01 Dec Describe the concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility
Describe the concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility. How do they relate to one another? Is one concept more important than the other? Why/why not?
In response to each other’s initial posts? In response to your peers, engage openly in response to the posts of your peers and respectfully comment on their perspective.
Readings and Resources
eBook:
Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K.K. & Hessenauer, S.L. (2019). Empowerment series: Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th Ed.). Cengage Learning.
· Chapter 5: Ethnocentrism and Racism
Articles, Websites, and Videos:
This video looks at the influence of culture on our personality from the standpoint that culture is not solely created by borders, and that we learn valuable life lessons from others depending on their class, occupation, gender, etc
This compelling video discusses the concept of “implicit bias” and how it affects our discriminatory thoughts and actions towards others even without us consciously thinking in this manner.
We live in a culturally diverse world. How do we truly understand those around us? This video helps us understand the concept of cultural humility – an ongoing process of self-reflection and self-critique. You will also hear fellow students, faculty and those practicing in the field share their insights into this important concept.
Two very important concepts are discussed in this video – Cultural Competency and Cultural Humility. They pertain to controlling our biases, how we should strive to adapt both our communication with, and behaviors towards, others as we remain aware of the power imbalances and oppression around present in today’s society.
Unit 6: Chapter 5: Ethnocentrism and Racism
Chapter Introduction
Tribune Content Agency LLC/Alamy Stock Photo
Learning Objectives
This chapter will help prepare students to
· LO 1 Define and describe ethnic groups, ethnocentrism, race, racism, prejudice, discrimination, oppression, and institutional discrimination
· LO 2 Outline the sources of prejudice and discrimination
· LO 3 Summarize the effects and costs of discrimination and oppression and describe effects of discrimination on human growth and development
· LO 4 Suggest strategies for advancing social and economic justice
· LO 5 Outline some guidelines for social work practice with racial and ethnic groups
· LO 6 Forecast the pattern of race and ethnic relations in the United States in the future
Abraham Lincoln has the reputation of being the key person in ending slavery in our country. Yet it appears that Lincoln held racist beliefs, as indicated in the following excerpt from a speech he delivered in 1858:
I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurorsde of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to inter-marry with white people … and in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.
Such a statement needs to be viewed in its historical context. Our country was more racist years ago than it is today. Lincoln, who was in the vanguard of moving for greater equality for African Americans, was also socialized by his culture to have racist attitudes. (The impact of culture on individuals was discussed in Chapter 1.)
A Perspective
Nearly every time we turn on the evening news, we see ethnic and racial conflict—riots, beatings, murders, and civil wars. In recent years we have seen clashes resulting in bloody shed in areas ranging from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Syria to Israel, and from the United States to South America. Practically every nation with more than one ethnic group has had to deal with ethnic conflict. The oppression and exploitation of one ethnic group by another is particularly ironic in democratic nations, considering these societies claim to cherish freedom, equality, and justice. In reality, the dominant group in all societies that controls the political and economic institutions rarely agrees to share equally its power and wealth with other ethnic groups. Ethnocentrism and racism are factors that can adversely affect the growth and development of minority group members.
5-1 Ethnic Groups and Ethnocentrism
LO 1
An ethnic group has a sense of togetherness, a conviction that its members form a special group, and a sense of common identity or “peoplehood.” An ethnic group is a distinct group of people who share cultural characteristics, such as religion, language, dietary practices, national origin, and a common history, and who regard themselves as a distinct group.
A Native American woman creates jewelry that is revered in her culture—and is cherished by consumers. In general, it is important for ethnic groups to preserve their cultures.
Cheryl Koenig Morgan/MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Feelings of ethnic superiority within a nation are usually accompanied by the belief that political and economic domination by one’s own group is natural, is morally right, is in the best interest of the nation, and perhaps also is God’s will. Ethnocentrism has been a factor leading to some of the worst atrocities in history, such as the American colonists’ nearly successful attempt to exterminate Native Americans and Adolf Hitler’s mass executions of more than 6 million European Jews, and millions more gypsies, people with disabilities, and other minority group members.
