Multicultural Competences
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc376362547” Dimensions of Multicultural Competence PAGEREF _Toc376362547 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376362548” Cultural Competence Continuum PAGEREF _Toc376362548 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376362549” Credibility PAGEREF _Toc376362549 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376362550” Level of oppression PAGEREF _Toc376362550 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc376362551” White Racial Identity Development PAGEREF _Toc376362551 h 7
Dimensions of Multicultural CompetenceCulturally competent counsellors are precisely conscious of ethnically learned customs. The counsellors learn the norms and their clients as well. They comprehend the important facts and information about diverse culture. They are able to intercede competently to convey a positive altitude through counselling (Hays & Erford, 2014). Since the beginning of the semester, I have moved through three stages of development. I have undergone through consciousness to knowledge then moved to skill as this defined essential competencies in my cultural assessment. At the beginning of the semester, I did not have the skills for common grounds that illustrates personal cultural network.
Cultural Awareness refers to the basis of communication and an understanding of cultural values, perceptions and beliefs. Cultural Awareness is a vital skill in providing the appropriate cultural beliefs. Cultural awareness recognizes that cultural backgrounds shape the way in which people live. The cultural backgrounds influences the way people relate, perceive and interpret others in a community and in the world. Cultural awareness helps to explore the cultural issues and informs about specific cultural practises. The specific cultural knowledge helps to enhance personal cultural knowledge by offering an outline of cultural features and matters. Nevertheless, it is vital to recognize personal preferences and requirements. People from different cultures have diverse beliefs, values and behaviours. The diversity may occur due to dimension of settlement, level of education, socio-economic experience, rural to urban settlement, cultural and religious experience and diverse life backgrounds (Moore, 2010).
At the middle of the semester, I got a better understanding of cultural continuum as at some point I had a vivid perception of cultural beliefs that visualized many people relaxing in my lap where I collected a lot of information about different cultures in my life. These experiences are from my friends, family and associates. The social life between these people has created an opportunity to learn about my community. I am now aware of the cultural complexity of my cultural characteristics and I am able to perceive the voices of diverse people from different cultures. I create numerous norms about beliefs as I concluded that culture is widely and completely included demographic, ethnographic, affiliation and status. I have also noted that counselling occurs in diverse context. I have also learnt that, culture comprises the clear objective and the concealed subjective viewpoints of people’s identity. I am now able to differentiate between ethnic similarities and ethnic differences, which is very vital in cultural competences.
Cultural awareness has assisted me in understanding and interpreting things in diverse ways. I have learnt that, certain behaviours in one culture might be wrong in another culture. A misunderstanding may occur when I interpret my own meaning to sense of another culture. I am from Middle East Saudi Arabia, but living in the US as a student. My culture is diverse from the US culture. I find that, it is almost obvious to perceive Americans as people who prefer working; most of their conversations are usually about business. The Americans always take food on the streets and drink their coffee while running in the street instead of drinking in a restaurant (Moore, 2010). This is diverse from my culture as people settle down for lunch and drinks. This does not imply that the Arabs and Islam are lazy while the Americans are hyperactive. This shows that people from different culture have diverse practises in their activities. In Saudi Arabia, relationships are greatly respected, dinner, lunch or the simple drinks such as coffee have a communal meaning. People gather together to relax, talk, and socialize with each other. In the US, people value time as they say that time is money. The American lunches can be a discussion about business or they can discuss about results of a certain company and sign an agreement as they take coffee.
Lack of awareness can create misinterpretations. The misinterpretation can be perceptions and behaviour created by an individual and projects the perceptions and behaviours on other people. Lack of better knowledge towards cultural awareness can lead someone in problems. For instance in Japan, it is disrespectful to look straight on the face of a person. One can be in trouble if he or she looks straight at a Japanese face. It is difficult to learn and be aware of cultural dynamics since culture is not recognized in the modern days. Most of the people are unconscious of culture because people are raised and learn to do things unconsciously (Moore, 2010).
