Cultural Comparative and Competencies: Examining Global Diversity - Research Paper

Abstract

Cultural comparative and cultural competences are very vital aspects in the study of anthropology since they significantly contribute to the understanding of human diversity as well as to comparatively examine the traditions and cultures of other societies. The world's population today is made up of various distinct ethnic groups, communities, and cultures which include the Western culture, African-American, Arab, Latin American, East Asia as well as Anglo America cultures. But the central focus of this research paper is to cover a detailed analysis of one of the many cultures within the region of East Asian, mainly comprising of countries such as North and South Korea, China and Japan that are considered to have a significant impact on the rest of the world. However, each of these countries has their unique cultures although they do have some common beliefs and customs, for example, their strong respect for authority, and agreements on how to conduct oneself in public as well as their firm sense of hierarchy. Therefore, the present paper is commissioned at critically analyzing the Chinese culture, which is one of the oldest cultures across the globe, originating many years ago. First, it will provide a comparison of the culture and the Italian-American culture, discuss how the social workers can be involved in empowering individuals and communities and finally give a summary of the essential skills that the social workers should have to empower, strengthen and mobilize the Chinese Culture efficiently. Lastly, the paper will utilize social work perspectives in discussing culture as an essential aspect of people's lives that significantly influences their views, values, and loyalties.

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Introduction

In the contemporary field of anthropology, to adequately define a nation, it is of critical importance to first obtain a comprehensive understanding of the essential characteristics of the population occupying that country, for instance, their social life, customs, and values. Ideally, culture plays a prominent role in explaining the identity of a defined population that inhibits a country or maybe the people who ultimately constitute a nation that gives a profound understanding of the experience if one was to live in these places. Culture is a broad term in anthropology that is delineated to adequately describe the incorporated patterns of human behaviors, which comprises of institutions of the religious, ethnic, or racial groups, customs, language, activities, values, and beliefs (Leavitt, 2002, p.1). Cultural competence, on the other hand, is a vital tool that helps in understanding the diverse cultural background, adequately defined as the capability to interact with individuals from the different cultural background or being certain or responsive to a variety of beliefs, cultural or linguistics requirements of different communities or population (Leavitt, 2002, p.2). For example, the East Asian cultures comprising of nations like North and South Korea, China and Japan have similar cuisines and language roots including both verbal and written, but also have some differences that distinguish the customs of each community. The Chinese culture is primarily considered as the largest covering a vast region of East Asia.

Therefore, the chief aim of this research paper is to offer a critical overview of the Chinese culture including the roles of its social structure made up of families, community, and individuals. It will also provide a critical reflection on the importance of social workers empowerment within the Chinese culture that gradually helps in maintaining harmonious relationships within the country. The primary reason why I chose to talk about Chinese culture is mainly because of the many traditions and cultures associated with it that are interesting to learn and utterly different from the Italian-American's culture. Typically, China is an enormously vast nation while the different customs and traditions of its citizens differ regarding ethnicity and geographical location. Significant examples of the Chinese culture include ethics, language, family, art, food, religion among others (Dolgoff & Donald, 2013, p.29). The culture of the Republic of China is highly perceived to be superior in modern society primarily because a variety of unique festivals, outstanding art, and delicious cuisine are only found in the country.

Historical Background

Notably, the many remarkable cultural traditions of China were in development way before its establishment in 1949 that was primarily a combination of communism and traditional Chinese culture. Even after obtaining its independence, for a few years, the traditional customs were still practiced to some extent. Some of the primary transformations focused on the efforts to abolish the prevalent classical social inequalities like serfdom, sexism, and ethnocentrism (Pan, Rowney & Peterson, 2012, p. 78). One form of Bureaucrat Chinese referred to as Putonghua was endorsed during this period by the people's Government that was based in Beijing as the trade language in a continuation of the Chinese Republic, but most of the descriptive words of the different ethnic groups and the natively spoken variants remained in use. Also, because the Soviet Union was a close partner of the Republic of China at the time, the Russian culture, in particular, their language was widely used but this ultimately came to an end in the year 1961, when a border dispute emerged or the commonly known Sino-Soviet split that brought to an end the Sino-Soviet Union (Leavitt, 2002). Cultural Revolution, however, began in 1966, where all kinds of Chinese traditional culture were suppressed, marking the end of the Four Olds things. The Red Guard also destroyed churches and Temples, and much opposed the Confucian morality and promoted the cult of personality that contained Chairman Mao Zedong.

