culture: key cultural group categories Flashcards
seven Key Cultural Group Categories:
race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, spirituality, disability.
race
A social and political classification that identifies individuals by distinguishing physical characteristics such as skin color, facial features, hair texture, or eye shape
color blindness
Involves the equal treatment of individuals by ignoring racial differences. Professional counselors who endorse this assumption are likely to adopt the attitude that race no longer matters, and in doing so perpetuate a continuing distrust of White counselors for clients of color, diminish the importance that the client’s cultural background has on the client’s worldview, and fail to create therapeutic goals that are met with culturally appropriate treatments.
color consciousness
A process by which Whites experience guilt for their role in perpetuating racial discrimination for racial minorities and, as a result, begin to focus solely on racial differences.
colorism
A form of discrimination in which individuals receive differential treatment based on skin color. Traditionally, individuals whose skin color approximates that of Whites receive preferential treatment
biracial individuals
Individuals who are the biological children of parents from two different racial backgrounds.
mulatto
A person with both White and African lineages
mestizo
A person who is born of Native American and Caucasian parents.
eugenics movement
A social movement that attempted to preserve the purity of the Caucasian race by monitoring a person’s innate characteristics and dictating who could marry and reproduce.
multiracial
Individuals who are from multiple racial lineages.
Ethnicity
An individual’s identification with a group of people who have common social ties due to geographic origins, cultural heritage, language, values, or religious belief.
ethnic identity
Self-perceived sense of membership in an ethnic group, including feelings and attitudes associated with that membership.
ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s cultural group is right or superior to all other cultures. Ethnocentrism represents a lack of flexibility and openness to other perspectives and worldviews.
Socioeconomic Class or Status (SES):
The hierarchical distinctions between cultural groups in society. Individuals in each SES can have a different worldview, conceptions of problems, perceptions of themselves, and needs to be met. The distinctions between classes are often determined by income, occupation, and education. Individuals in the same social class often share a variety of common assumptions, norms, and values.
Four class statuses in the US:
upper-class,
middle-class,
working-class, underclass
Upper-class status:
The wealthy, who have made or inherited large sums of money.
Wealth:
refers to a surplus of social, educational, and economic resources.
Middle-class status:
Able to meet immediate needs plus those that arise in the future. Employed in technical or professional occupations.
Working-class status:
Live paycheck to paycheck, working to get immediate needs and bills met. Often work in service or labor industries and are put under extreme pressure to make ends meet.
Underclass status:
Generally have an underpaying job or are not employed. Struggle greatly to maintain basic needs, such as food, housing, health care, and even access to transportation.
poverty
The struggle to meet and maintain basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. May also include a lack of access to educational and employment opportunities
generational poverty
Occurs when poverty has been a factor in several generations
situational poverty
Occurs when lack of resources is due to an extenuating circumstance, such as a divorce, unexpected unemployment, or a death
classism
A form of oppression based on a person’s social status. Classism can take two forms: structural and internalized.
modern classism
A theory of classism that proposes those of lower status may exhibit classism as well as those of upper status.
structural classism
A form of classism that maintains the current status quo or arrangement of classes.
internalized classism
A form of classism in which individuals come to believe the negative attributes associated with their social class.
sex
An individual is biologically a male or female as determined by hormones, genetics, and physical makeup
gender
The psychological and social characteristics often associated with an individual’s biological sex but usually derived from cultural rules and norms
sex roles
Abilities derived from an individual’s biological makeup and physiological functioning (e.g., a woman’s sex role would include her ability to conceive and birth a child).
gender roles
The expectations put on individuals by society regarding how they should behave, think, and be treated because of their biological sex
gender expression
The ways in which individuals portray their gender, ways that may or may not be aligned with gender role expectations
cisgender
A term used to refer to individuals who perceive that their assigned sex at birth is aligned with their identified gender.
transgender and gender-nonconforming
A term used to refer to individuals whose identified gender or gender expression does not fit into the binary social categories of masculinity and femininity traditionally assigned with the male and female assigned sex at birth, respectively.
male gender-role conflict
Refers to how traditional gender role socialization negatively impacts men’s wellbeing.
transgender
A term used to describe a broad continuum of individuals whose gender identity and roles, to varying degrees, do not conform to cultural norms and expectations associated with their biological sex
• Transsexuals:
Persons who choose to alter their biology to be more in line with their identified gender.
