Conflict Exacerbated by Cultural Issues - Research Paper Example

Conflict Exacerbated by Cultural Issues Contemporary Conflict Chosen This treatise focuses on analyzing the case of the seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin who was shot by George Zimmerman on grounds that he was a black youth, wearing a dark hoodie. Background of the Trayvon and Zimmerman’s Conflict On February 26, of the year 2012, an unarmed 17-year-old boy, Trayvon Martin was shot by a 28-year-old George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Martin was an African American and Zimmerman was a mixed race Hispanic. Zimmerman alleged that he shot and killed Martin out of self defense since he thought he was a dangerous criminal, considering that he was wearing a hoodie. Therefore, the case sparked wide debate in regard to racial profiling and cultural conflict. According to reports, Martin was heading back to his home when Zimmerman followed him and they both engaged in a dispute. Subsequently, Zimmerman decided to fire a gun and kill Martin on the spot, reasoning that he was acting suspiciously. However, it is unfortunate because Martin was only carrying his phone, a bag of skittles, iced tea, and wearing a hoodie; hence, did not pose any threat. Therefore, it is without doubt that Zimmerman labeled Martin a criminal because of his race, appearance, and his alleged suspicious acts. He also took generic stereotypes such as being a black youth and wearing a hoodie as an act of deviance, causing the death of the 17 year old boy (Donaghue, 2013). Zimmerman’s trial in the shooting of the teenager was a culmination of a racially as well as politically divided cultural conflict. Most of the analysts asserted that Zimmerman attacked the teenager as a result of racial prejudice. It is more disheartening that a jury consisting of five white women and one minority found Zimmerman innocent because of the fact that there was no enough evidence to pinpoint that he acted out of malice, ill will, spite, and an evil intent. To convict him of manslaughter, jurors would have argued that he intentionally committed a criminal act that caused the death of Martin. Such charge would have carried an incarceration of up to thirty years behind bars. Therefore, they believed that he was not guilty of manslaughter and second degree murder. Although the trial finally came to an end, debate in regard to racial profiling and cultural conflict rages on. It is obvious that there were racial undertones in the case since Martin was unfairly accused of being a criminal before he was killed (Alvarez & Buckley, 2013). During the time of the shooting, there were approximately 49% non-Hispanic whites in Florida, 23% were Hispanics, 5% Asians, and 20% were African American. From 2011 to 2012, there were numerous crimes in the neighborhood; hence the residents selected Zimmerman as the Watch organizer. It is alleged that his calls to the police reported people whom he thought were acting suspiciously whereby he only offered information in regard to their race, where he alleged that they were all black males. While Zimmerman might have been motivated by racial prejudice and stereotypes, a research by the social scientists indicated that the Hispanic Americans and the African-Americans did not believe that there was a lot of tension that existed between them. For instance, 60% of the Hispanics believed that black and Hispanic relations were alright. However, 43% of the whites alleged that the two groups did not have good relations (Decorded Science, 2013). In that case, it is imperative to analyze the case in more details, highlighting some of the concepts that were proposed by Hofstede (2003) in his book, ‘Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival’. Analysis of the Conflict Hofstede (2003) proposed the cultural dimension theory, which gives an in-depth analysis of the effects that a particular culture has on the values of its people and how such values relates to one’s behavior. In his research, he identified various dimensions of culture such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and femininity, and long term orientation (Hofstede, 2011). It is obvious that that the case of Zimmerman is one that has been exacerbated by cultural differences. In relation to power distance, Hofstede (2003) argued that the concept is used to describe a situation whereby power is unevenly distributed and the minority groups or the less powerful accept the fact that power is distributed unfairly. This means that people of a particular culture such as African Americans, come to accept that other cultures have more power than them. He argues that low power cultures expect leaders to come up with initiatives and tolerate as well as encourage challenging powerful figures. On the other hand, the high power cultures prefer hierarchical organizational structures and do not tolerate challenging authoritative figures. Therefore, people in higher distance cultures have a firm belief that authority and power are facts of life, which people ought to comply with. Such cultures teach their group members that people will never be equal. This means that leaders resolve disputes and make decisions whereas the subordinates comply with the rules without challenging their leaders (Samovar et al, 2012, pp.188-189). In regard to Martin’s case, it is undoubtedly that though the Hispanics and the African-Americans are minority groups, the Hispanics viewed themselves as more superior as compared to the blacks. In that case, the dismissal of Zimmerman’s case on grounds that he was innocent is one that has power distance connotation. The five juries who determined the case were all whites and one was a minority. The whites comprise of the majority groups and their view of the African-American culture as one that constitutes most criminals in the US can be a likely cause of their decision of the case. In addition, it is possible that if Zimmerman was black, he would not have been accused of racial profiling. However, the case involved a situation whereby the Hispanics thought they were superior to the blacks and Zimmerman’s decision to shoot Martin was justified. In addition, the jury after