HANDOUT – Cultural Diversity

Defining Culture is not an easy thing to do. It means different things to

different people. Culture refers to our daily rituals, beliefs, attitudes, values,
customs and norms. The Oxford Dictionary defines culture in broad ways. It
refers to a way of life, art, music and literature. It sees culture as:
“...the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a
particular country or group, European/Islamic/American culture/Working class
culture....a country, group, its own beliefs, children are taught to respect
different values/the effect of technology on traditional cultures...” (Wehmeier,
2000)

It also sees culture in terms of beliefs and attitudes “...the political culture of
the USA and UK...A culture of failure exists in some schools...company
culture...we are living in a consumer culture:

You can see that culture can refer to attitudes, accepted ways of
approaching / doing things, politics and / or religion.

“Culture refers to a specific set of behavior, beliefs about the world and how
we live in it. It encompasses every aspect of our lives, both conscious and
unconscious. Culture is something, which is learnt and is passed onto us by
those around us – not something which is genetic or biological in nature. It is
the way we lead out lives.”

Rituals, attitudes, ways of life, values, beliefs, perceptions, ideas & goals.

Examples of personal cultures

Cultural identity may derive or evolve as a result of sharing similar
characteristics, life experiences or choices/preferences, facing similar
prejudices or discrimination e.g.: being gay or lesbian, having a disability,
being a detained asylum seeker, being a survivor of the Bali bomb, playing
AFL football, being a firefighter.

Tasha was born in Australia. She is twenty-three. Her father is Greek. Her
mother is Australian. She was christened as a Greek Orthodox and still
celebrates Greek Easter and Christmas with her father’s family. Culturally,
however she does not identify strongly with Greek culture. Her lifestyle,
attitudes and beliefs are much more aligned with inner city youth ‘greenie’
culture. She shares a house with friends in an inner city suburb. She and all
her friends walk or ride their bike to most places and many of her friends are
vegetarians and environmentalists. This is important to her. This is her prime
cultural identity.

Michelle is forty. She is in a long-term committed lesbian relationship with

Diane. Michelle and Diane have a child conceived with donor sperm. Her
family is very loving and supportive; however, she primarily socializes with
other lesbian families and their children. Other lesbian families seem to
appreciate the issues, barriers and experiences she has living in an
alternative family unit. She doesn’t need to explain who she is, how her
partner fits into the family story, why her son doesn’t have a custodial father,
and why her family is different. Her son gets to mix with other families similar
in structure to his own. Michelle identifies more with lesbian family culture.
She also shares political interests with other lesbian families, as they work
together to have lesbian relationships recognized by the federal government.
It is a shared political struggle.

There are also sub cultures within cultures and not all groups that experience
a similar characteristic, experience or life choice will identify or assume the
dominant culture of that group.

For example; In youth culture, there are many sub cultures including gothic’s,
greenies and Emo’s. Some young people might not even see their identity as
primarily being determined by their youth and their young peers, but rather by
the sporting club they belong to, or the political party they belong to.

In Islam, there are many different sub-cultures. Muslim people may share
some commonalities, but are likely to differ in opinions regarding things such
as women’s rights, extremist political action etc.

In rural areas people may share common concerns/interests such as isolation,

farm life, the drought, but may not identify in other ways such as religion or
politics.