Key Terminology For Multicultural Literature

Key Terminology for Multicultural Literature

 Race  Ethnicity  Culture  Other related social-related terms

Alvidrez, et al’s (1996) review of the construct of race

 concept of race is fraught with problems for psychology.  race is generally defined in terms of physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and hair type, which are common to an inbred, geographically isolated population and which has been criticized as arbitrary  race as a biological category is generally not supported by scientific evidence.  Specifically, there are more within-group differences than between-group differences in the characteristics used to define the three so-called races (Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid).  studies of genetic systems (e.g., blood groups, serum proteins, and enzymes) have found that differences between individuals within the same tribe or nation account for more variance (84%) than do racial groupings

Is the concept of race useful?

 according to Alvidrez, et al, racial groupings operate more as social and political categories, and the effects of such groupings, such as discrimination based on skin color or ethnic identification based on shared characteristics, should be subsumed by other categories.  they recommend that race not be used as an explanatory variable in psychotherapy research.  If race is used, researchers finding any differences should seek to understand and explain them rather than implicitly suggest that such differences are inherent

Other authors disagree, including Janet Helms ()

 a review of the literature using race and ethnicity little overlap between the abstracts involving race vs. ethnicity, suggesting that the researchers investigated different things when using those constructs  while race is not supported as a biological entity, it does exist socially and has a real impact for different persons  recognition of the social construct of race allows for group comparisons and researching of group socialization

How would one use race in research?

 The follow issues have been proposed by Hahn & Stroup (1994)  Conceptual validity  How data is combined across studies  Measurement and measurement validity  Exclusiveness and exhaustiveness  Meaningfulness of respondents  reliability  Flexibility across time

Conceptual validity.

 the assumption that there is a real phenomenon to be measured and that the categories used provide substantial explanations of observable phenomena.  validation of "race" in its biological sense would require assessment of whether or not historical patterns of human migration and intermarriage and the distribution of genetic characteristics are indicative of separate and distinctive populations.  they note that federal agencies (including the Center for Disease Control) are not consistent in their terminology for either generic concepts of race and ethnicity.  For example, the category prescribed by Directive 15 "American Indians" is labeled "Indian (Amer.)" in the 1990 census and is listed separately from Eskimos and Aleuts.  In natality documents, the category "American Indian" includes Aleuts and Eskimos.  In mortality documents, the category, "Indian" (or, beginning in 1987, "American Indian") includes American, Canadian, Eskimo, and Aleut.

Combining of data

 Aggregation of data on diverse and distinctive populations should be done with caution.  For example, the recent "Atlas of U.S. Cancer among Nonwhites: 1950-1980" combines data for all "nonwhite" populations. This generic categorization limits the use of the atlas for etiologic research and for the design and implementation of targeted intervention programs.

Measurability and measurement validity.

 Any measures chosen should have reasonable sensitivity and positive predictive value in surveillance.  For biological categories, public health surveillance should assess measurable biological characteristics known to be associated with populations of interest.  On the other hand, for categories defined by self-perception, effective surveillance must assure that self-perception, though subjective, is accurately assessed.  Accurate assessment of self-perceived characteristics depends on rapport with surveillance subjects and on use of appropriate concepts, language, and cultural etiquette.

Exclusivity and exhaustiveness.

 categories of a variable must include all members of a population andinclude members in only one category.  The categories used by the U. S. Department of Health ("American Indian or Alaskan Native," "Asian or Pacific Islander," "Black, not of Hispanic Origin," "Hispanic," and "White, not of Hispanic origin") are neither exhaustive nor exclusive.  For example, an American Indian or Alaskan Native is defined by regional origin and cultural identification while a black is defined by regional origin and race while whites are defined by regional origin only.

Meaningfulness to respondents.

 The design, interpretation, and use of surveillance information for different populations requires knowledge of how the surveillance categories, such as "race" and "ethnicity," are understood by survey respondents.  For example, more than 40 percent of the self-identified Hispanic population did not respond to the race question on the 1990 census; this suggests that concepts of race and ethnicity among Hispanics may differ from those of census takers  a U.N. survey found that ethnic or national group was recorded on birth certificates in only 18 (20.5 percent) of 88 nations and on death certificates in only 16 (18.4 percent) of 87 nations.

Reliability.

 A fundamental characteristic of a scientifically useful category is the replicability of results-the ability to gather consistent information in different settings with comparable methods.

Example: statistics on the birth and death certificates of all U.S. infants born from 1983 through 1985

 Of infants classified as white at birth, 1.2 percent had a different race at death, 4.3 percent of black infants at birth had a different race at death, and 43.2 percent of infants of other races had a different race at death.