After the Cultural Revolution era, there was a significant renaissance of the Chinese culture that is today considered as the most leading culture within the East Asian, implying that this culture covers an extensive geographical location in East Asia with greatly varying customs between the many towns, cities as well as the provinces (Pan, Rowney & Peterson, 2012, p. 77). As one of the earliest civilizations, China held the most influential power in the region that in turn formed the basis of the East Asian culture. Many local religions comprising of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional Chinese arts that flourished from the Cultural Revolution, the language, politics, ceramics, music, and dance have a substantial impact on the contemporary society, whereas its festivals and traditions are immensely practiced and celebrated worldwide (Dolgoff & Donald, 2013, p.30). Furthermore, the rapid increase of the Chinese culture as the most prevalent in East Asia has ushered in several practical values that are continually affiliated with the concept of modernization (Pan, Rowney & Peterson, 2012). Advancement in technology, bureaucratization, universal learning and democratization all signifies modernity that has been embraced into the current Chinese society and identified as part of the nation's cultural identity. Therefore, Chinese culture is efficiently characterized by both modernity and tradition.

Comparison of the Roles of the Individual, Family, Community, and Societal in Chinese Culture and the Italian-American Culture and the United States Culture

Many customs and values distinguish the Chinese culture, the Italian-American culture, and the American culture. Aspects like the specific roles played by society, individuals, communities, and families are just some of the examples of the differences that exist between these three cultures. However, it is beneficial to explore and understand how influential and different these cultures are since all through I have predominantly been exposed to the U.S. and Italian-American cultures. The Italian Americans comprise of the ethnic group of European Americans with the Italian descent and make up the fourth largest group in America after the Germans, Irish and the English Americans (Gardaphe, 2012). Equally, the United States culture encompasses the various traditions and customs of the Americans. For instance, for the Chinese culture; the concept of collectivism is a valuable cultural value that contrasts with the emphasized individualism in Western culture (Acevedo, 2003, p. 6). In China, the individual perspective in a society implies that a person is identified regarding the perception that others have on him or her while people give priorities to group objectives as well as needs rather than their personal goals (East Asian Cultural Themes). Indeed this cultural value is at times given much emphasis such that an individual fails to differentiate between their community and particular roles primarily because the cohesiveness or the goals of the team is of paramount significance.

On the other hand, in Italian-American culture as well the American culture individualism plays a significant role in shaping their ethnicity. Unlike with the Chinese culture, the individualistic culture of the Italian-Americans is self-centered and hugely puts much focus on the individual goals (Gardaphe, 2012). Essentially, every individual is unique and possess a moral significance that is integral in human nature or of divine origin. In this culture, individuals are anticipated to be ethical if they only portray the aspects of self-reliance, self-confident and resilient (Acevedo, 2003, p.8). This is in contrary to the collectivistic customs where people are highly expected to have characteristics like reliable, generous and incredibly supportive to others.

Regarding the roles of the family, in Chinese culture and primarily due to the collectivism emphasis families are required to be very unified, living close or together with the extended families and often with their children until they get married (Acevedo, 2003, p. 9). There are diverse hierarchical roles for every member of the family. Children are taught to obey their elders and parents while the elderly are perceived to play a prominent part of family and social groups in offering wisdom while the rest of the family members are served with the responsibility of taking care of the elderly parents (East Asian Cultural Themes). However, the present familial devotion is one of the essential Confucius teachings. On the other end, both the American and the Italian-American cultures also value the concept of family, which defines the individuals' American experience (Weiming, 2017). Italian Americans have always insisted that nothing is more essential in modern life than having and enhancing a supportive and active family (Acevedo, 2003, p. 9). In both cultures, fathers have a responsibility to fulfill in supporting their families, mothers offering the affection and stability for their families and children taught the implication and importance of practicing respect.

How Social Workers Empower Individuals, Groups, and Communities Within The Chinese Culture

The empowerment concept has widely been adopted in the practice of social work. The social workers through the empowerment model are thus considered to play a prominent role in empowering individuals and communities (Yip, 2004). Through practical interventions comprising of both structural and personal dimensions, the transformation ideology and empowerment is accomplished offering the social workers with an opportunity to experience power as well as collaboration through their relationships with the different groups of individuals (Dolgoff & Donald, 2013, p. 120). However, empowerment int...