The values, experience and cultural backgrounds lead to perceive and do activities in diverse ways. In order to notice other cultures one has to move away from his or her culture and mingle with other people. This enables one to realize the impact of other cultures. It is very obliging to collect feedback from overseas associates on their behaviour in order to acquire more clarity on the characteristics of other cultures. When one assumes that, people are similar to one another, this leads to misinterpretation. This can lead someone into trouble since people have diverse behaviours. When a person projects similarities where they are not, he or she may act inappropriately. A person should assume that people are different until the similarity is evident (Hays & Erford, 2014).
Cultural Competence ContinuumI tend to be nosey of knowing things I do not know. However, I am unaware of my ignorance. In order to acquire new skills I need to follow various steps. The steps enlightened me on what I do not know. The leading steps on the journey to gaining new skills require me to identify what I do not know. The Conscious Skill Hierarchy is a common and instinctive approach that assists people to accomplish their own emotions in a depressing learning development. Moreover, it assisted me to be in touch with the feelings of other learners. At this stage, I was unconscious of cultural variances. I was unconscious of creating cultural mistakes and I was unaware of the misinterpreting of the behaviour people do.
According to Rose (2013), who is a psychologist working at Gordon International, identifies the behavioural ideal of learning and the four stages that learners goes through learning a new proficiency. The initial stage involves; unconsciously incompetent. This stage is where people do not know what they do not know. At this stage, people are completely unaware of how evil they are and at the same time, they are bad people at what they are trying to do. People tend to recognize problems as they occur and they do not know how to ask for help. This is where a senior developer manages a project and then returns if they require assistance often makes a problem.
The unconscious competence has enlightened my thinking, as I was unconscious of different cultural beliefs. I have learnt that, one should not judge other people since what I see is wrong, might be the right thing to another culture. For instance, in my culture a woman should cover herself from head to toe. However, the American culture women do not cover themselves fully and even walk almost naked in the street. The American and Arabian culture has diverse values and beliefs. Therefore, I do not judge the American women since it is their cultural values and beliefs.
CredibilityGregory & Miller (2010) developed a cultural concept, which refers to both ascribed and achieved traits. The ascribed and achieved traits are appropriate qualities that show individual’s social status. A person may have an advantage that provides him or her respect in the community. This may involve skills, experience and high anticipations. The parents shape the cultural concept of a child. The skills and attitude the parents make toward educational system as a comfortable familiar place. This portrays an attitude, which shows that education is the way to success. Therefore, a child grows up perceiving that education is vital in life as this encourages the child to learn. Social concept has a major impact on success. The social concept can be referred to a personal relation in teams, relationships and connection with other people.
Ascribed status is the role assigned to a person by other people. Other people prove the role of a person and the person himself does not assign the role. There are certain roles that attract ascribed status. They include royals and clinicians in culture. Culture influences an individual role in the social ladder. In Arabian culture, men have ascribed status where they are respected by women and have an authority over women. However, in the U.S, women are treated like men; that is there is no gender inequality in the U.S. In America, both men and women have the same rights and procedures (Rose, 2013).
In the culture of Arabs, religion is usually viewed as an ascribed status. Nonetheless, the Americans select their personal religion or change their religion as an adult. This choice of religion refers to acquired status. Linton describes ascribed status as one usually perceived as permanent, but the achieved status is flexible. The Arabs value their culture hence their religion is classified as ascribed. There are examples of ascribed status which include age. The ascribed status indicates the behaviours, but do not indicate how actions should be followed. Ascribed status is a random structure of categorizing characters, but most people think that ascribed statues are fixed (Gregory & Miller, 2010).
Status refers to a social prodigy rather than a natural phenomenon. The connotation results from the assortment of opportunities on how a person should conduct him or herself and the expected behaviour of that person. Once a person lies about his sex or social achievement, the lie is accepted and remains concealed to other people. The person’s status is based on lies and not on the biological fact. The conduct toward the person will be perceived with the believed lie. Therefore, the behaviour anticipated from the person will also be perceived with that believed lie, but the ascribed status does not relate with him or her if other people know the truth. Once the truth is not discovered then the person should act according to his or her lies. This further shows the uncertainty of ascribed status since biological status is not notable or general reality used in conveying these societal positions to individuals (Cornish, 2010).
