The model of multicultural understanding presented in this volume is a comprehensive model that can be used as a guide to gain knowledge and understanding of culturally diverse individuals and groups. This knowledge and understanding can then be reflected appropriately in educational and counseling situations. The mode! was designed to include all the elements of personal awareness and information necessary for a person to engage in positive and productive relationships with culturally diverse individuals or groups. II is useful for teachers, individual counselors, family counselors, and those involved in any intervention within culturally diverse communities.

The model (Figure 1.1) provides a solid foundation for exploring ethnic differences. Although thorough and comprehensive, it is succinct enough to be useful in examining the cultural patterns, social relationships, and experiences of eulturally diverse individuals and groups.

One uses the model by beginning with awareness of self.  This component refers to the traditional "know thyself element of Greek philosophy. In helping relationships with the culturally diverse, it might be necessary and useful for those involved to share their personal experiences as weil as their worldviews. Worldview means contemplation of the world or a view of life. lt connotes a personal theory composed of knowledge and beliefs about the meaning of the world. Knowing one s own personal biases, values, interests, and worldview-which stem from culture-as weil as knowing one s own culture will greatly enhance one s sensitivity toward other cultures. Awareness of self is the first step to understanding others (Locke, 1996); in seeking that awareness, one might attempt to answer the following questions:

- What is my worldview?

- What is my cultural heritage? What was the cuiture of my parents and my grandparents? With what cultural group(s) do I identify?

- What is the cultural relevance of my name?

- Which values, beliefs, opinions, and attitudes do I hold that are consistent with the dominant culture? Which are inconsistent? How did I learn these?

- How did I decide to become a teacher or counselor? What cultural standards were involved in the process? What do I understand to be the relationship between culture and education or counseling or both?

- What unique abilities, aspirations, expectations, and limitations do I have that might influence my relations with culturally diverse individuals?

Figure 1.1. Multicultural Understanding
 
 

What happens in our world often becomes more meaningful if where it happens has some relevance at a personal level. The culturally sensitive individual must be cognizant of world events and how members of various cultures translate those events into personal meaning. The world is becoming smaller and smaller, and events in a cultural group's country of origin may produce significant emotional reactions in group members. Some culturally diverse individuals may have relatives who still live in their countries of origin and may be quite sensitive to events in those countries, the policies of the U.S. government toward those events, and the attitudes of helpers toward the events. Such interest on the part of culturally diverse individuals necessitates some knowledge of world affairs. Shifts in the economic and political scenes in the United States greatly influence the state of affairs in South America, Africa, and Asia. Knowledge of the culture in a client's country of origin provides the helper with a more complete picture of that client s worl dview.
 
 

This model uses the general culture of the United States as the backdrop for understanding culturally diverse individuals and groups. The model is useful in any setting with two reasonably different cultural groups. lt seems appropriate for teachers and counselors to have a clear knowledge of the values of the dominant culture.

Culture is a construct that captures a socially transmitted System of ideas-ideas that shape behavior, categorize perceptions, and give names to selected aspects of experience. The primary mode of transmission of culture is Ianguage, which enables people to learn, experience, and share their traditions and customs. Hughes (1976) formulated a definition of culture that presents it as "a learned configuration of images and other symbolic elements widely shared among members of a given society or social group which, for individuals, functions as an orientation framework for behavior, and, for the group, serves as the communicational matrix which tends to coordinate and sanction behavior" (p. 13). Thus, the cultural process is a means for conveying values across generations. Cassirer (1944) described the symbolic System as unique to humans when he pointed out that humans "live not merely in a broader reality . . . but live, so to speak in a new dimension of reality . . . [humans] cannot escape their own achievement. [Humans] cannot but adapt the conditions of life. [Humans] live in a symbolic universe" (pp. 42-43).

The root concept for the term ethnicity is culture. Ethnicity is a derivative concept that recognizes the in-group values conceptualized by a particular cultural group, such as African Americans, Jewish Americans, or Vietnamese in the United States. Ethnic identity is measured by self-perception, identification, and participation in ethnic activities. Thus, culture and ethnicity refer to the same generic processes.

Nash (1989) reduced the core elements of ethnicity to three:

1. Kinship

2. Commensality (eg., food preferences, lifestyle)

3. The shared ideology he calls a common cult (body of beliefs and ritual activities that celebrate the community's historical experience)

The essence of ethnicity is contrast, the recognition of difference. Alba (1990) categorized theories of ethnic identity into four types:

1. Ethnicity as dass (eg., working dass)

2. Ethnicity as a political movement (eg., "power" movements of the 1960s)

3. Ethnicity as revival (eg., ethnic foods, clothing, festivals)

4. Ethnicity as a token identity (eg., passing down a Swedish cookie recipe)

Steward (1972) identified five components of culture in his summary of cultural assumptions and values:

1. Activity: How do people approach activity? How important are goals in life? Who makes decisions? What is the nature of problem solving?

2. Definition ofsocial relations: How are roles defined? How do people relate to those whose status is different? How are sex roles defined? What is the meaning of friendship?

3. Motivation. What is the achievement orientation of the culture? Is cooperation or competition emphasized?

4. Perception of the world: What is the predominant worldview? What is the predominant view on human nature? What is the predominant view on the nature of truth? How is time defined? What is the nature of property?

5. Perception ofselfand the individual: How is selfdefined? Where is a person s identity determined? What is the nature of the individual? What kinds of persons are valued and respected?

