Valuing Diversity

West Virginia Community Educational Outreach Service Conference October 12 14, 2004 WVU Jacksons Mill

Larry LeFlore, Ph.D. Director and Professor Families and Health Program West Virginia University Extension Service

Valuing Diversity
Valuing Diversity An Operational Definition

Valuing Diversity
Valuing diversity is what institutions and members of communities do to acknowledge the benefits of their differences and similarities. They work to build sustainable relationships among people and institutions with diverse memberships.

Valuing Diversity A community that values diversity ensures that institutions provide equal treatment and access to resources and decisions for all community members regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and physical disability. (American Psychological Association, 2002)

Valuing Diversity
In order to value diversity, a community must strengthen its ability to:

Continuously and effectively address

racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression;

Develop and implement strategies that publicly

recognize the cultural traditions and practices of every major group;

Valuing Diversity (cont.)

Support processes that allow each group to address their own priorities, while at the same time, help the different groups find common ground to address shared concerns;

Understand the dynamics between a groups characteristics and issues related to power, privilege, and oppression and know how to integrate the knowledge into its valuing diversity strategies.

(American Psychological Association, PsyNet, 2003)

Valuing diversity is a critical competency for leadership in todays society. Effective management Building a capacity for trust Acknowledging other groups contributions to the greatness of this society

Diverse Groups:

. . . given the diversity of cultures that are found in this country alone, it seems more appropriate to emphasize the phenomenon of multiculturalism than to speculate about a single world culture.
(Renzentti and Currin, 1998)

Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is a more contemporary term/concept used to emphasize the fact that many groups have played significant roles in the cultural development and advancement of this country. The concept begs for the recognition of historical and contemporary contributions of the diverse cultural groups in our society. They should be respected for and appreciated for their cultural practices and experiences. The world is much smaller and connected than ever before.

Census estimates for the United States population in 2050 suggest the following representation:

< 1% 8% 25% 14% 53%

White

Black

Hispanic

Asians

Am. Indian

Other forms of Diversity

Age and generational influences (Children, adolescents, elders), Developmental and acquired disabilities (people with developmental or acquired disabilities), Religion and spiritual orientation (religious minority cultures), Ethnicity (ethnic minority cultures),

Other forms of Diversity (cont.)

Socio-economic status (people of lower status by class, education, occupation, income, rural or urban habitat, family name), Sexual orientation (gay, lesbian, bisexual people), Indigenous heritage (indigenous peoples), National origin (refugees, immigrants, international, students), Gender (women and transgender people).

A new Cultural View Regarding Multiculturalism of Cross-culturalism It is a world view. It is a commitment to diversity. It is committed to social justice and activism. It is concerned with optimizing communication. It is concerned with empowering individuals, groups, and nations. It is concerned with offering hope, optimism, and opportunity. It is multicultural, multidisciplinary, and multisectional. It is ecological, historical, interactional, and contextual. It is bio-psychological. It is revolutionary and progressive. (Cuellar & Paniagua, 200:10)

Quotations on Diversity:
Tolerance implies a respect for another person, not because he is wrong or even because he is right, but because he is human.
John Cogley Commonweal

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-63) 35th U.S. President, Democrat

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1880-1954) American publisher, businessman

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68) African American reverend, civil rights leader

Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation: and this means we must develop a world perspective.
Dr. Martin Luther King (1929-68) African American reverend, civil rights leader

There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92) French essayist

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
Nelson Mandela (b. 1918) South African civil rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner

I am inferior of any whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by reason of accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heartthe best brain.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-99) American politician, lecturer

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th U.S. President, Republican

Prejudice is the child of ignorance.

William Hazlitt

Its amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.
Wings of Wisdom

Relevant Concepts
Comfort Zone refers to zones of comfort about different topics or activities. When we are inside our comfort zone we are not challenged and we are not learning anything new. Culture refers to aspects of a social environment that are used to communicate values such as what is considered good and desirable, right and wrong, normal, different, appropriate, or attractive. Cultural Imperialism involves the universalization of a dominant groups experience and culture, and its establishment as the norm. To experience cultural imperialism means to experience how the dominant meanings of a society render the particular perspective of ones own group invisible while at the same time they stereotype ones group and mark it as the other.

Relevant Concepts
Cultural Oppression was social norms, rituals, language, music, and art to reflect and reinforce the belief that one social group is superior to another. Exploitation is oppression that occurs through a steady process of the transfer of the results of the labor of one social group to benefit another. It involves a systematic process in which the energies of the have-nots are continuously expended to maintain and augment the power, status, and wealth of the haves. Feminism is the valuing of women, and the belief in and advocacy for social, political, and economic equality and liberation for both women and men. Feminism questions and challenges patriarchal social values and structures that serve to enforce and maintain mens dominance and womens subordination.

Relevant Concepts
Homophobia is the fear, hatred, or intolerance of lesbians and gay men or any behavior that falls outside of traditional gender roles. Learning Edge is when we are on the edge of our comfort zone, we are on the learning edge which may be signaled by feelings of annoyance, anger, anxiety, surprise, confusion, or defensiveness. These reactions are signs that our way of seeing things is being challenged. Marginalization refers to people as marginals when the system of labor cannot or will not employ them. (Examples: old people; young people; Blacks or Latins who cannot find first or second jobs; single mothers; people with mental or physical disabilities.)

Relevant Concepts
Powerlessness occurs when people do not regularly participate in making decisions that affect the conditions of their lives and actions, thus lacking significant power. The powerless are situated so that they must take orders and rarely have the right to give them. (Example: the working class.) Sexism involves the individual, institutional, and societal/cultural beliefs and practices that favor men and subordinate women. Socialization begins before we are born, with no choice on our part, and continues throughput our lives as we receive systematic training from people we love and trust on how to be our social identity.

Relevant Concepts
Social Oppression exists when one social group, whether knowingly or unconsciously, exploits another social group for its own benefit. White Privilege refers to the concrete benefits of access to resources and social rewards and the power to shape the norms and values of society that Whites receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of their skin color in a racist society.

Reference List
American Psychological Association. (2003). The Valuing of Diversity Project, http://www.apa.org/pi/valuingdiversity/ American Psychological Association. (2002). The Valuing of Diversity Project: Final Report. Gaithersburg, MD: Association for the Study and Development of Community. Adams, M., Blumenfield, W. J., Casaneda, R.. Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L. & Zuniga, X. (2000). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge. Bianchi,S. M., & Casper, L. M. (December 2000). American Families. Population Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 4. www.prb.org. Cuellar, I., & Paniagua, F. A. (2000). Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health (Eds). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Reference List
Garrett, M. T. (1998). Walking on the wind: Cherokee teachings for harmony and balance. Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Company Publishing. Hardy, K. V. & Laszloffy, T. A. (1995). The cultural genogram: Key to training culturally competent family therapist, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 21: 227-237. Hays, P. A. (2001). Addressing Cultural Complexities in Practice. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Payne, R. K. (1998). A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX: RFT Publishing Co. Wood, J. (2001). Gender lives: Communication, gender and culture. (4th Ed) San Francisco: Wadsworth Publishing.

Web Site Reading

Japanese Community Youth Council www.jcyc.org National Center for Cultural Competence www.georgetown.edu Surgeon Generals Report www.mentalhealth.org Values for a Better Life http://www.forbetterlife.org/values/quotes.asp OfficialkwanzaaWebsite.org

Valuing Diversity
West Virginia Community Educational Outreach Service Conference October 12 14, 2004 WVU Jacksons Mill

Larry LeFlore, Ph.D. Director and Professor Families and Health Program West Virginia University Extension Service