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Cult Diversity

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WEEK ONE DISCUSSION

What are the dimensions of cultural diversity? Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks.

My initial response to the question “What are the dimensions of cultural diversity?” were religion, race, ethnicity and gender. However, upon reading a chapter in the book Understanding and managing diversity : readings, cases and exercises by Harvey and Allard, the chapter A World View of Cultural Diversity by Thomas Sowell (2009), changed my perspective. After reading this chapter, I understood the question much differently and changed my view of what are cultures. According to Sowell, cultures are non static, they are fluid meaning they evolve over centuries. An important dimension of cultures is geography, which is “an important long-run influence on the shaping of cultures as well as in narrow economic terms (Harvey & Allard, 2009, p. 75).
Furthermore, Sowell states that “cultures exist to serve the vital, practical requirements of human life—to structure a society so as to perpetuate the species, to pass on the hard-earned knowledge and experience of generations past and centuries past to the young and inexperienced in order to spare the next generation the costly and dangerous process of learning everything all over again from scratch through trial and error—including fatal errors” (Harvey & Allard, 2009, p77). Therefore, the two main dimensions of cultural diversity identified are historical and geographical as these dimensions are deeply rooted in a culture. Dimensions such as religion, race, and ethnicity including gender are also dimensions of culture, the similarities of these characteristics among groups creates cultural diversity.
With what ethnic, cultural, or other groups do you identify? Describe what
Members of your social circle have in common.

Ethnically, I identify with the Hispanic/Latino

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