Cultural Differences

Cultural Difference

Two multicultural concepts were to be chosen for the following paper. Since I was having difficulties trying to decide, I chose three, racial identity, ethnic identity, and cultural identity for which I am going to attempt to define and discuss their significance.

Around the world there are many different cultures, and while these cultures may appear to be different they are alike in many ways. Culture involves shared attitudes, beliefs, norms, roles, and self-definitions (Hall, 2010). Culture does not reside in an individual or in society; culture is developed through interactions between individuals and society. The meaning of race is socially constructed and it often serves as a proxy for culture or ethnicity. Culture involves shared traditions, and ethnic groups share and practice culture (Hall, 2010).

When we encounter a culture that is different from our own, one of the things we are faced with is a set of beliefs that manifest themselves in behaviors that differ from our own. In this way, we often talk about other people's cultures, and not so much about our own. Our own culture is often hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as the way things are.

Children begin to develop a sense of identity as individuals and as members of groups from their earliest interactions with others. One of the most basic types of identity is ethnic identity, which entails an awareness of one's membership in a social group that has a common culture. The common culture may be marked by a shared language, history, geography, and (frequently) physical characteristic. Not all of these aspects need to be shared, however, for people to psychologically identify with a particular ethnic group. Cultural identity is a broader term: people from multiple ethnic backgrounds may identify as belonging to the same culture.

Ethnicity involves shared race, as well as a unique social and cultural heritage (Hall, 2010). Early in the 20th century the term was used distinguish eastern and southern European immigrants from other European Americans and later was used to refer to immigrants from different parts of the globe. Ethnicity can be defined in a narrowly manner, like Chinese American, German American or more broadly, like Asian American, European American. Ethnic groups may share particular cultural practices, such as language and food (Hall, 2010).

Ethnicity is often thought to be a matter of birth, but the exceptions are as frequent as the rule, especially as the social and political significance of ethnic and religious identities alters significantly according to specific historical contexts. An individual's identity is a combination of things; these things include things like one's preference of language, sexual orientation, religion, social class, gender, and so forth. Personally, if I were asked the question "who am I' my response most likely will be influenced by my cultural background, in particular whether my culture emphasizes individualism or community.

Understanding "ethnicity" requires an analytic framework which presents the principles of ethnic stereotyping (notions concerning the motivations and attributes of the members of "other" ethnic groups and what can be expected of them, as well as those of one's own ethnic group), and how these notions are maintained in changing historical contexts. Ethnic identities, like linguistic, sectarian, national, family, and other forms of social definition, can be comprehended only in the context of more general cultural assumptions made in a given society concerning the nature of the social world and social relationships.

Racial and ethnic identity are critical parts of the overall framework of individual and collective identity. For some especially visible and legally defined minority populations in the United States, racial and ethnic identity are manifested in very conscious ways. This manifestation