Mutlicultural Competency - Research Paper Example

Multicultural Competency I believe in the existence of culture and appreciate the differences that come with diversity. Culture refers to people’s way of life. I am a Christian and my societal norms revolve around the virtues espoused upon by the faith. My mannerism of attire is heavily influenced by the American hip hop culture and this has played an integral role in determining the things I get to hold dear in life. However, there has come a new twist to stratification in the American society.

This society appreciates class differences within its populace, therefore people’s ways of life are determined by how much they own or earn. Recreational services are varied and so are the manner of worship and some other aspects of life. This variation, to a larger extent, is caused by the status that one holds in the society. This, therefore, implies that the American society is a liberal one; with hardwork, one can possible move from one class to the other. Their liberal state is also reflected on how they interact with other people from diverse backgrounds all over the world (George, 1980).

Diversity of backgrounds comes in a variety of forms key among them being ethnic, religious, racial and cultural. Different people hold dear different norms and what would pass as a commonly accepted practice in one region would be a taboo punishable by death in another society. These consequently lead to the development of attitudes towards or against certain practices. Diversity in religious beliefs has been notoriously represented in these, some religions strongly oppose medical and scientific inventions and the current debate on the possibility of human cloning would be a perfect example.

Some of these religions and their adherents would not seek medical attention should they fall ill and they would rather die than seek medical intervention. Such severe attitudes are costly and given the role that governments have of protecting the lives of its populace, the conflicts would accelerate to dire levels (Wilson, 1978).I am an adherent of the Christian faith and hold dear the biblical teachings. However, I employ reasoning and weigh some of the teachings from the religion. Accepting all that the preachers and pastors teach as gospel truths and holding unto them without questioning has been blamed for such mindsets.

Just like most Americans, I practice restrain in my beliefs and would always put reason in everything that am yet to undertake. Ethical concern form the basis of this argument and whether my actions would be perceived by the general public as being good or bad and whether the effects of what I do would be bad or good form the basis upon which I make my decisions. We do not have control on the people we interact with, should situations warrant it that I am to share audience with people of varied cultural backgrounds; it would be prudent to engage reasoning and let sense prevail.

However sense would be relative given the different attitudes that each of these people would have. We encounter such situations on our daily lives, for the sake of effective decision making it would be wise to let precedence take course; I would opt for the reference of how such situations were handled in the past and the results they gave forth to. If the results were favorable then I would suggest we do it similarly to avoid wastage of time. However, should such a dilemma arise in the social spheres, I would walk out of such derogative gatherings as the passionate attitudes with which others argue their points would see a calm conversation degenerate into a fight and injuries would occur (George, 1980).

I have interacted with people of varied backgrounds thus cultures, interacting with people of varied background are normally healthy for the development of a person. It increases enlightenment. Culture is never static, through the interactions that people have with varied people, one would notice a practice in a given culture that would fit his or her life style. In such a case the individual would adopt the practice and make it his or her culture thus growth. Some of the practices that people from a given culture would engage at times would be of negative effects: such practices as refusing to seek medical attention just because a faith proclaims so.

To stop one self from adopting such features, it would be wise to exercise restrain in the interactions with other people. In a summary, people should employ reason before picking up a trait that a given culture proclaims, with reason one would judge within himself whether that which the culture claims to be truth is actually practicable or not. However, in the process practicing this caution one may discriminate unknowingly. Discriminating against people mainly because of the difference in a cultural practice would not be prudent as discrimination in itself is a societal vice (Wilson, 1978).

We live with the differences among ourselves and we have lived with them form long time. The best way of going about such difficult decisions would be to set personal boundaries of interactions with those perceived as having undesirable cultural practices. One can easily go to movie or a club together with such people provided their culture accepts it but should they introduce that aspect of their culture that one is opposed to, then it would be wise to shut them and not let them influence you otherwise.

References George, M. (1980). The principles of psychology. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Wilson, E.O. (1978). On human nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.