 In another example, in March 1971 and again in March 1972, the Bureau of the Census interviewed a large sample of persons in U.S. households, eliciting the ethnic identity of all household members; from 1 year to the next, 34.3 percent of household members were reported to have different ethnic identities Reliability, cont.

 Consistency of classification over time is fundamental to the use of surveillance for the analysis of trends.  Inconsistency may be due to "shifting identity" -- persons changing their group identity over time -- in addition to "fuzzy group boundaries."

Flexibility.

 For self-perceived categories, concept and terminology may change over time.  The criterion of flexibility conflicts with that of consistency.  The public health practitioner must balance the need for consistency in responses over time with the need for meaningfulness of the terminology to respondents.

The history of race as a construct (Smedley, 1998)

Ancient Rome and Greece

 According to Smedley, individuals and groups of individuals often moved to new areas or changed their identities by acquiring membership in a different group.  People of the ancient world seemed to have understood that cultural characteristics were external and acquired forms of behavior, and that "barbarians" could learn to speak the language of the Romans or the Greeks and become participants in those cultures, and even citizens of these states.  Alexander the Great encouraged his warriors to intermarry with the peoples they conquered in order to learn their languages and cultures  Languages were avenues to new social identities, and ethnic identity itself was fluid and malleable.  kinship was the important diacritic of connectedness to the social system (who begat whom)  the next source of identity was occupation

 One-third of the population of Athens were foreigners as early as the Classical period, five hundred years before the Christian era  marriage was often used as a political or economic strategy.

Middle Ages

 With the appearance of the proselytizing universal religions, Christianity and later Islam, that became competitors with one another for the souls of all human groups, a new focus of identity was gradually and increasingly placed on membership in a religious community.  individuals often changed their religious affiliation under circumstances prompted by self-interest  or self-preservation, as in the case of the 300,000 or more Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism in Medieval Spain during the Inquisition  What was absent was a classifications into "racial" groups, that is, the organization of all peoples into a limited number of unequal or ranked categories theoretically based on differences in their biophysical traits.  There are no "racial" designations in the literature of the ancients and few references even to such human features as skin color.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

 Race became a new mode of structuring inequality in human societies appeared in the American colonies and soon was present throughout the overseas territories of the colonizing countries of Western Europe.  "Race" was a form of social identification and stratification that was seemingly grounded in the physical differences of populations interacting with one another in the New World, but whose real meaning rested in social and political realities.  English settlers in North America failed to assimilate the peoples whom they conquered, but generally kept them at great length and social distance from themselves  The policies and practices of the English in Ireland functioned to keep those Irish who refused to accept English domination segregated from themselves.  It was an extreme form of ethnocentrism or ethnic chauvinism that some historians believe came close to being racial  Theodore Allen (1997) argues that the "invention" of the white race took place after an early, but unsuccessful, colonial revolt of servants and poor freedmen known as Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.  Colonial leaders subsequently decided it would be useful to establish a division among the masses of poor to prevent their further collaboration against the governmental authorities  Of note, Bohannan and Curtin (1995) have observed that half the ancestors of African Americans were already here in the United States by 1780 while the median date for the arrival of European ancestors was "remarkably late, 1890s."

Nineteenth Century

 "Race" developed in the minds of some Europeans as a way to rationalize the conquest and brutal treatment of Native American populations, and especially the retention and perpetuation of slavery for imported Africans  After the Civil War, although slavery ended, race and racial ideology remained and were strengthened.  African Americans particularly had to grapple with the reality of being defined as the lowest status group in American society and with the associated stereotyping that became increasingly part of the barriers to their integration into American society  Native Americans had to try to reinvent their identities, whether in towns or isolated on remote reservations where traditional lifestyles were no longer possible. Ethnicity

 The concept of ethnicity is associated with culture and is often used interchangeably with culture as well as with race.  Usually, ethnicity is used in reference to groups that are characterized in terms of a common nationality, culture, or language.  Ethnicity seems to be the most highly responsive of these socially differentiating criteria to temporal, historical, and political contexts.

Mercer, et al (1979) note that

 only under certain social and psychological conditions is ethnicity in any meaningful sense aroused, or , one might say constructed...the ethnic self identity constructed by members of a particular generation of a social group will be a function of the cultural contacts of that group with other groups; different circumsntances will generate different ethncities.

How does one measure ethnicity?

 According to Alvidrez, et al. (1996), a lack of both a definition and method of measurement exists for ethnicity  Researcher-identified ethnic classifications, using broad categories such as African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American is an appropriate way for initially identifying ethnic status.  However, because these terms are often inaccurate and include heterogeneous groups, other descriptors should be added.  The authors recommend simple questions measuring self-identification, country of origin of participant or parents of participant, and geographic residence.