In interactions between nations, ethnocentric beliefs sometimes lead to wars and serve as justifications for foreign conquests. At practically any point in the last several centuries, at least a few wars have occurred between nations in which one society has been seeking to force its culture on another or to eradicate another culture (including genocide). For example, Israel has been involved in bitter struggles with Arab countries in the Middle East for more than four decades over territory ownership. Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds are fighting for domination in Iraq and Syria.
Spotlight 5.1 details some of the violence against minorities that has taken place in U.S. history.
Spotlight on Diversity 5.1
Violence against Minorities in the United States
Minorities have been subjected to extensive violence by whites in our society. Although a number of whites have been subjected to violence by nonwhites, statistics show disproportionate attacks against minorities. The 2015 FBI Hate Crime Statistics showed that of the reported 5,850 hate crime (although many are unreported), more than half targeted African Americans. In addition, hate crimes based on religion, specifically Jewish and Muslim-Americans, increased significantly.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, frequent massacres of Chinese mining and railroad workers occurred in the West. During one railroad strike in 1885, white workers stormed a Chinese community in Rock Springs, Wyoming, murdered 16 persons, and burned all the homes to the ground. No one was arrested. In 1871, a white mob raided the Chinese community in Los Angeles, killing 19 persons and hanging 15 to serve as a warning to survivors (Pinkney, 1972).
Pinkney (1972) comments on the treatment of African American slaves by their white owners:
Few adult slaves escaped some form of sadism at the hands of slaveholders. A female slaveholder was widely known to punish her slaves by beating them on the face. Another burned her slave girl on the neck with hot tongs. A drunken slaveholder dismembered his slave, and threw him piece by piece into a fire. Another planter dragged his slave from bed and inflicted a thousand lashes on him. (p. 73)
Slaveowners often used a whip made of cow skin or rawhide to control their slaves. An elaborate punishment system was developed, linking the number of lashes to the seriousness of the offenses with which slaves were charged.
Shortly before the Civil War, roving bands of whites commonly descended on African American communities and terrorized and beat the inhabitants. Slaves sometimes struck back and killed their slaveowners or other whites. It has been estimated that during Reconstruction, more than 5,000 African Americans were killed in the South by white vigilante groups (Pinkney, 1972).
Following the Civil War, lynching of African Americans increased and continued into the 1950s. African Americans were lynched for such minor offenses as peeping into a window, attempting to vote, making offensive remarks, seeking employment in a restaurant, getting into a dispute with a white person, and expressing sympathy for another African American who had already been lynched. Arrests for lynching African Americans were rare. Lynch mobs included not only men but sometimes also women and children. Some lynchings were publicly announced, and the public was invited to participate. The public often appeared to enjoy the activities and urged the active lynchers on to greater brutality.
Race riots between whites and African Americans have also been common since the Civil War. During the summer of 1919, for example, 26 major race riots occurred, the most serious of which was in Chicago. In this riot, which lasted from July 27 to August 2, a total of 38 persons were killed, 537 were injured, and more than 1,000 were left homeless (Waskow, 1967).
Native Americans have been subjected to kidnapping, massacre, conquest, forced assimilation, and murder. Some tribes were completely exterminated. The treatment of Native Americans by whites in North America stands as one of the most revolting series of acts of violence in history.
The extermination of Native Americans began with the early Pilgrims. They were the first to establish a policy to massacre and exterminate Native Americans in this country. In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Puritans sent a force to massacre the Pequot, a division of the Mohegau tribe. The dwellings were burned, and 600 inhabitants were slaughtered (Pinkney, 1972).
