Discussion Questions: Chapter 6-Identities and Cultural Biases
Due: Thursday, March 27, 2014; 11am
1. What type of cultural bias do you think is most prevalent in our society today? Give an example.2. Why do you think we still have these cultural biases nowadays? Explain
1. I think that stereotyping is most prevalent in our society today. There are stereotypes for everyone, but people are constantly stereotyping people of other cultures and women are stereotyped. Examples of stereotypes are: "men are strong", "White Americans are obese and lazy" "Asians are really smart." These are common stereotypes that are used on a daily basis among other people.
ReplyDelete2. I think we still have these cultural biases today because people tend to think they are better than everyone else. For example, we use stereotypes as some kind of excuse. So women tend to say that they don't have to do certain things because we aren't as strong as men, so the men should do it. As Americans, we do not like change so we place our beliefs and values above everyone else so that we don't have to change. I think that these cultural biases will always be around unless we, Americans, can learn to view ourselves as equal to everyone else instead of placing ourselves on a pedestal.
1. I believe that the most prevalent cultural bias in today’s society is ethnocentrism. I believe this because if you think about it a lot of controversy between cultures can be traced back to “my culture is better than your culture”. I think that in America we are so convinced that the way we do things is the best way they can be done and I’m sure cultures in other countries think the same thing. This cultural bias is so widespread because not a lot of people are okay with changing either. We are so attached to our normal routines that when they get disrupted by let’s say another cultures way of doing things, chaos breaks out. The book even states that “ethnocentrism produces emotional reactions to cultural differences that reduce people’s willingness to understand disparate cultural messages” (Lustig & Koester, 2013). I think that the message sent that your culture is superior to others gives rise to more conflict and stereotyping in society. I believe this is why we prejudge other cultures. It might not be that we necessarily disagree with them, but more so that we think that our way is just the better way of thinking. One example of ethnocentrism that comes to mind is when the Chinese use chop sticks to eat their food. To Americans this is a very dumb and insufficient way to eat food. We don’t normally like using them and we think that “normal” silverware is the better way of eating food. Like I said earlier I don’t necessarily think that the logic behind eating with chop sticks is dumb. It makes sense to eat is smaller amounts so that you get full faster and you don’t just shovel the food into your mouth; however, for most Americans who don’t know how to use chop sticks we just think they are dumb and frustrating.
ReplyDelete2. I think that we still have cultural biases in today’s society because like I said before people are always going to think that their culture is better, which in turn will lead to stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and social categorizing. We are also always going to be afraid of the unknown and change. These cultural biases are used to help prevent uncomfortable situations that we perceive we might get into. If we have these specific categories of people than we somewhat know what to expect when we encounter them. I am not saying that we should have these cultural biases, but they are in place today to get rid of the uncertainty that most of us experience with new information or situations. I do think that a world without cultural biases would lead to better intercultural communication and a better understanding of each individual culture.
1. I think the most prevalent cultural bias in today's society is ethnocentrism. People of cultures are taught what is good or better, which makes them think that their culture is better than any other culture. As Americans, we believe that we are the best and no one can beat us. We are stuck in our ways that we believe is best and are unwilling to change or adapt to other cultures. We use ethnocentrism as our defense in order not to change our ways or do things that we do not want to do. Conflict tends to happen because no one wants to admit that another culture is superior to theirs so there is a hard time forming a compromise between the two. We often become frustrated when confronted with something new and cannot get the gist of things so we automatically assume that it is below us and not needed when in actuality it could help our culture better itself.
ReplyDelete2. I think we still have these cultural biases because we are uncomfortable with change so we jump to conclusions which leads to stereotyping. Unknown things to us get placed in whatever category we view as appropriate to help sort out or uncertainties that we have about that subject. We also use these categories as a type of defense in order not to learn about other because we believe that we already know about it. Cultural biases make us feel comfortable. Without these, I think communication would be better and understanding other cultures would also increase. However, I do not see this happening anytime soon so decreasing our judgments about different cultures and having an open mind will hopefully decrease these cultural biases.
1) I think the cultural bias that is most prevalent in our society today is the idea that all people who read in English automatically assume that it is natural to read from left to right and top to bottom. This bias was formed all the way back from when we were young and maybe even before then due to the way that we have all been taught to read and write. It's been the way of the world for such a long time now that no one has made an executive decision to change it. It would cause lots of problems because this is the way of life and this is how we know things to be. It would cause us all to learn something completely new.
