Understanding Diversity

The objective of this paper is to examine and appreciate the ways in which culture shape the way in terms of how we view the world and form relationship. As part of this exercise, I would be interviewing someone from the cultural group outside mine to acknowledge their culture in the area of language, dress, norms roles and traditions. This paper or project is aim to assist me to put into practice what I have learnt from the course concept of Understanding Diversity. Culture is that which define us; it molds our identity and has a great influence on our behavior.

I interviewed a course mate at the school cafeteria on a face to face interview. The interview took place in a serene atmosphere where both us felt comfortable throughout the interview process. My interviewee was jittery at the initial stage especially not knowing the kind of questions that I would be asking her, but later regained her composure as the interviewing went on. I began the interview by sharing my social identity to her as a person, who is part of a minority racial group, bisexual, a Black male and growing up as a working class poor as my social-economic class. My interviewer is in her mid-twenties, who lives with her parent in an area considered to be suburban

neighborhood. Her great grandparents emigrated to the U.S from Italy and she was also born in the States.
According to Tajfel and Turner (as cited in Schmader, Block and Lickel, 2015, p.56) people are motivated to have a positive attitude toward their social group.

My interviewer sees herself as always in fear of being targeted because she is a white woman, able bodied, and a White middle class young person. This distinctiveness defines her sense of belonging in her geographical world. She also identity herself as a softball player and perceived herself as committed to Boston Redsox. These identities define her personality in the community. I gathered from the interview that, language, dress, traditions and food are very important in the Italian-American culture as is part of their identity and is passed on from one generation to the

other.
According to Jackson 1999 (as cited in Story, Crethar and Hall 2014,) Privilege is the state of being preferred or favored in society combined with a set of conditions that systematically empower selected group based on specific variable such as race, gender while systematically disempowering others (p.303). I realized from the interview that she is a person, who has being impacted by multisystem privilege because she is a person living with anxiety disorder as her targeted identity. But because she is a White middle class young person she is not labeled as a drug seeker for needing assistance managing my anxiety disorder rather than those in lower socioeconomic statuses and individuals possessing historically marginalized identities. She made it known to be that because of her privileged identity she is more likely to get a job interview and more likely to live long because the system favors her. Also she is less likely to be stopped by a police officer because she is a White person and secondly a female. Finally she has privilege when it comes to reproductive rights.
In line with Rose 1996 (as cited in Hays & Chang 2003) oppression is the abuse of power where by the dominant group holds an attitude or belief that is reinforced by society as maintained by a power imbalance (p.136). I noticed in my interview that she was also experiencing with institutional oppression as she was earning less wage than her a male worker both were hired in the same month for the same position. She also perceived that some men sees her as naive, dull, canny with no knowledgeable skills because she is a woman can also be seen as stereotype another form of institutionalized oppression. Having learnt the theory of internalized oppression, I noticed in my interaction when she brought out the issue that she was perceived as a spoiled child because she swears a lot.
Lastly, because she is a young woman she often faces ageism those around her view as impressionable, young, and unknowledgeable with little life experience. Having a young face can be both advantageous and difficult when try to gain employment depending on the field you are trying to enter.
On the issue of race she believes racism is a serious issue in America. Racism is so engulfed in the American way it is impossible to escape. She also believes racism is socialized and mass distributed through social media, media, and societal norms that it is impossible to escape and is projected onto all generations. As Adams, Ann Bell and Griffin (2013) point out “Racism is the set of institutional, cultural, and interpersonal patterns and practices that create advantage for a person legally defined and socially constructed as “white,” and the corollary disadvantages for people defined as belonging to a racial group that were not considered by dominant power structure” (p.58). In her view she sees racism as something not only per perpetrated by only White people but a Black or Brown person can also be a racist