Culture

 According to Betancourt & López (1993) the study of culture and related variables occupies at best a secondary place in American (mainstream) psychology.  It appears to be the domain of cross-cultural psychology and is often associated with the replication of findings in some remote or exotic part of the world.  phenomena observed in the comparative study of groups identified in terms of nationality, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (SES) are often attributed to cultural differences without defining what is meant by culture, and what about culture and to what extent is related to the differences.

Defining Culture

 Herkovits (1948) conceives culture as the human-made part of the environment  Segall (1979) defines culture as a convenient label for knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are learned and passed on from one generation to the next.. Accordingly, this transmission of culture occurs in a physical environment in which certain places, times, and stimuli have acquired special meanings.  What about the Internet?  Rohner (1984) proposed a conceptualization of culture in terms of "highly variable systems of meanings," which are "learned" and "shared by a people or an identifiable segment of a population." .  Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Rohner's formulation is the explicit statement of aspects such as the learned, socially shared, and variable nature of culture. It represents "designs and ways of life" that are normally "transmitted from one generation to another."

Perhaps the most useful definition comes from Triandis, et al. (1980)

According to the authors physical culture refers to objects such as roads, buildings, and tools, subjective culture includes elements such as social norms, roles, beliefs, and values. These subjective cultural elements include a wide range of topics, such as

 familial roles,  communication patterns,  affective styles, and  values regarding personal control, individualism, collectivism, spirituality, and religiosity.

Is Deafness a Culture? Is Deafness a Race?

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1995)

 Many members of the Deaf community view their deafness as a unique characteristic that makes them part of a community that shares a common experience, tradition, history, and language.  People who are deaf share an identity, not a disease or a disability.

American Sign Language.

 It is not English  Can be used to express thoughts or feelings and is constantly evolving  Many within the community believe that the dominant culture is insensitive to the needs of deaf children by insisting that they be taught English, rather than ASL  in 1988, student protests at Galludet University occurred over the appointment of the president who did not speak ASL and was forced to resign

Elements of Deafness

 belief that deafness gives one a sense of cultural heritage  heritage is a source of pride, unity, and fellowship  some members express no desire to have intact hearing and reject new hearing technologies as unnecessary or unwelcome  the deaf community often rejects the notion of mainstreaming students as appropriate for educating deaf children, as they will be excluded from other role models and deprived of the deaf culture and language

Does the concept of Multiculturalism include gay men and lesbians? Pope (1995)

 the identity formation for sexual minorities is similar to those tasks racial and other ethnic minorities must accomplish

 the specific developmental stages gay men and lesbians must accomplish include:

1. identity confusion 2. identity comparison 3. identity tolerance 4. identity acceptance 5. identity pride 6. identity synthesis multural counseling skills needed to work with other minority groups are also required for working with gay men and lesbians

 authors point out the importance of counselors to reduce the stereotypes, discrimination, environmental barriers, and othe forms of bias that typically impede the development of such groups.  to counsel such individuals, counselors must have some familiarity with the culture of the minority (which also applies to working with gay men and lesbians)  the ACA and the APA recommend counselors to be culturally aware of their own background and the values and biases that come from that, comfortable with the differences that may existe between the counselor and client and sensitive to specific circumstances that woiuld indicate the need to refer a client to someone better able to fulfill that client's needs

Gay men and lesbians fulfill the criteria as a cultural minority

 are minority in status to the dominant culture  have own geographic living arears, economic and social organizations, cultural traditions, and rituals

Conversely,

 Vontress states that lesbians and gay men can hide their sexual orientation, making the quality of oppression different than that which racial and ethnic identities must endure How does one research culture?  Because of its broadness and complexity, culture is very difficult to research in psychology  When considering culture as a potential subject of interest, Alvirdrez, et al recommend: 1. read the available literature pertaining to the cultures of interest 2. collaborate with other researchers working with the cultures of interest 3. use of focus groups to develop hypotheses of how culture interact with other topics of interest

Etic vs. Emic Approaches to Understanding Culture

 Emic perspective: the "insider's" or "native's" interpretation of or "reasons" for his or her customs/beliefs. What things mean to the members of a society.  Etic perspective: the external researcher's interpretation of the same customs/beliefs. What things mean from an analytical, anthropological perspective. The anthropologist usually takes both emic and etic interpretations into account when analyzing human society depending on the project. These words were adapted from the linguistic terms "phonetic" and "phonemic."

Other Related Terms

 Acculturation  Assimilation  Socioeconomic Status  Social Class