ReplyDelete2) I think that we still have these cultural biases because this is what we have been taught to do since the beginning of time and it still has yet to change. Like I said earlier, it would cause lots of problems if we were to change this because then there would be many miscommunication problems. We wouldn't be able to communicate effectively between groups because we would interpreting things differently. This bias most likely will not change because this is the way of life and this is how it has been since the beginning of time. We as a society don't tend to change tradition.
1.)I think that the cultural bias most prevalent in our society today is ethnocentrism. I think that us in America have the attitude that our culture is better than all of the other cultures and we won't change to adapt to other cultures, they should change to be like ours. We use the idea of ethnocentrism to believe that we are above other cultures. An example of ethnocentrism would be us believing that a good home consists of living with your (siblings) and 2 loving parents, even though in reality that is not always the case and it doesn't mean you live in a bad home if you don't live with both of your parents.
ReplyDelete2.) I think that we still have these cultural biases nowadays because we deny that this is how we are, and no one wants to change. We have these biases which then can lead to all different types of things like stereotyping, discrimination,etc. We try to deny the differences, or defend them which then leads to the minimization of difference. Our cultures have always been this way and I don't see them changing just because it's what always has been happening.
1. I think the most prevalent cultural bias today is stereotyping. Stereotypes are everywhere in life. It can be in a school setting when a person labels groups as jocks, preps, nerds, etc and it can also be on a larger scale like "Asians are smart", "Muslims are terrorists", "all men are pigs".
ReplyDelete2. I think they are still around because they are so frequently used that we don't have a chance to stop using them. People grow up hearing these things so even if they don't believe them or know them to be untrue, it's always in the back of their minds.
1) I think that the cultural bias that is most prevalent today is ethnocentrism because people in the US think that their culture and customs are the best and think that people that move to the US from other countries should get rid of their own culture and fully take on the American culture. Ethnocentrism is a large problem because it gives people the idea that their own culture is not important and that one group is more superior than another.
ReplyDelete2) I think that these cultural biases are still so prevalent because it is very hard for people to break habits, and in most cases, they do not even realize that they are contributing to these biases. In order for these biases to be broken, people need to be made aware of them and be willing to change the ways that they think and act in order to improve society.
1. I believe that ethnocentrism is most prevalent cultural bias in our society today. I think that because we are taught and told receptively as americans that we are very lucky to live in the USA and have the freedom that we do. We aren't necessarily told that America is the best but there are multiple things that lead us to think this way throughout or lives. Instead of recognizing the diversity and differences that occur culture to culture, we instead say something along the lines of 'thats weird.' In all reality, other cultures that aren't aware of our traditions, when learning about them most likely think the exact same way that we do. I think that most americans aren't open to change, and without knowing for a fact, just assume that the way we do things are the best and that theres no use in trying anything new.
ReplyDelete2. I think that these cultural biases still exist because as a society and culture with traditions that've been around for so long, we are afraid of change, which creates the cultural bias attitude that mostly all of us have. I also think that the mentality of 'we do it the best way' comes from a lack of education or information. No one truly knows who does it the best, and most of us that will say things like this don't actually know how other cultures and societies do it.
1. I believe stereotyping is most prevalent in our society today. We use stereotyping once in a while without even noticing it. We might make a joke to someone about it, even though it's not true. Stereotypes are made from the media, literature, and people. Some examples of stereotypes include, "blondes are dumb", "African Americans are good at running", "Middle Eastern people carry bombs", and "Asians are smart". These stereotypes affect people in those groups because they typically do not portray them personally.
ReplyDelete2. I believe we still have these cultural biases nowadays because people have used stereotyping to generalize people. We tend to classify everyone who is in a certain group, the same. This is not true because everyone is different and is their own person. As Americans we do not like change so this makes it difficult for us to change how we think about a certain group of people. We get so used to the way things are and instead we should be changing the way people think.
1.) I believe stereotyping is most prevalent in our society today. Stereotyping is used everyday and sometimes we stereotype without even noticing it because it is such a natural thing to do. Stereotyping is used to place people in certain categories and to quickly judge them before we get to actually know them. Most of the time these stereotypes are wrong but yet we still stereotype on a daily basis. An example of stereotyping would be: "Muslims are terrorists", "theater guys are gay", "rockstars are druggies".. ect.
