Individual Interactions across Cultures - Assignment Example

Short Answers Affiliation What movie did you watch about cultural clashes in or about America or Americas role in the World? Summarize the plot briefly. Write a brief review highlighting at least these concepts we have learned about so far: how cultural identities are socially constructed, universal fears and needs, and clashes over worldviews and national cultures. One of the movies I watched that depicted cultural clashes in America is The Great Debaters which stars Denzel Washington as Professor Melvin B. Tolson. The movie is set in the 1930s. Professor Tolson coaches the debate team at Wiley College to compete in debate competitions nationwide. The team is up against so many difficulties including lynch mobs of white people, arrest and near riot. Despite all those obstacles, the team finally manages to win a debate against a Harvard team that had a myriad of advantages. Cultural identities are constructed by human beings as a direct result of the experiences undergone by certain people or groups as well as the beliefs held by a specific group of persons. Through experiences and beliefs, people form attitudes that skew them towards associating with people from one culture or their own culture. Universally, people or groups of people have fears they harbor about certain cultures, hence making it difficult for them to associate. These fears lead to stereotypes which fuel cultural conflicts as people differ over worldviews and national cultures. 2. Read 2 websites/articles on any two of these: disability, age, appearance, social class. Post the website links with a note about the key theme. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/social_darwinism_and_class_essentialism_the_rich_think_they_are_superior.html the key theme here is social Darwinism, where the rich have the thought that they are superior to others. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140827163445.htm the theme here is the role of social class to a student’s ability to tackle assignments in class. 3. Most of us have experienced privilege in some form (race, gender, age, looks, social class, status, etc.). What is privilege? Give examples describing how someone benefitted from privilege and how another has “lost out” because of someone else’s privilege. You may use personal or observed examples, but do not use hypothetical ones. According the Merriam Webster online dictionary, privilege is defined as a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others. People may get privileges based on race, political inclinations as well as employment affiliations. In my own experience, I have seen a white man served first though he was at the rear end of the line while the others get to wait. In another instance, I witnessed a senior government official get away with over speeding without even a ticket due to his position. Finally, in another instant I witnessed an individual get entry to college because his uncle was a member of the admissions board at the college, while another student missed out because of his family background despite the student being more academically gifted as compared to the one who got a chance. 4. How does social class influence our generation of ideas, ways of interacting, ways of thinking? Are any of our universal fears and needs reflective of our social class? Why is social class a difficult topic to discuss? Human society is stratified into classes which include the lower class (poor), middle class and the upper class (the rich). People from different classes have different world views for events or things which happen around them. The world views animated by these people stems from the kinds of environments and the people they engage with socially. Additionally, the experiences that these classes of people undergo also act to foster how they view the world and engage in it. It is notable that social class plays a key role in determining the universal fears portrayed by the world populace. For instance, the upper class (the owners of the means of productions) majorly worries about tax laws and the influence it has for production. The workers (middle class and lower class) majorly worry about employment and work which provides them with sources of livelihood. Finally, it is of grave importance to emphasize that sensitive matters such as social class are very difficult to discuss as many people tend to steer away from them. Most persons become completely uncomfortable when things like culture and class are discussed. This happens mostly because of the prejudices that have been leveled against people due to their cultural standings as well as class inclinations. 5. Discuss how national cultural preferences/dimensions can cause misunderstandings among people about how to interact with each other. Would understanding these cultural dimensions about large groups of people lead you to live and interact differently with others? How? Oftentimes cultural preferences get in the way of harmonious living among cultures. For example, after the attacks by Al Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001, there was a huge prejudice towards Muslims. The United States responded to the attacks by sending troops into Afghanistan to eliminate terror groups. The war was later indicted as a vendetta against the Muslim society which resulted in hatred and racial profiling. This is just one example of how these biases can cause misunderstandings among people. Understanding other cultures with a view of harmonious interactions and living constitutes cultural intelligence (Earley and Ang, 2003). Societies with advanced cultural intelligence are able to co-exist with other societies and cultural without antagonism as prejudices become limited in such interactions hence forging harmonious existence. People will develop cultural intelligence based on their experiences with other cultures. 6. Some organizations strive for a diverse workforce, and some don’t. Some want the intermingling of ideas, ways of thinking and working, and expectations that the benefits outweigh the complications (ethical). Some organizations want diverse workforces because they can take advantage of contracts and perks or because it is what everyone else is doing (political). Some have more specific reasons, like being able to compete with certain markets and consumers (practical). What are the prevailing attitudes about diversity in your organization? How do you know? What do you think about them? Diversity, in the modern world where globalization has taken to the fore, is considered one of the essential ingredients of organizational goods and services propagation. Companies rely on selling their goods as well as services to diverse groups of people worldwide which ensures they reach wider markets with more potential. Diversity in my organization takes to the fore as faculty, staff and clients come from multicultural backgrounds. It is easy to know about diversity in the workplace as you can observe how people from different cultures relate with one another at work. The organization values diversity as a way to cover more ground and appeal to more clientele. In addition, diversity brings new people from different cultures to the organization. These new people bring in a variety of competencies into the organization, which help to strengthen the place of the company in the market. References Williams, K. Y., & OReilly, C. A. (1998). Demography and diversity in organizations: A review of 40 years of research. Research in organizational behavior, 20, 77-140. Earley, P. C., & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Stanford University Press. Read More