Level of oppressionThe level of oppression is acquired through one’s beliefs or behaviours. The conscious or unconscious actions of an individual maintain the level of oppression. The level of oppression can also be determined by the relationship a person has with different people. This can be the institutional level, which involves government, the family, education, industry, and religion shape. An individual or groups run an oppressive culture where the presentation of institutional strategies and actions occurs. The groups and individuals relate with social oppression and may create oppressive consequences. The cultural norms in the society extend the beliefs that bind the cultural procedures such as deviance, health, definitions of the good, and sickness and philosophies of life. These cultural procedures often aid the main function of offering institutions and individuals with the rationalisation for societal oppression (Mullaly, 2010).
There are features of oppression, which involves pervasiveness as it fuses the institutional and systemic discernment in oppression, personal prejudice, racism, and social bias. Persuasiveness portrays in a complex network of structures and relationships that differentiates the features of life in different cultures. Restricting is another feature of oppression. In restricting, oppression signifies material and structural restrictions that form choices and sense of opportunity in people’s life. Hierarchical is also a feature of oppression where oppression denotes a hierarchical association in which privileged or dominant individuals benefit. Oppression often denotes in unconscious techniques, and from the dis-empowerment of aimed or subordinated team (Cornish, 2010).
White Racial Identity Development
Researchers have focused studying, understanding and creating models of individuality and progress of identity. There are eight stages in model of identity covered in the entire lifespan of a person. The model is part of learning about the mental health experts, who use the model to defend their understanding of particular diagnoses of the DSM. The identity progress stages define the extremities of every stage that an individual will meet at an estimated periods of life. Therefore, the infant fights with the extremity of belief versus distrust and the elder adult confronting the decreasing times of life challenges, ego, honesty or anguish. Sexuality provides a more natural understanding of individuality (Choudhuri, Santiago-Rivera & Garrett, 2012).
Researchers have claimed that, no comprehensive study can be attained without consideration to various identity matters. Researchers in both mental wellbeing field and the theoretical sciences are conscious that identity is not the only issue among people, but it is an issue that human cope and deal with in life. The identity is influenced by gender, race and sexual orientation. The child’s life manifests the resolution of trust or mistrust in individuality issue and later in life identity, issue is manifested when one becomes an adult. The racial personalities erudite early in life hence, they act as lens for understanding, interpreting, participating and experiencing. It is also a way of relating and categorizing with others. These individualities can vary when they are faced in life. This submits that the identity procedures require to be complemented by debates of racial individuality (Sue, 2013).
Race shows how sexual orientation, gender and other features of identity are processed, practiced and experienced. Different sexual orientation and gender involves the white and black people. For instance, most of the people differ in their identification and development in the period of life. In order to be classified as racist or as sexist one has to oppose, depreciate or degrade associates of a certain cultural or racial group or sexual category in speech and belief. People need to identify the occurrence and existence of racial or sexism. This qualifies a person as a non-racist or non-sexist. However, people should not confront or challenge the rumours one hears about the racism and sexism. Once a person is silent and non-active on racism and sexism, it implies that one accepts and allows the practice of racism and sexism. One needs to confront, compete with and challenge declarations, actions, and philosophies that depreciate, stereotype and degrade the other (Sue, 2013).
Six stages of identity development in racism and sexism involves Contact. Contact is the first stage where an individual follows any culture or racial without knowing the procedures. An individual may perceive racial differently, however, he or she may not perceive the relevance of racism. In this stage, there is unconscious protest of racialism. The non-racist situation can hide unconscious bias beliefs. Once a person faces the experiments of racism that uncovers the privileges of white skin, they may change into the second stage, which is the disintegration (Clauss-Ehlers, 2010).
Disintegration is the second stage in identity development. In this stage, since a person has new experiences, which challenge his previous conception of the world, and because this idea is now challenged by this new facts or knowledge. The person is often overwhelmed by emotions of remorse and disgrace. These feelings of remorse and disgrace can be changed when an individual chooses to conduct these feelings in an optimistic way but when the feelings continue to control; the individual may transfer to the reintegration or restoration stage.
References
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