• Cross-dressers:
Persons who dress in clothing traditionally worn by the opposite sex. Most commonly seen as men in women’s clothes and may provide sexual pleasure. About 1 person in every 50 is estimated to be a cross-dresser.
• Transgenderist.
Persons who live the life of the opposite sex without biological intervention.
• Intersexed.
Formerly known as hermaphrodites, these individuals possess both male and female genitalia and hormones.
• Genderqueer.
Persons who do not conform to traditional ideas of gender roles and sexual orientation.
• Two-spirited.
A Native American term that identifies a person with the spirit of both a male and a female. It is important to note, however, that individuals from the dominant culture would be disrespectful if they used this term to describe a Native American.
• Gender dysphoria.
Experienced by persons who were born one gender, identify with another, and feel conflicted about it. This occurs in an estimated 3% to 10% of the population.
transphobia
Discrimination against transsexual or transgendered individuals, based on their nonalignment with cultural expectations regarding gender and sexuality.
trans-affirmative approach
Involves the counselor taking on the role of an advocate by being involved politically, teaching the client how to advocate, and rallying for equal community resources
sexual orientation
An individual’s consistent attachment and sexual attraction to members of the same, opposite, or both gender(s). Sexual orientation can be thought of as a continuum that has four orientations: homosexual (individual is attracted to members of the same sex), bisexual (individual is attracted to members of the same and of the opposite sex), heterosexual (individual is attracted to members of the opposite sex), and questioning individual is questioning his or her sexual orientation).
sexual identity
Encompasses physical identity (biological makeup of an individual), gender identity (belief about one’s gender), social sex role identity (sex roles individuals adopt due to culture), and sexual orientation identity (sexual and emotional attraction to individuals of the same or opposite sex).
• Homosexual:
A person of the same sex is usually the object of sexual attraction and fantasizing. Persons with this orientation can be referred to as being “gay” or “lesbian,” and they do not prefer to be called “homosexual.”
• Heterosexual:
A person of the opposite sex is usually the object of sexual attraction and fantasizing. This orientation, also known as being “straight,” is the most socially accepted.
• Bisexual:
A person is attracted to and fantasizes about both the opposite and the same sex. A bisexual may encounter discrimination similar to that experienced by the gay community but also may encounter resistance from the gay community.
• Heteroflexible:
This term can describe individuals who may primarily identity as heterosexual yet engage in limited same-sex sexual behavior but do not identify as bisexual.
• Questioning:
This is a relatively new term that refers to an individual who is questioning his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The letter Q is used to represent this concept, although for many young people Q represents queer
• Pansexual:
This term refers to individuals whose sexual or affectional attractions are not limited to what might be typical of a particular gender identity or biological sex.
• Affectional orientation:
a recent term suggested by researchers to describe sexual minorities because it broadens discussion beyond simple sexual attraction. Relationships also involve attraction based on intelligence, emotional stability, communication style, and other interpersonal factors and feelings.
• Heteronormativity:
refers to societal expectations that individuals, on the basis of their biological sex, adhere to gender roles that complement those of the opposite biological sex. It involves an assumption that there is a binary gender system and that heterosexuality is the normal orientation.
• Heterosexism:
the discriminatory practice toward those who do not fall within the “mainstream” category of heterosexual. It involves imposing heterosexually based social norms and positively regarding those who abide by such norms.
• Homophobia:
refers to fear and hatred of sexual minorities, often resulting in hate crimes. Internalized homophobia: the process by which sexual minorities accept heterosexist messages; this can hinder their sexual identity development.
Homoprejudice:
a term that has recently emerged in research as scholars suggest that prejudice is more the cause of discrimination than an actual phobia per se.
Spirituality
A process that involves the continual search for meaning and deepens one’s connection to the inner self, others, and the world. Spirituality also encompasses a sense of well-being and fulfilment.
soul
The quintessential nature of a person.
religion
The institutionalized expression of an organized set of beliefs and ritualized practices that guide a person or group’s understanding of reality
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA):
Provision of nondiscriminatory education process for children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.
spiritual bypass
The misuse of spiritual beliefs and practices to avoid addressing problematic psychological, physical, emotional, cognitive, relational, or behavioral issues.
Disability
A physical, mental, or behavioral challenge that limits an individual’s ability to function in the activities associated with daily living.
ableism
The belief that individuals with disabilities are limited in what they can do and undervalues their abilities.
