Cultural Diversity

 

What is our own definition of culture? When somebody ask you about your culture what comes first into mind. I think of the food in my country, the unique traditional clothing we wear and traditional dances too. According to the dictionary culture is the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. I would love to focus more on culture as being the attitudes and behavior characteristic of a particular social group. It can be a continent, a nation, a community or even a family. In all those there can be different cultures practiced. My family culture was different from the culture of the family next door, same thing with communities and we can go on and on. One may ask, why are we talking about culture, why does any of this have to do with anything or better yet my life. Well, the truth is, culture matters the most in our lives. It plays a pivotal role in shaping and influencing our lives. Culture greatly influences what we expect in families, how we behave.

A family or a nation’s traditions are basically "inherited patterns of belief or behavior". As we go forward with this topic, I would like us to think which traditions encourage the best in families and individuals, and which ones might best be discarded for the benefit of our future generations.

For example, in Africa a man in most cases provides for the family financially and the woman stays in the home taking care of the children and being a home maker. When that male child grows up and has a desire to get married most likely he will look for a woman that wants to be a home maker and be at home to take care of the children. Probably he will not like the idea of his wife working just as he is, because in his mind the family system he was under worked well and he wants to keep that system for his future too. This can cause problems in a marriage when people get married but have high levels of expectations from each partner. These expectations can be influenced by our surroundings, our family or societal culture. We get these expectations from our father or mother. We emulate what they did. That influence can also roll forward to the next generation as well. These expectations need to be discussed before marriage to clarify and communicate better in a relationship.

In every family system each piece is very important in maintaining a good family culture. Study has shown that most families who grow up with a father and mother who are fulfilling their responsibilities, and always available in the home, the children end up finishing high school, the girls in the home do not procreate before marriage, the children get decent jobs and therefore poverty is reduced. Not only culture influences family but the family influences culture too. The family, on the other hand, also influences the greater society or the groups to which we belong. Due to the large mass of social groups, however, it is easier to be influenced than it is to influence. An understanding of these influences allows us greater awareness of our challenges as well as our opportunities and the choices which lie before us.

More importantly let us consider the choices we get to make now and, in the future, to create and maintain the family culture we desire, a family culture that will best address the needs of its members. Great families are not rare, but they do not happen by accident. We must work individually to make a success out of our families.

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