In 1642, the governor of New Netherlands began offering bounties for Native American scalps. A year later, this same governor ordered the massacre of the Wappinger tribe. Pinkney (1972) describes the massacre:
During the massacre infants were taken from their mother’s breast, cut in pieces and thrown into a fire or into the river. Some children who were still alive were also thrown into the river, and when their parents attempted to save them they drowned along with their children. When the massacre was over, the members of the murder party were congratulated by the grateful governor. (p. 96)
A major motive for this violence was that the European settlers were land-hungry. The deliberate massacre and extermination of Native Americans continued from the 1660s throughout most of the 1800s. The whites frequently made and broke treaties with Native Americans during these years—and ended up taking most of their land and sharply reducing their population. For example, in a forced march on foot covering several states, an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died from cold and exhaustion in 1838 (Pinkney, 1972). During these years, Native Americans were considered savage beasts. Many whites felt, “The only good Indian is a dead one,” and they exterminated Native Americans because it was felt they impeded economic progress.
Today, racial clashes between minority group members still occur, but on a smaller scale on the street and in some of our schools. In recent years, organizations that advocate white supremacy (such as the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and Skinheads) have continued to attract new members. Demonstrations by these organizations have led to several bloody clashes between supporters and those opposed to these racist groups.
Throughout U.S. history, there have also been incidents of police brutality by white officers against members of minority groups. For example, police brutality received national attention in 1991 when an African American motorist, Rodney King, was stopped after a lengthy car chase and beaten by four club-wielding white police officers in Los Angeles. The beatings were videotaped by a bystander. Mr. King received more than 50 blows from clubs and sustained 11 fractures in his skull, a broken ankle, and a number of other injuries. In April 1992, a jury (with no African American members) found the police officers not guilty on charges of using excessive force. The reaction of African Americans and others in Los Angeles has been described as the worst civil unrest in more than a century—nearly 60 people were killed and more than $800 million in damage resulted from rioting, looting, and destruction over a period of three days.
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. The shooting prompted protests that lasted for weeks. On Nov. 24, the St. Louis county prosecutor announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict Officer Wilson. The announcement set off another wave of protests. In March 2015, the U.S. Justice Department ordered that the city of Ferguson overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city had engaged in constitutional violations. Unfortunately, this has not stopped unarmed black men from being shot by police officers. Unarmed black men continue to be shot at disproportionate rates.
In 2015, the United States also saw an increase in crimes against Muslims, including burning of mosques and harassment (see Discrimination Against Arab Americans and American Muslims). There was a 67 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes from 2014 to 2015, the highest since the terrorist attacks in 2001. With fears of more terrorist attacks in the United States and increasing Islamophobia, fueled in some political environments, these numbers are not expected to decrease.
5-2 Race and Racism
Although a racial group is often also an ethnic group, the two groups are not necessarily the same. A race is believed to have a common set of physical characteristics. But the members of a racial group may or may not share the sense of togetherness or identity that holds an ethnic group together. A group that is both a racial group and an ethnic group is Japanese Americans, who have some common physical characteristics and also have a sense of peoplehood (Coleman & Cressey, 1984). On the other hand, white Americans and white Russians are of the same race, but they hardly have a sense of togetherness. In addition, some ethnic groups are composed of a variety of races. For example, a religious group (such as Roman Catholic) is sometimes considered an ethnic group and is composed of members from diverse racial groups.
In contrast to ethnocentrism, racism is more likely to be based on physical differences than on cultural differences. Racism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities and traits and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Racism is frequently a basis of discrimination against members of other “racial” groups.
Similar to ethnocentric ideologies, most racist ideologists assert that members of other racial groups are inferior. Some white Americans in this country have gone to extreme and morally reprehensible limits in search of greater control and power over other racial groups.
5-3 Aspects of Social and Economic Forces: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Oppression
Prejudice is a preconceived adverse opinion or judgment formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. Prejudice, in regard to race and ethnic relations, is making negative prejudgments. Prejudiced people apply racial stereotypes to all or nearly all members of a group according to preconceived notions of what they believe the group to be like and how they think the group will behave. Racial prejudice results from the belief that people who have different skin color and other physical characteristics also have innate differences in behaviors, values, intellectual functioning, and attitudes.