declaring Zimmerman innocent expected the public to remain at peace due to the power differences between the jurors and the members of the black community. Therefore, the black in the case accepted that power was distributed unequally and tolerated the domineering of leaders and the decisions they made irrespective of whether they were fair or not. The concept of power distance is imperative in discussing the racial conflict between Zimmerman and Trayvon because it classifies cultures on a continuum of low and high power distance. It gives an analysis on how different people perceive the issue of inequality and how one power distance dominates the other. Low power cultures such as the US hold that cases of inequality should be minimized; hence they are guided by norms, laws, and everyday behaviors that reduce power distinctions. However, the conflict in this case was made worse by the fact that though there were rules and written regulations on ways to handle crimes in Florida, Zimmerman was found innocent; hence, justice did not prevail. Therefore, this is a case of a low power culture having rules and norms but abusing them. In addition, there is also the concept of uncertainty avoidance, which is the extent in which a particular culture tolerates ambiguity, uncertainty, and non-traditional behavior. Each culture has a unique level as far as tolerating uncertainty is concerned; hence, copes with it in a different manner. Such uncertainty causes anxiety; hence people engage in information seeking acts such as asking relevant questions to reduce the apprehension. Therefore, cultures that have high tolerance for uncertainty cope with it more effectively and exhibit less extreme responses in reducing it. However, those cultures that have low tolerance for it experience more anxiety; hence, go to great lengths in order to avoid it. This means that in some cases, this can lead to hostility and violence by members coming from a low tolerant culture who feel threatened by particular uncertainties. For instance, the American culture is highly tolerant of uncertainties; hence, hardly involve itself with extreme behaviors. However, the main problem arises when the high tolerant groups transfers their tendencies in their inter-cultural communications and engage with low tolerant cultures (Basabe & Valencia, 2007, pp. 405-411). Therefore, it is sound to argue that at the core of uncertainty avoidance is the unavoidable truism that the future remains unknown. This means that high uncertainty avoidance cultures focus on reducing predictability as well as ambiguity through intolerance of deviant acts, resisting change, emphasizing on consensus, and adhering to the traditional social protocols. Such cultures are characterized by high levels of stress and anxiety and people with such orientation believe that life carries the potential for continuous hazards; hence, there is a need to come up with laws, regulations, and written rules. For instance, the US is a high uncertainty culture with various formal protocols that help in predicting how people might behave in almost any social interaction (Samovar et al, 2012, pp. 187-188). In the case of Zimmerman and Martin, there is an issue of the US and high uncertainty avoidance. There are various sub-cultures in the US such as the Hispanics, Latinos, and the African American; hence, characterized by high levels of uncertainty, resorting to anxiety. Zimmerman believed that life carried the potential for continuous dangers; hence, based on the fact that he suspected Martin was a criminal, resorted to violence because he felt threatened by the aspect of uncertainty. Therefore, there are obvious social expectations that most blacks are criminals; hence related laws have been developed to help reduce the rate of crimes and mitigate the dangers. That is the reason why Zimmerman was accused in a court of law because the US has written policies and laws in regard to manslaughter and murder. The use of uncertainty avoidance concept in relation to the case is paramount in helping understand how members of a particular group such as the Hispanics and the Blacks feel threatened by unknown situations. This means that high and low uncertainty avoidance cultures deal differently with challenging situations. Nevertheless, the conflict was aggravated by the fact that both Martin and Zimmerman came from high uncertainty avoidance cultures but Zimmerman failed to emphasize on consensus and intolerance of deviant behaviors as Hofstede proposes but instead shot Martin without rational basis (Bernardi, 2006, pp. 43-49). Another cultural dimension, which is revealed in Hofstede’s research is individualism and collectivism. It relates to ways in which people relate with others as well as identify themselves. In the individualistic societies, people focus only on themselves and the stipulated norms, laws, and values tend to protect the status and the rights of an individual. In contrast, in a collective society, the main focus of one’s identity is group membership. Therefore, the norms as well as the values in a collective society protect the welfare of that group at the expense of an individual. Nevertheless, although most of the Americans are individualistic, it is obvious that in collective societies there are individual identities and people living in individualistic regions have collective identities. This can be seen in the case of Zimmerman and Trayvon whereby both come from individualistic societies but Zimmerman has collectivist tendencies. For instance, he views Trayvon as a criminal on the basis that he comes from a black community; he was wearing a hoodie, and looked suspicious. His reasons for killing him were mainly motivated on the fact that he thought that most of the black youths were criminals and not necessarily because he saw Trayvon as a threat. If there was no collective racial connotation, it is obvious that Zimmerman would not have been suspicious of him being a criminal and would not have even followed him. Therefore, it is sound to argue that most of the world’s populations live in collective communities whereby the interests of a particular group takes precedence over that of an individual (Samovar et