Culture And Counselling Essay Research Paper Culture free essay sample

Culture And Counselling Essay, Research Paper Culture may be defined in a wide and narrow context. The wide definition includes demographic variables ( age, gender ) , position variables ( societal, educational, economic ) and associations ( formal and informal ) , every bit good as ethnographic variables, such as ethnicity, nationality, linguistic communication. Narrow definition of civilization is limited to the footings of ethnicity and nationality, which are of import for single and familial individuality, but the construct of civilization in Counselling normally goes beyond national and cultural boundaries. It interprets civilization in a broader facet, it aims to travel beyond its more obvious and verifiable symbols toward the more subjective perspectives its members hold. Reding trades with the subjective facet of civilization, which refers to the internalised feeling, attitudes, sentiments and premises that members of a peculiar civilization clasp, every bit good as with the aim, which involves seeable facets, that are c ulturally adopted and determined and can be identified by both individuals within and outside a given civilization. We will write a custom essay sample on Culture And Counselling Essay Research Paper Culture or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are different positions, nevertheless, , which put emphasis on assorted facets of civilization and seek to place its boundaries and its replacements. Some regard civilization as separate entity from demographic factors, some point out socialization as one of the obstructions, which makes civilization hard to place, some show how an confidant and meaningful relationship between a counselor and a culturally different client to be established. In this essay I will be discoursing what the different constructs of apprehension of civilization in Counselling are, by analyzing different writers and positions and measuring their strengths and failings. Herskovits ( 1948 cited in Serpell 1978 ) defines civilization as the portion of the environment, which is created or shaped by human existences. Triandis ( 1972 in Pedersen 1994 ) focused on the civilization # 8216 ; in our caputs # 8217 ; , which is composed of the shared experiences and cognition of a self-perpetuating and uninterrupted human group, which is portion and package of the personal world. Triandis, Bontemplo, Leung A ; Hui ( 1990 cited in Pedersen 1994 ) distinguished between demographic, cultural and personal concepts. Cultural concepts they identified as being shared by group of people, who live in the same geographical location at the same clip, speak the same idiom and shared the same norms, functions, values and ways to depict experience. Demographic constructs trade with the same subjects, but when shared by a peculiar demographic group within a civilization, such as work forces and adult females, immature and old. Personal concepts belong to another class of single differences and can non be meaningfully interpreted with mentions to the cultural and demographic rank. Each of the three concepts are closely related with the others, but they should be examined independently. Reding in this instance should take into account cultural and demographic differences, but work on a personal degree. Contrary to this position stands Hofstede ( 1986, 1992 cited in Pedersen 1996 ) who described three factors or dimensions that constitute and influence civilization. The first construct is individualism-collectivism- a individual experiences himself as a self-contained alone entity, endeavoring to achieve his or her ain ends and to recognize his or her ain aspirations. In a leftist environment a individual finds himself portion of societal web of life-lasting relationships, from which he or she can non or does non desire to be removed. This ambiguity leads to alter in the look of attitudes and values in the societal sphere. Power concept is a concept th at refers to the spread that separates higher-ups from subsidiaries and is assessed on the credence versus rejection of inequality in position, income and power. The 3rd construct is the masculinity-femininity on the footing of a distinction of occupational gender functions. In broader footings, masculine civilizations are orientated toward public presentation, production and accomplishment, feminine civilizations emphasize caring and value aspirations toward the less significant ends of comfort, security and felicity. This position shows the subjective portion of civilization and trades with human existences on vitamin E deeper degree, indicating out that when seeking to understand civilization, all the concepts mentioned supra should besides be taken into history before pulling decisions. The differentiation between civilization as a system with an being on its ain versus civilization as a set of conditions outlined by Berry, Poortinga, Segall and Dasen ( 1992 cited in Pedersen 1996 ) is utile to understanding the dynamic nature of the construct every bit good as its many dimensions, including gender, societal establishments ( household, school, equal groups, church, political groups ) can be observed as go-betweens of the civilization # 8217 ; s symbolic significances, such as values, outlooks and attitudes. Multiculturalism seems to capture together the alone interaction among many different variables that together form cultural diverseness. There is some confusion nevertheless refering the differentiation between footings, such as cultural individuality, cultural individuality and racial individuality. Some writers approached the concept of individuality by agencies of the associated construct of socialization ( Padilla 1980 cited in Ponteroto et al 1996 ) , some from societal cognitive position ( Knight, Bernal, Gazza A ; Cotta 1993 cited in Woolfe R. 1996 ) . Olmedo ( 1979 cited in Ho 1995 ) advocated a psychometric position to the measuring of socialization. Three chief classs of points have been used in the building of graduated tables for mensurating single socialization: lingual ( linguistic communication proficiency ) , sociocultural ( position and mobility, grade of urbanisation, household size ) and psychological ( cultural values orientation, cognition, values, attitudes ) . The inquiry of cultural individuality and how this term becomes flexible one time a individual has left a peculiar state or even speakin g about different coevalss in footings of altering values