The word discrimination has two very different meanings. It may have the positive meaning of the power of making fine distinctions between two or more ideas, objects, situations, or stimuli. However, in minority-group relations it is the unfair treatment of a person, racial group, or minority; it is an action based on prejudice.
Racial or ethnic discrimination involves denying to members of minority groups equal access to opportunities, residential housing areas, membership in religious and social organizations, involvement in political activities, access to community services, and so on.
Prejudice is a combination of stereotyped beliefs and negative attitudes, so that prejudiced individuals think about people in a predetermined, usually negative, categorical way. Discrimination involves physical actions—unequal treatment of people because they belong to a category. Discriminatory behavior often derives from prejudiced attitudes. Robert Merton, however, notes that prejudice and discrimination can occur independently. In discussing discrimination in the United States, he describes four different “types” of people:
1. The unprejudiced nondiscriminator, in both belief and practice, upholds American ideals of freedom and equality. This person is not prejudiced against other groups and, on principle, will not discriminate against them.
2. The unprejudiced discriminator is not personally prejudiced but may sometimes, reluctantly, discriminate against other groups because it seems socially or financially convenient to do so.
4. The prejudiced discriminator does not believe in the values of freedom and equality and consistently discriminates against other groups in both word and deed.
An example of an unprejudiced discriminator is the unprejudiced owner of a condominium complex in an all-white middle-class suburb who refuses to sell a condominium to an African American family because of fear (founded or unfounded) that the sale would reduce the sale value of the remaining units. An example of a prejudiced nondiscriminator is a personnel director of a fire department who believes Mexican Americans are unreliable and poor firefighters yet complies with affirmative action efforts to hire and train Mexican American firefighters.
It is very difficult to keep personal prejudices from eventually leading to some form of discrimination. Strong laws and firm informal social norms are necessary to break the relationships between prejudice and discrimination.
Discrimination is of two types. De jure discrimination is legal discrimination. The so-called Jim Crow laws in the South (enacted shortly after the Civil War ended) gave force of law to many discriminatory practices against African Americans, including denial of the right to trial, prohibition against voting, and prohibition against interracial marriage. Today, in the United States, there is no de jure racial discrimination because such laws have been declared unconstitutional.
De facto discrimination refers to discrimination that actually exists, whether legal or not. Most acts of de facto discrimination abide by powerful informal norms that are discriminatory. Cummings (1977) gives an example of this type of discrimination and urges victims to confront it assertively:
Scene: department store. Incident: several people are waiting their turn at a counter. The person next to be served is a black woman; however, the clerk waits on several white customers who arrived later. The black woman finally demands service, after several polite gestures to call the clerk’s attention to her. The clerk proceeds to wait on her after stating, “I did not see you.” The clerk is very discourteous to the black customer, and the lack of courtesy is apparent, because the black customer had the opportunity to observe treatment of the other customers. De facto discrimination is most frustrating …; [after all, say some] the customer was served. Most people would rather just forget the whole incident, but it is important to challenge the practice even though it will possibly put you through more agony. One of the best ways to deal with this type of discrimination is to report it to the manager of the business. If it is at all possible, it is important to involve the clerk in the discussion. (p. 200)
Oppression is the unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. Members of minority groups in our society are frequently victimized by oppression from segments of the white power structure. Oppression and discrimination are closely related, as all acts of oppression are also acts of discrimination. Oppression is the social act of placing severe restrictions on a group or institution.
5-4 Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
Stereotypes are generalizations, or assumptions, that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people in a group are like.
Racial and ethnic stereotypes involve attributing a fixed and usually inaccurate or unfavorable conception to a racial or ethnic group. Stereotypes are closely related to the way we think, as we seek to perceive and understand things in categories. We need categories to group things that are similar in order to study them and to communicate about them. We have stereotypes about many categories, including mothers, fathers, teenagers, communists, Republicans, schoolteachers, farmers, construction workers, miners, politicians, Mormons, and Italians. These stereotypes may contain some useful and accurate information about a member in any category. Yet each member of any category will have many characteristics that are not suggested by the stereotypes and is apt to have some characteristics that run counter to some of the stereotypes.
