Cultural identity of european americans in the southwest - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Cultural identity refers to the background of a person. In this case, originality of the person plays a very big role in defining the culture of this person. It is defined by various foundation factors in the life of a person such as language, religion, the food they eat. Culture also encompasses beliefs and moral values, traditions and laws that define a given community, country or a given group in a given area. Cultural diversity may also be very varied in a region with high levels of immigration or emigration. Cultural diversity may also be very varied in a region with high levels of immigration or emigration. This paper seeks to discuss the cultural identity of a European American male in the southwest and how this identity affects the personal and professional aspect of this person. In light of the same, the discussion will address how a European American defines culture in the broader perspective where race, ethnicity, heritage, history, family and environment are concerned, as well as how these aspects affect the professional behaviors and attitudes. Definition of Aspects of Culture In View Of a European American Race and Environment The development of the Euro-American identity is related to the prior development of interaction between this European race and the settled areas. The identities that were adapted were based on an already adapted society in the southwest. The identity of this race took several other forms as opposed to the single and uniform race that defines other races like the blacks (Kirk, 2007). It was alright to refer to them as white Americans, Caucasian Americans and their common region of habitation is the Anglo-American region (actually the South Western region). The South West is a multi-racial, multi-cultural community and therefore has a very wide collection of people. The Euro-Americans came from all over Europe and in meeting the other races from different parts of the world there has always been a bias in the social co-ordination of issues. Given that all the Euro-Americans were white, there was a serious bias when it came to co-operation with the other races. For instance, there was a race riot in 1919 in Chicago which was believed to have been initiated by Irish Americans on the black community. The Ragen Colts, a gang that existed in Chicago at the time tirelessly planned blackmails to try and draw the attention of all the white community against the blacks. In essence, the most important set of elements that exists between these interfaces are coiled towards bringing the idea of isolation of other races by the Euro-Americans. The definition of race as a part of culture by the Euro-Americans is therefore based on several aspects of socialization. According to Smith (2007), the whites, more so the Euro-Americans get socialized into an already polluted society and therefore inherit stereotypes, behaviors and beliefs of the extended society. There is also a belief that racism is normal and much integrated into the society permeating all across our sociological institutions (Eschbach & Gomez, 1998). In fact, the creation of an individual in this society is based on the existing sequences which are believed to exist in both permeated and non-permeated sets of societies. The conclusive remarks on the identity of the whites on racial issues are based on the idea of having an identity based on racial issues but living purely in a non-racial formation in the same society. Wozab (2010) redefines the general view that race as defined by the Helm’s model depicts these Euro-American whites as being of some kind of superior identity. The different identities are engulfed in the type of environment developed during the development of young children in that society. The family, schools, the social media and the church form an ...Download file to see next pages Read More