Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The people I asked about there definition of culture and diversity consisted of family members and friends.

African American Male-29- Special Education Teacher

1. Culture - It not only consist of there race and heritage its about where they come from. That includes there morals, values, and belief systems.
2. Diversity- Appreciating differences between people. If we were all the same it would be a boring world.

 White Male - 63- Retired

1. Culture - Represents peoples different lives and the way they live them.
2. Diversity - Means cultural differences

African American Female- 31 - License Practical Nurse

1. Culture - Lifestyles, how you are living
2. Diversity - The difference of the culture.

African American Male- 34 - Analyst

1. Culture - Different ways of living life. Different beliefs but advancement, respect and authority among a certain popultion.
2. Diversity - Unlimited ways amongst different groups of people to prosper and govern one another.

White Female- 33- Student

1. Culture - Is a way of similiar language and lifestyle shared by a group of people.
2. Diversity- I quess a mixture of cultures and ideas.

African American Female - 22 - Customer Service

1. Culture- Is the people who raise you and the traditions they pass down.
2. Diversity- The differences between cultures that people use to keep different groups seperated.


The aspects of culture and diversity that we have studied so far in this course are surface culture, deep culture and the dominant culture. Many of the people that I inerviewed had many of the same ideas of what culture and diversity were. I have learned that their are many different features of culture. Culture is a broad set of different life styles and characteristics. In the answers I recieved concerning culture was mostly surface culture. One example of surface culture was "life styles and how you are living."  Not many of the answers reflected deep culture. How ever one person did mention it. They reflected the nature of deep culture by stating the following "It not only consist of there heritage and race it about where they came from. That includes there morals, values, and belief systems. The following is a good of example of dominant culture "the difference between cultures, that people use to keep different groups seperated. Even though when I asked she had this answer as diversity. All examples of different types of culture were covered.

My concept of diversity includes acceptance and respect of people. Diversity is recognizing and acknowleding the existence of people with varying ways of life. One of the definition that was given was " appreciating differences between people, if we were all the same it would be a boring world." All of the definition seem to hint around what we have been learning that diversity is. Even people in a same cultural group will still have diversity. No person is the same.

The ways that all of the people's definitions of culture and diversity have influenced my own thinking is that people from different walks of life have different mind set as too what culture and diversity means. I feel that their definitions comes from what they have encountered in their lives. I feel it would not hurt for all to take a diversity course. As an early childhood educator I am very happy to be taking this course.  It will better equip me to be more sensitive in the way I see people's differences.