al, 2012, pp.185-186). The reason behind incorporating the concept of individualism and collectivism in the conflict is the fact that different people view and relate with others differently due to the cultural norms and the values that govern a society. Therefore, when a person views another on the basis of their religion and race, then they are bound to make false judgments since people coming from similar backgrounds can have different ideologies. Hofstede (2003) and Wilbur (2013) avow that individualists should learn on ways they can adapt their inter-cultural communications to accommodate the collectivists. Therefore, Zimmerman should have viewed Trayvon as an individual but not as a member of the black community and base his actions on what he thought of him. Recommendations Hofstede’s theory offers an excellent tool for analysis in regard to how particular cultures cope with uncertainty, treats those that are in authority, deals with aggression, and how they view others. In his concept on long or short term orientation, he argues that a culture should endeavor to search for the truth and adhere to the values of the society, which focus on contextual thinking, persistence, and justice. Therefore, cultures should sacrifice their short term gains in respect of the long term benefits. In that case, people should be flexible as far as their mind set is concerned and adjust their actions as scenarios might dictate. However, it is unfortunate that the case of Zimmerman and Trayvon reflects on short term orientation where the subjects value immediate results and irrationality. Such cultures are seen to be rigid in their thinking whereby Zimmerman believes that any black youth wearing a hoodie is a criminal. In that case, he fails to adapt to the situation and instead generalizes the whole case on the fact that Trayvon was black and acted suspiciously. On the same note, it is apparent that the US is a short term orientation culture as it emphasizes on immediate gains. For instance, it is highly probable that the reason why the jury concluded the case in a few months time, declaring that Zimmerman was not guilty is because they wanted to avoid public outrage. In that case, they focused on short term gains of ensuring peace prevailed but failed to address the long term issues that would emanate from such decision (Sully & Sommer, 2000, pp. 829-837; Wilbur, 2013). Therefore, to avoid future conflicts, cultures should focus on seeking truth, justice and avoiding rigid thinking. Moreover, it is important to treat people as individuals and not collectively to avoid risks of stereotyping and bias. For example, treating Trayvon as a black youth was wrong, since it portrayed a scenario whereby all African American youths wearing a hoodie and acting suspiciously were to be treated as criminals. On the same note, he alleges that despite the fact that groups tend to be different, people believe that deep inside everyone is the same. However, this only leads to misunderstandings as well as misinterpretations between people coming form diverse cultures. In that case, to have respectful cultural relations, people should be aware of the cultural differences between them and work towards understanding each other’s views, opinions, and ideologies. Therefore, Hofstede’s model helps in shedding light to cultural differences, what to expect from other cultures, and how to behave in different situations. In addition, to avoid racial conflicts, people should avoid stereotyping on the basis of where one lives or where they were raised but rather they should be willing to understand and come up with strategies in which they can engage people who are different from them in a sound and cultured manner (Seifert, Franko & Buff, 20005, pp. 161-166). In that case, it is without doubt that understanding cultural dimensions is essential in helping minimize cultural problems. There is also a need for people to be culturally competent by exploring the complex and unique dimensions that each group brings. Comprehension of socio-cultural factors is also imperative in helping avoid stereotypes, avoiding cases of injustice, and ensuring that people understand why certain groups behave the way they do. References Alvarez, L & Buckley, C. (2013). Zimmerman is acquitted in killing Trayvon Martin. The New York Times. Retrieved from < http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/us/george-zimmerman-verdict-trayvon-martin.html?_r=0> Basabe, N & Valencia, J. (2007). Culture of Peace: Sociostructural Dimensions, Cultural Values, and Emotional Climate. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (2): 405-419. Bernardi, R. (2006). Association between Hofstede’s Cultural Constructs and Social Desirability Response Bias. Journal of Business Ethics, 65(1):43-53. Decorded Science. (2013). Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman: Black and Hispanic Relations. Retrieved from < http://www.decodedscience.com/trayvon-martin-and-george-zimmerman-black-and-hispanic-relations/32166> Donaghue, E. (2013). George Zimmerman Trial: Opening Statements Launch Monday. CBS News. Retrieved from< http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-zimmerman-trial-opening-statements-launch-monday/> Hofstede, G. (2003). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival. New York: Profile Books Limited. Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). Samovar, L., Porter, R., McDaniel, E & Roy, C. (2012). Communication between Cultures. Kentucky: Cengage Learning. Seifert, C., Franko, G & Buff, C. (2005). Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions: are Individual Differences Important? International Journal of Business Research, 2(1): 161-166. Sully, M & Sommer, S.M. (2000). The Impact of Culture on Feedback-Seeking behavior: An Integrated Model and Propositions. Academy of Management Review, 25: 829-849. Wilbur, D. (2013). Leveraging Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory to Improve the Quality of Information Operations. Small Wars Journal. Retrieved from < http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/leveraging-hofstede%E2%80%99s-cultural-dimensions-theory-to-improve-the-quality-of-information-oper> Read More