ReplyDelete2.) I believe we have these cultural biases because it is easier to stereotype than to actually take the time to get to know someone first. We find it easy and convenient to be able to group certain people into a certain group without having to take the time to get to know them and talk to them and figure out if they actually belong in that group. We as Americans, also don't change or adapt our behaviors, so to stop stereotyping would mean to change a behavior.
1. I believe the most used culture bias is stereotyping. It is used all of the world and everybody has probably done it wheatear intentionally or non-intentionally. We use stereotyping to judge somebody and place them with a certain group of people. We judge them before we actually get to know them. When we try and get to know the person, stereotyping has an impact on our perception of the person, so you go in with a certain mind set. Some examples of stereotyping, "women are bad drivers", "African-Americans are all athletic and good at sports", "Irish people are all drunks".
ReplyDelete2. I think we still have these culture biases because everyone wants to be the best. These culture biases give a culture the opportunity to look down on other cultures. Also these biases have been around for a long time, so people grew up with them. With them being around for a long time they got past down from generation to generation as if it were a tradition.
1. I think that stereotyping is the most prevalent in our society today. There are stereotypes for all different types of people and cultures. I'm sure that everyone in the world, at least once, has stereotyped someone else based on where they came from or their race or their culture, whether they knew it or not.
ReplyDelete2. I think that these cultural biases are still around today because there are always going to be people that believe these stereotypes are the truth about a certain group of people or race. It is only through educating these people and making them realize that a stereotype is hurtful to the person being stereotyped as well as the person doing the stereotyping.
1. I believe stereotyping is the most prevalent cultural bias. Because each and every one of our lives is commonly hectic and busy in today’s expanding society, we do not want to take the time to meet someone. Therefore, we are lazy and quick to make judgments based off simple things such as television shows and literature, which result in numerous amounts of stereotypes. For example, multiple professors have made comments to me about how quiet I am. Telling me that I can’t be shy if I am a cheerleader. This is a personal stereotype that affects me to a great extent, in which I do not enjoy. Because people see the way cheerleaders are portrayed through fictional television shows, movies, and novels, they automatically categorize them into a common stereotype whether than taking the time to get to know them individually. Realistically and intellectually, it is unwise to base an individual’s personality off of the sport they play or social group they belong to.
ReplyDelete2. As discussed in the first question, I believe we still have cultural biases today due to our society’s busy lifestyles. Our busy lives lead to less time for personal engagement, which result in making quick judgments. These judgments are also easy for us to make in today’s society because of technology involving the media. Going along with this, I also believe a lot of cultural biases come from the inevitable fact that people in today’s society are simply ignorant.
1.The cultural bias that is most prevalent today I would say has to be stereotypes because no matter what we have them even if we try hard to get rid of them. Sometimes we use stereotypes and do not even realize we are doing it because we already have it in our mind and it sticks there. An example of one would be "all Asians are smart" which is not all that true but it is a stereotype a lot of people have for Asians.
ReplyDelete2 I think we still have cultural biases today because people want to be better than each other. People do not always want to be equal with each other and at times want to boost themselves by putting others down. Sometimes people are ego-defensive and just trying to protect their own self-esteem.
1. I think the most relevant cultural bias in today's society is ethnocentrism. Everyone in America is focused on their immediate needs, especially when dealing with other cultures. We believe our ways are the best, and we tend to force these views on people of other cultures - especially when they are immigrating to the United States. For example, Native Americans in todays society are completely underprivileged and underestimated. This group of people have extremely concrete and interesting ideas that should be respected, not forced out.
ReplyDelete2. I think these cultural biases are relevant today because of media. Our media portrays a specific idea about what is right and "cool". People who are "different" are looked down upon, when in reality they should have a higher regard. The lack of difference between people in todays society says a lot about the lack of importance we place on cultural differences. If we accepted different cultures in a more prominent way we would have a more sound society and have more peace.
1.) I think stereotyping is the most relevant cultural bias in today's society. It's seen everywhere. In high school, their are different "cliques" to be a part of. In every day life, different races are looked at in certain ways, such as African-Americans being all uneducated while Asain's never fail at school.
ReplyDelete2.) I think cultural biases are learned through the behaviors of the people we surround ourselves with. We grow up with our parents believing one thing, then continue on to be influenced by teachers in schools, and so on. What we learn influences our perception.