-
SELF-STUY MODULE
- Introduction:
The knowledge
and skills you need - A. INDIGENOUS AUSTRLIANS
- a) Aboriginal People
- b) Torres Strait Islanders
- B. HISTORY
- a) Aboriginal People
- b) Torres Strait Islanders
- C. CULTURAL COMPETENCE
- a) World views and culture
- b) Yours & others' cultures
- c) Becoming culturally competent
- d) Cross cultural communication
- e) Practice tips
- D. ABORIGINAL CULTURE
- E. RIGHTS
- F. PRESENT
- G. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
- H. SELF-ASSESSMENT
- Introduction:
The knowledge
C. b) Yours and others cultures .png)
Think about YOUR culture
Thing about ANOTHER PERSON's from a culture different from yours,
and the implications of the similarities and differences.
YOUR culture
What are your cultural preferences?
For each pair of statements ( A and B) which one is more true for you?
TICK your choices.
ANOTHER PERSON's culture
Think of someone you know from a culture different from yours
For each pair of statements ( A and B) which one is more true for them?
TICK the options.
Some people will have preferences that are the opposite of yours. How do you explain this?
How do the similarities and differences affect your social interactions?
Layers of culture
Every group of people carries a set of common mental programs that constitutes its culture.
Almost everyone belongs to a number of different groups and categories at the same time, so we have several layers of culture within ourselves, corresponding to the different levels of culture. In particular each of us has a layer of culture at:
- A national level – according t ones country (or countries for people who migrated during their lifetime).
- A regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or linguistic affiliations as most nations are composed of culturally different regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or language groups
- A gender level, according to whether a person was born as a girl or as a boy
- A generation level, separating grandparents from parents from children
- A social class level, associated with educational opportunities and with a person’s occupation or profession
- For those employed, organisational, departmental and/or corporate levels, according to the way employees have been socialised by their work organisations.
Cultural differences across nations
National cultures are different from one to the next. To help us make sense of the help diversity of national cultures it is useful to consider them in relation to five dimensions:
-
Social inequality, including the relationship with authority (More equal than others)
-
The relationship between the individual and the group (I, we they)
-
Concepts of masculinity and femininity (He, She and (S)he)
-
Ways of dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity (What is different is dangerous)
-
Fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards or oriented to past and present rewards (Yesterday, nor or later).
Below is a description of each of these five dimensions.
To make the connect with Attendant Care the key points are:
- What is your culture like?
- What is your worker’s culture like?
- What are the similarities and differences and their implications?
- Are you talking about your respective cultures and how to understand each other better?
The examples below are about the national layer. There are of course all the other layers as well.
The key point is having conversations about what’s important – and recognising that the way people communicate from one culture to another is also difference.
See the next section for some tips on cross cultural communication.
More equal than others – “power distance”
Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
Countries/regions
High (inequality) Malasia, Phillippines, Russia, Serbia, Mexico
Middle Turkey, Peru, Thailand, Chile, Portugal
Low (inequality) United States, Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Ireland,
Small power distance
Small power distance |
Lage power distance |
| Inequalities among people should be minimised. | Inequalities among people are expected and desired. |
| Parents treat children as equals. | Parents teach children obedience. |
| Children treat parents and older relatives as equals | Respect for parents and older relatives is a basic lifelong virtue |
| Students treat teachers as equals. | Students give teachers respect, even outside of class. |
| Teachers expect initiative from students in class | Teachers should take all initiative in class. |
| Quality of learning depends on two-way communication and excellence of students | Quality of learning depends on excellence of teacher. |
| Children play no role in old-age security of parents | Children are a source of old-age security to parents. |
Questions
The two descriptions are deliberately polarized. Most nations are somewhere on a continuum.
Where do you think you are on the continuum?
Where is your client?
What are the implications?
I, we they (Individualism and collectivism)
Individualism refers to societies in which ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his of her immediate family; collectivism refers to societies in which people from birth onward are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups which throughout people’s lifetimes continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
Countries
Collectivism Taiwan, Peru, Indonesia, Pakistan, Colombia, Ecuador
Mid Spain, India, Argentina, Japan, Iran, Russia
Individualism United states, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Hungary, New Zealand
Collectivist |
Individualist |
| People are born into extended families or other in-groups that continue protecting them in exchange for loyalty. | Everyone grows up to look after him or herself and his or her immediate (nuclear) family only. |
| Children learn to think in terms of "we." | Children learn to think in terms of "I." |
| Harmony should always be maintained and direct confrontations avoided. | Speaking one's mind is a characteristic of an honest |
| Friendships are predetermined. | Friendships are voluntary and should be fostered. |
| Resources should be shared with relatives | Individual ownership of resources, even for children. |
| High-context communication | Low-context communication |
He, she and (s)he (Masculinity and femininity)
A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to be assertive, tough and focussed on material success whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.
A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be concerned with the quality of life
Countries
Masculine Japan, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Ireland, China (Australia 20)
Mid Canada Malaysia, Pakistan, Brazil, Singapore
Feminine Chile, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
Masculine |
Feminine |
| Relationships and quality of life are important. | Challenge, earnings, recognition, and advancement are important . |
| Both men and women should be modest. | Men should be assertive, ambitious, and |
| Both men and women can be tender and focus on relationships | Women are supposed to be tender |
| Both boys and girls are allowed to cry but neither should fight | Girls cry, boys don't; boys should fight back, girls shouldn't fight at all. |
| Boys and girls play for the same reasons. | Boys play to compete, girls to be together. |
What is different is dangerous (uncertainty avoidance)
Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations.
This feeling is, among other things, expressed through nervous stress and in a need for predictability: a need for written and unwritten rules.
Countries
High Greece, Portugal, Russia, Salvador, Japan
Mid Brazil, Venezuela, Italy, Austria, Pakistan,
Low Great Britain, Ireland, China, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore
Weak uncertainty avoidance |
Strong uncertainty avoidance |
| uncertainty is a normal feature of life, and each day is accepted as it comes. | The uncertainty inherent in life is a continuous threat that must be fought. |
| Low stress and low | |
| Comfortable in ambiguous situations and with unfamiliar risks. | Acceptance of familiar risks; fear of ambiguous situations and of unfamiliar risks. |
| Lenient rules for children on what is and taboo. | Firm rules for children on what is and taboo. |
| What is different is curious | What is different is dangerous |
Yesterday, now or later
Long Term Orientation stands for fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular perseverance and thrift. Short Term Orientation stands for fostering of virtues oriented to past and present - in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of "face" and fulfilling social obligations.
Countries
Long Term China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil
Mid Italy, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Australia
Short Term United States, Great Britain, Canada, Spain, Pakistan
Short Term Orientation |
Long Term orientation |
| Social pressure toward | Perseverance, sustained efforts toward slow results. |
| Social pressure toward | Thrift, being sparing with resources. |
| Respect for traditions. | Respect for circumstances. |
| Concern with personal stability | Concern with personal adaptiveness. |
| Concern with social and status obligations. | Willingness to subordinate oneself for a purpose. |
| Concern with "face." | Having a sense of shame. |
