Cultural Competence

Cultural Competence Britt Andreatta, Ph.D.

Context • Leaders have a responsibility for solving societal problems. • Leaders are held to ethical standards. • Leaders words and actions are never “off the record.” • You are today’s leaders. • Your actions impact the future.

Current Global Society • Globalization • Multicultural work environments • International and multicultural markets • Emigration • Immigration

Culture Defined • = learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, and traditions that are common to a group of people. • Can be racial, ethnic, regional, sexual orientation, spiritual, occupational, etc. • Culture shapes many things – relation to time, personal space, celebrations, language, gender roles, power, etc. • Everyone is invested in their culture to varying degrees so wide range of diversity within a group (use knowledge with caution).

Cultural Competence Defined • = awareness of how various aspects of culture shape a person’s or group’s experiences, attitudes, values and behaviors. • Differences between: • awareness of • sensitivity to • understanding of

Role of Your Culture • Your cultures are part of the equation… always. • Intent vs. impact • Common sources of cultural conflict

Context of United States • Within US, cultural competence requires awareness of national history and experiences of minorities. • National history that marginalized all people of color (Native Americans, African Americans, Chican@/Latin@s, Asian American/Pacific Islanders, Middle Eastern/Muslim Americans), as well as women, the poor, the LGBT community, non-Christians, etc.

Values and Beliefs • History, personal experiences, and media have shaped beliefs and values of all ethnic groups in US in different ways

Dynamics of Oppression Model

Privileged and Oppressed Groups in US

The Five Faces of Oppression • Exploitation = transfer of the labor of one social group to benefit another; creates a structural relation between the “have-nots” and “haves.” • Marginalization = a whole category of people is expelled from useful participation in the system of labor, thus subjected to severe material deprivation.

The Five Faces of Oppression • Powerlessness = denial of privileges that professionalism carries; lack of authority and autonomy, and thus, the confidence and sense of self. • Cultural imperialism = how the dominant group renders another social group’s perspective and experience as invisible; dominant group’s experience is made the norm through products, events and societal elements.

The Five Faces of Oppression • Violence = social groups are regularly targeted for random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property, which have no motive but to damage, humiliate, or destroy the person. The social context surrounding these attacks makes them possible and even acceptable – not just the act by the individual who does harm but by the many who do not react.

Action Continuum

Great book onthese issues! By Allan Johnson(2nd edition)

8 Forms of Denial and Resistance People with privilege (e.g., men, whites, Christian, middle/upper class, heterosexual, educated, etc.) tend to engage in these behaviors to “get off the hook” of taking responsibility: • Denying that oppression exists • Minimizing oppression as not a problem • Blaming the victim

8 Forms of Denial and Resistance • Calling it something else • Justifying the status quo • Focusing on intent and ignoring impact • Distancing self from group (e.g., “I’m a good man/White person/Christian”) • Being “sick and tired” of talking about it

Action Plan – What YOU Can Do: • Acknowledge that privilege and oppression exist. • Pay attention. Learn – read books, watch movies, attend campus events. • Listen, attentively, and believe. • Take risks and do something… • Make noise and be seen.

Action Plan – What YOU Can Do: • Make people uncomfortable, starting with yourself. • Withdraw support by interrupting the usual flow. • Openly choose and model other ways of being. • Actively promote change in organizations and systems.

Cultural Competence