Racial stereotypes involve differentiating people in terms of color or other physical characteristics. For example, historically there was the erroneous stereotype that Native Americans become easily intoxicated and irrational when using alcohol. This belief was then translated into laws that prohibited Native Americans from buying and consuming alcohol. A more recent stereotype is that African Americans have a natural ability to play basketball and certain other sports. Although at first glance, such a stereotype appears complimentary to African Americans, it has broader, negative implications. The danger is that if people believe the stereotype, they may also feel that other abilities and capacities (such as intelligence, morals, and work productivity) are also determined by race. In other words, believing this positive stereotype increases the probability that people will also believe negative stereotypes.
5-5 Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Is the Problem of Whites
Myrdal (1944) pointed out that minority problems are actually majority problems. The white majority determines the place of nonwhites and other ethnic groups in our society. The status of different minority groups varies in our society because whites apply different stereotypes to various groups. For example, African Americans are viewed and treated differently from Japanese Americans. E. H. Johnson (1973) noted, “Minority relationships become recognized by the majority as a social problem when the members of the majority disagree as to whether the subjugation of the minority is socially desirable or in the ultimate interest of the majority” (p. 344). Concern about discrimination and segregation has also received increasing national attention because of a rising level of aspiration among minority groups who demand (sometimes militantly) equal opportunities and equal rights.
Our country was founded on the principle of human equality. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution assert equality, justice, and liberty for all. Yet in practice, our society has always discriminated against minorities.
The groups of people who have been singled out for unequal treatment in our society have changed somewhat over the years. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, people of Irish, Italian, and Polish descent were discriminated against, but that discrimination has been substantially reduced. In the nineteenth century, Americans of Chinese descent were severely discriminated against. However, such bias also has been declining for many decades. Because of 9/11, and terrorist activities by ISIS and Al Qaeda, some Arab Americans are now being victimized by discrimination in the United States (see Spotlight 5.2).
Spotlight on Diversity 5.2
Discrimination against Arab Americans and American Muslims
Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there have been a number of crimes against Arab Americans and American Muslims. These hate crimes have intensified in recent years in response to the terrorist activities of Al Qaeda and ISIS. Emert (2007) gives some examples:
In Texas, a Pakistani Muslim storeowner was murdered. In California, an Egyptian Christian was killed. In a Chicago suburb, hundreds of men and women chanting, “USA, USA” marched on a local mosque and were stopped by police. In Brooklyn, an Islamic school was pelted with rocks and bloody pork chops (Muslims are forbidden to eat pork). Fire-bombings of mosques and Islamic centers occurred in Chicago, Seattle, Texas and New York.
Mosques, Arab community centers, and Arab-owned businesses have been vandalized. Women and girls wearing the traditional Muslim head covering, the hijab, have been harassed and assaulted. As an example of this discrimination, Rev. Terry Jones, a Florida minister, announced in August 2010 that he was going to publicly burn a number of Qurans on the ninth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rev. Jones said that he believes the Quran is evil because it espouses something other than biblical truth and because he (erroneously) believes it incites radical, violent behavior among Muslims. (After intense international opposition, Rev. Jones announced he was canceling the burning of Qurans.)
Stereotypes abound of Arab Americans, and they are mostly negative. The Western images of Arabs are of Ali Baba, Sinbad, the thief of Baghdad, white slaveowners, harem dwellers, and sheiks. The facts are that harems and polygamy have been abolished, for the most part, in the Arab world, and only a small number of Arab nations have “sheiks.” Arabs are almost always portrayed on TV or in movies as evil or foolish. One Sesame Street character, always dressed like an Arab, is always the one that teaches negative words like “danger.” In movies, they’re often portrayed as villains or financial backers of espionage plots.
It is important for all of us to remember what happened to Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. Emert (2007) notes,
After the unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor on