Robin M. Williams, Jr. (1970), a noted sociologist, identified 15 cultural themes and orientations that generally reflect the Anglo-Saxon influence on the culture of the United States. Although not all Anglo-Saxons value these themes and orientations, these nevertheless reflect what many determine to be predominant in the culture of the United States. Noted historian John Hope Franklin (as cited in Fersh, 1978) concluded that, by the end of the l9th century, United States American standards of ethnicity accepted AngloSaxons as the norm, placed other White people on what might be called "ethnic probation," and excluded all others from serious consideration. Thus, it seems logical to describe Anglo-Saxon values as representative of the culture of the United States. The themes and orientations identified by Williams are as follows:

1. Achievement and success: The emphasis is on  rags-to-riches success stories.

2. Activity and work: This is a land of busy people who stress disciplined, productive activity as a worthy end in itself.

3. Humanitarian mores: People spontaneously come to the aid of others and hold traditional sympathy for the underdog.

4. Moral orientation: Life events and situations are judged in terms of right and wrong.

5. Efficiency and practicality: The emphasis is on the practical value of getting things done.

6. Progress: An optimistic view is held that things will get better.

7. Material comfort: Emphasis is placed on the good life. Many are conspicuous consumers.

8. Equality: The avowal of the commitment to equality is constant.

9. Freedom: The belief in individual freedom takes on almost a religious connotation.

10. External conformity: Uniformity in matters of dress, housing, recreation, manners, and even expression of political  ideas is great.

11. Science and secular rationality: The sdiences are esteemed as a means of asserting mastery over the environment.

12. Nationalism-patriotism: The sense of loyalty to what is called "American" is strong.

13. Democracy: The people believe that every person should have a voice in the political destiny of the country.

14. Individual personality: Every individual should be independent, responsible, and self-respecting. The group should not take precedende over the individual.

15. Racism and related group superiority: This theme represents the chief value conflict in the culture of the United States because it emphasizes differential evaluation of racial, religious, and ethnic groups.

We must understand the dominant culture from the perspectives of the individual, the family, and the community. We need to know how that culture defines a psychologically healthy individual, defines and reinforces the family for its acculturation function, and defines the concept of community in terms of size and who is included in it.
 
 

The model has many elements of the culture to examine: sociopolitical factors, the culture s history of oppression, the experience of prejudice and racism, poverty within the culture, the influence of language and the arts, the influence of religious practices, child-rearing practices, family role and structure, values and attitudes, and degree of opposition to acculturation. This model is similar to Sue and Sue s (1990) model in that they stress the impact of sociocultural forces as well as the psychological and developmental influences on the behavioral expressions of different racial and ethnic groups.

Thus, as immigrants come to the United States, they are influenced by one set of factors: the existing environmental conditions. They bring with them a second Set of factors: their own psychological and behavioral qualities, including language and the arts, child-rearing practices, religious practices, family structure, and values and attitudes. These two sets of factors work either against each other or together to form and shape the new immigrant into a participant in the culture of the United States. The "Americanization" process is designed to blend the many ethnic ingredients so that one nationality is produced. The degree to which an immigrant group is assimilated into the culture of the United States occurs by mutual consent. For some, the dominant culture resists assimilation. For others, the immigrant group itself elects to remain outside the main cultural group. Under either circumstance, the gap between the dominant culture and the immigrants culture-of-origin is likely to present major problems for helping professionals from the dominant culture who do not have knowledge about, and sensitivity to, culturally diverse individuals or groups.

The model employs a circumstantialist view of culture and ethnicity (Glazer & Moynihan, 1975) wherein cultural identity is seen as primarily socially constructed and reactive. This view explains why some cultural groups define themselves along lines of ethnicity (eg., common history, kinship, language, religion), whereas other groups define themselves along factors of dass. This view also brings issues of power and position into focus and helps explain why, at certain points in history, different ethnic groups are more or less aware of their ethnicity.

lt is important to see cultural differences as contrasts, and not just as differences. By looking at contrasts, both the helper and the helpee are required to evaluate their cultural practices and to determine how these practices affect their relationship. Statements of cultural contrast are only starting points because the objective truth of cultural differences may be less important than beliefs about what the truth may be. In terms of how people differ along psychological dimensions, McGoldrick and Giordano (1996) reported that people differ according to the following six characteristics:

1. Their experience of psychological distress

2. How they describe symptoms of the distress

3. How they communicate about their distress and its symptoms

4. Their attribution of cause(s)

5. Their attitudes toward helpers

6. Their expectations for treatment

The model allows for scrutiny of the following cultural elements: acculturation, poverty and economic concerns, history of oppression, language and the arts, racism and prejudice, sociopolitical factors, child-rearing practices, religious pradtices, family strudture and dynamics, and cultural values and attitudes. When investigating these cultural elements 10 find out about a particular cultural group, one must remember that the differences within a cultural group may be greater than the differences between the dominant culture and other cultures. Helping professionals should bear in mmd that the uniqueness of the individual must be respected at all limes, along with the uniqueness of the cultural group. Giving too much attention 10 the individual encourages neglect of the impact of the cultural group on the individual. Giving 100 much attention 10 the cultural group runs the risk of stereotyping the individual as a member of that cultural group and forgetting individual uniqueness. The helper must keep both the individual s uniqueness and the cultural group membership foremost in mmd as he or she works with the culturally diverse.

Following are brief discussions of the 10 elements of the model. I believe that these represent the most important elements in terms of knowledge about, and sensitivity toward, other cultures for counselors and other helping professionals to understand. (...)