Cultural Differences Paper

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

There’s various things that describes everyone, but there’s only a few things that make each and every one of us unique, which is, our cultural background. As far as cultural background, it defines the individual’s upbringing. The cultural background includes ones religion, race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, linguistic and values. These values can be shaped by family, friends, society, or authoritative level. This paper is a great way for one to define my identity or at least understand who I am.

There are many cultural differences between the United States and France. Some of these are simply social and others are cultural. Hofstede’s Value Dimensions can be used to highlight the differences between the cultures. Individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, power distance, and long-term vs short-term orientation are all characteristics that differ between France and the United States.

Perhaps, you are asking yourself this question, what is gender dysphoria? I have the answer. Gender dysphoria is “ the diagnosis typically given to a person whose assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify.” However, let’s not confuse this with sexual orientation, this does not mean they are homosexual, this means they do not identify who they are as their given birth

This paper will identify the ethnic identifications within individuals. Ethnicity is part of everyone’s identity development. Individuals may have one ethnicity or multiple, depending on their current location, homelands, generations, religion, environment, language/dialect, physical appearance, and more. A cultural individual is considered ethnic either by being first, second, or third generation. According to Phinney (1989), there are four stages of ethnic identity development: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved. They describe when an individual explores or does not explore their own ethnicity, and accepting clarification and understanding of ethnicity. An individual can be placed within these stages throughout their developing lives. It is important to recognize these stages within an individual to better apprehend their identity and where they perceive their own identity in their position.

Racial and ethnic identity is socially constructed of classifying individuals according to phenotypical characteristics that are genetically determined but not always consistent. Ethnicity is sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, or culture heritage. I define myself as African American. African American, which is known as Black American, is rooted in the historical experience of America people. This culture is both distinct and enormously influenced on America culture.

There are cultural differences within all the communities that make up the world, we are constantly surrounded and reminded of these other cultures. In this paper cultural differences will be discussed from the film “Why Did I Get Married?” which is an African-American movie about the hardships one goes through in marriage, friendships, and trust. This paper is going to give specific examples of Hall’s perspective of culture on the screen and Hofstede’s five dimensions that are reflected in a particular pattern. Examples of both verbal and non verbal intercultural communication and how they relate to particular intercultural

First, it important to highlight the difference between race and ethnicity. Race commonly refers to groups of individuals that share similar physical and social characteristic where as ethnical focus more on national and cultural similarities. For example, someone may identify their race as being black, but their ethnicity as being African American. Over the past few decades, there have been multiple scales developed to measures a person racial and/or ethic identity. Due to distinct characters of different groups studies a review of the literature on racial and ethnic identity shows that the majority of research on racial identity has focused on African American (black) and European American (white) samples and

Nevertheless, the process of racial identity development is imperative because it relates to psychological functioning. It also helps to establish our individual paradigms and behaviors for how we perceive the world as well. Although there are some similarities in the development of racial identity between monoracial and multiracial individuals, those who identify themselves as being biracial tend to experience some more distinct challenges that monoracial individuals will likely never experience in the process of discovering who they are.

Everyone has a different way of life, whether it be by the way you talk, dress, or eat. Or maybe how you dance, sing, and perform. These aspects of everyday life is called culture. Everybody in the world has a culture, but not all cultures are the same from person to person. In the book, The Miles Between, a group of teens, who attend a boarding school, have a different way of life than I do. Even though there is many differences between our cultures, there are still some similarities peeping through all the differences.

Kristen A. Burgess, Emory University School of Medicine and Charles F Gillespie M.D., PhD, department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, state that “gender identity disorder is a mental disorder in which gender identity is incongruent with anatomical sex”. Individuals experience different degrees of unhappiness with their sex at birth, which in turn causes them to pursue the life and body of the opposite sex (2010).

Gender dysphoria occurs when individuals feel their gender identity is not harmonious with their anatomical sex. In the DSM-5, gender dysphoria in children is described as the desire to be the other gender to such level that the incongruity creates distress in social, school, occupational, and personal domains for at least 6 months.

Racial identity is a part of a socially constructed hierarchy that identifies human beings based on their ethnicity and ancestry. Essentially, the only difference between race and ethnicity is that race is determined by the dominant ethnicity. Race has been a relevant topic throughout history, and racial conflicts still exist in the modern world. Judgements based on racial identity create prejudice and bigotry. The susceptibility of people to believe others’ predispositions is what causes prejudice and bigotry to grow. Racial identity inhibits individuals’ opportunities when predispositions are formed from a lack of credible knowledge.

The subject of race, within the field of sociology, can often be viewed as both a fluid concept and a cultural experience. Contrary to popular belief, race is not biological, but is a socially constructed category of people that share the same biological traits. Race can often change over time and is formed primarily by our personal views and the views of others. These can range from ethnicity to self-presentation and feelings of place within society. One example of the fluidity of race can be seen based upon the classification of the White or Caucasian race. In today’s culture, this race has been drastically increased to include a vast array of “white” individuals.

Living a life feeling out of place, with the wrong feelings, and in the wrong body, for a person with Gender Identity Disorder, this is how they feel day to day. According to the DSM-IV-TR, Gender Identity Disorder is characterized by a strong, persistent cross-gender identification, persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in their gender role of that sex. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), children, adolescents and adults who exhibit a preoccupation with getting rid of or losing their primary and secondary sex characteristics, associated with different mannerisms and actions of the opposite sex; while holding a belief that he or she was born the wrong sex are believed to be classified