many that some people or groups will always take power over others (Allen, 2011). In fact, hierarchy and domination, although prevalent throughout modern homo history, were likely not the norm amongst early on humans. And then one of the first reasons difference matters is that people and groups are treated unequally, and better understanding how those differences came to be can aid united states of america create a more just society. Difference as well matters because demographics and patterns of interaction are changing.

In the United States, the population of people of colour is increasing and diversifying, and visibility for people who are gay or lesbian and people with disabilities has also increased. The 2010 Census shows that the Hispanic and Latino/a populations in the U.s. are at present the second largest grouping in the country, having grown 43 percent since the last census in 2000 (Saenz, 2011). By 2030, racial and ethnic minorities will business relationship for one-3rd of the population (Allen, 2011). Additionally, legal and social changes have created a more than open environment for sexual minorities and people with disabilities. These changes directly affect our interpersonal relationships. The workplace is one context where irresolute demographics has get increasingly important. Many organizations are striving to comply with changing laws past implementing policies aimed at creating equal access and opportunity. Some organizations are going further than legal compliance to endeavour to create inclusive climates where multifariousness is valued because of the interpersonal and economical benefits it has the potential to produce.

"Getting Existent"

Diversity Training

Businesses in the U.s.a. spend $200 to $300 million a year on diversity training, simply is information technology effective? (Vedantam, 2008) If diversity training is conducted to advance a company's business organization goals and out of an understanding of the advantages that a diversity of background and thought offer a company, then the training is more likely to be successful. Many companies conduct mandatory diversity training based on a belief that they will be in a ameliorate position in court if a lawsuit is brought against them. Nevertheless, research shows that training that is mandatory and undertaken only to brainwash people virtually the legal implications of diversity is ineffective and may even hurt diverseness efforts. A commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace environment must include a multipronged approach. Experts recommend that a company put a staff person in charge of diversity efforts, and some businesses have gone as far as appointing a "chief diverseness officer" (Cullen, 2007). The United states Part of Personnel Direction offers many proficient guidelines for conducting diversity training: create learning objectives related to the mission of the system, utilise tested and appropriate preparation methods and materials, provide information most form content and expectations to employees ahead of grooming, provide the training in a supportive and noncoercive environment, use but experienced and qualified instructors, and monitor/evaluate preparation and revise as needed (United states of america Role of Personnel Management, 2011). With these suggestions in mind, the increasingly mutual "real-globe" event of diverseness preparation is more likely to succeed.

1. Accept you lot ever participated in whatever diversity grooming? If and then, what did you lot learn or accept abroad from the training? Which of the guidelines listed did your preparation do well or poorly on?
2. Do you lot think diversity training should be mandatory or voluntary? Why?
3. From what you've learned so far in this book, what communication skills are important for a diversity trainer to take?

Nosotros tin now encounter that difference matters due to the inequalities that exist amidst cultural groups and due to changing demographics that affect our personal and social relationships. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles that may impede our valuing of departure (Allen, 2011). Individuals with dominant identities may non validate the experiences of those in nondominant groups because they practice not experience the oppression directed at those with nondominant identities. Further, they may find it difficult to acknowledge that not beingness enlightened of this oppression is due to privilege associated with their dominant identities. Because of this lack of recognition of oppression, members of dominant groups may minimize, dismiss, or question the experiences of nondominant groups and view them as "complainers" or "whiners." Retrieve from our earlier discussion of identity germination that people with dominant identities may stay in the unexamined or acceptance stages for a long fourth dimension. Beingness stuck in these stages makes it much more hard to value divergence.

Members of nondominant groups may have difficulty valuing difference due to negative experiences with the dominant group, such as not having their experiences validated. Both groups may be restrained from communicating about difference due to norms of political definiteness, which may make people feel afraid to speak up because they may be perceived as insensitive or racist. All these obstacles are mutual and they are valid. Notwithstanding, every bit we volition learn later, developing intercultural advice competence can help u.s. gain new perspectives, go more mindful of our advice, and intervene in some of these negative cycles.

Key Takeaways

• Culture is an ongoing negotiation of learned patterns of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors.

• Each of us has personal, social, and cultural identities.

  • Personal identities are components of cocky that are primarily intrapersonal and connect to our private interests and life experiences.
  • Social identities are components of self that are derived from our involvement in social groups to which we are interpersonally invested.
  • Cultural identities are components of self based on socially constructed categories that teach us a mode of beingness and include expectations for our thoughts and behaviors.
• Nondominant identity germination may include a person moving from unawareness of the importance of their identities, to adopting the values of dominant guild, to separating from dominant lodge, to integrating components of identities.
• Ascendant identity formation may include a person moving from unawareness of their identities, to accepting the identity bureaucracy, to separation from and guilt regarding the dominant group, to redefining and integrating components of identities.
• Difference matters because people are treated differently based on their identities and demographics and patterns of interaction are changing. Knowing why and how this came to be and how to navigate our increasingly diverse society can make the states more competent communicators.

Exercises

1. List some of your personal, social, and cultural identities. Are there any that relate? If and so, how? For your cultural identities, which ones are dominant and which ones are nondominant? What would a person who looked at this list be able to tell about yous?
2. Describe a situation in which someone ascribed an identity to you that didn't match with your avowed identities. Why do you think the person ascribed the identity to you? Were there any stereotypes involved?
3. Getting integrated: Review the section that explains why difference matters. Discuss the ways in which deviation may influence how yous communicate in each of the post-obit contexts: academic, professional person, and personal.

References

Allen, B. J., Divergence Matters: Communicating Social Identity, 2nd ed. (Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2011), 4.

Collier, M. J., "Communication Competence Problematics in Indigenous Friendships," Communication Monographs 63, no. 4 (1996): 318.

Cullen, L. T., "Employee Multifariousness Training Doesn't Work," Time, April 26, 2007, accessed October 5, 2011, http://world wide web.fourth dimension.com/time/magazine/commodity/0,9171,1615183,00.html.

Jones Jr., R. G., "Communicating Queer Identities through Personal Narrative and Intersectional Reflexivity" (PhD diss., Academy of Denver, 2009), 130–32.

Martin, J. N., and Thomas G. Nakayama, Intercultural Advice in Contexts, 5th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 166.

Saenz, A., "Demography Data Shows a Inverse American Landscape," ABC News, March 21, 2011, accessed Oct 9, 2011, http://abcnews.get.com/Politics/census-data-reveals-changed-american-mural/story?id=13206427.

Shipman, T., "Nerds Get Their Revenge as at Last It'south Hip to Be Square," The Sun Telegraph, July 22, 2007, 35.

Spreckels, J. and Helga Kotthoff, "Communicating Identity in Intercultural Communication," in Handbook of Intercultural Communication, eds. Helga Kotthoff and Helen Spencer-Oatey (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2009), 415–19.

Tatum, B. D., "The Complexity of Identity: 'Who Am I?'" in Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, eds. Maurianne Adams, Warren J. Blumfeld, Rosie Casteneda, Heather W. Hackman, Madeline L. Peters, Ximena Zuniga (New York: Routledge, 2000), 9.

U.s.a. Office of Personnel Direction, "Guidelines for Conducting Variety Grooming," Grooming and Development Policy, accessed October 16, 2011, http://www.opm.gov/hrd/lead/policy/divers97.asp#PART%20B.

Vedantam, S., "Most Diversity Preparation Ineffective, Study Finds," The Washington Post, January twenty, 2008, accessed October 5, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/xix/AR2008011901899_pf.html.

Yep, G. A., "My Three Cultures: Navigating the Multicultural Identity Mural," in Intercultural Communication: Experiences and Contexts, eds. Judith N. Martin, Lisa A. Flores, and Thomas K. Nakayama (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 61.

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