and forms, shows the chief trouble when seeking to pigeonhole a peculiar civilization, which is the construct of development within the civilization itself, which leads to changeless ongoing alterations of the construct of one’s civilization every bit good as of the construct of civilization itself. However, in most of the guidance literature, civilization is by and large synonymous with race and ethnicity. Other possible cultural dimensions, such as faith, gender, or societal category are normally ignored. Dimensions, such as disablement, sexual orientation and age frequently are addressed apart from civilization. Traditionally, cultural, demographic and personal factors have been distinguished from each other, and gender as a demographic factor is associated with specific values, beliefs and premises shared by a specific section of a civilization. In a planetary society, the boundaries of linguistic communication and geographics as standards for definition of civilization are rather weak. However, some writers still speculate and distinguish civilization of gender. As Segal and Dasen ( 1990 ) claimed that gender differences are enculturated in immature kids through the procedure of different socialisation, doing them portion of either work forces # 8217 ; s and female # 8217 ; s universe, which are complex societal systems with specific values representing civilization of their ain. Gender functions, on the other manus, are claimed to be biologically determined by some writers, such as Pearsons and Bowlby, so those are possible grounds why gender is still examined as a dimension outside civilization. Pedersen ( 1991 cited I Pedersen 1994 ) presented the possibility of a new generic multicultural theory, a # 8216 ; 4th force # 8217 ; which goes good together with the psychodynamic, the behavioural and the humanistic accounts of human behavior. It explains behaviour in footings of single differences every bit good as those facets that are shared across civilizations by the human race and that bind individuals to one another regardless of their differentness. Pederson supported the place that multiculturalism should mention to a wide definition of civilization that includes demographic, ethnographic, position and association dimensions, in which instance there would be a theory, which can be followed and used in all reding relationships. There are three different types of responses to cross-cultural guidance. Harmonizing to Berry ( 1969 ) one should get down with preparation, experience and sensitiveness they have accumulated with their within-cultural patronages and so to extent and modify their intercessions in culturally different reding brushs. The 2nd mentality is a careful conceptual analysis of a civilization # 8217 ; s values and patterns, including its curative intercessions, and eventual incorporation of these constituents into modern reding techniques. The 3rd attack focuses on placing cultural obstructions to effectual and helpful intercession. Once the barriers are identified, they can be removed and a culturally appropriate solution may be proposed. Yet none of those techniques bears in head civilization as being a different dimension with its ain regulations and values and none of them does really see the troubles that may be encountered in specifying and saying cultural boundaries every bit good as t aking them. Cultural consciousness in this instance is helpful, but the fact that cultural differences are sometimes difficult to be distinguished from demographic or personal 1s makes them hard to be accurately identified. Egan ( 1998 ) shows a theoretical account, which undergoes cultural boundaries, which regards cultural differences in the context of premises, beliefs and norms. He claimed that in order a counselor to be efficient, he or she should understand the different demands and the thought of balance in a peculiar civilization, to understand the specific niceties related to demographic factors, but chiefly to esteem that behind their shared humanity, clients differ from one another in many facets and diverseness and single civilization should be praised. Definitions of civilization unit as a group of people populating in the same geographical country and sharing the same linguistic communication or idiom seems to be utile for probes at the group or population degree. However, this attack reduces civilization to a position of a nominal variable, which is instead limited. First, categorical assignment presumes that each topic belong to one and merely cultural unit. This given is indefensible in instances of to the full bicultural or multicultural persons. Second, subcultural fluctuations, originating from powerful factors, such as age, gender and socioeconomic category are ignored ( Ho, 1989 cited in Ho 1995 ) . More basically, within group single differences in the extent to which civilization is internalized can non be dealt with. Third, civilization is treated as uni-dimensional variable, accordingly, the multidimensional variable of cultural procedure is non taken into history. As Counselling addresses personal differences, in the model of cultural and demographic fluctuations, it deals with civilization in a broader facet. In other footings, civilization is accepted as a term, which lacks spacial dimensions and it is hard to be spotted every bit good as defined. Cultural consciousness is of import, but civilization should be regarded as a difference instead than an obstruction and premises should non be drawn. As civilization is a flexible construct which is invariably altering in a broader every bit good as in a narrower context, it is hard to specify, whether a peculiar fragment of one # 8217 ; s personality is culturally determined, demographically adopted or merely a personal feature. Mentions: 1. Egan G. ( 1998 ) The Skilled Helper, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company: United states 2. Ho Y.H.D. Internalized Culture, Culturocentrism and Transcendence, The Counselling Psychologist, Vol.23, 1, January 95, p.4-24 3. Pedersen B. ( 1994 ) A Handbook for Developing of Multicultural Awareness, American Counselling Association: United states 4. Pedersen B. et Al. ( 1996 ) ( ed. ) Reding Across Cultures, Sage Publications Inc. : USA 5. Ponteroto J. et Al. ( 1995 ) ( ed. ) Handbook of Multicultural Counselling, Sage Publications Inc. : USA 6. Serpell R. ( 1976 ) Culture # 8217 ; s Influence on Behaviour, Richard Clay Ltd. : United kingdom 7. Woolfe R. A ; Dryden W. ( 1996 ) ( ed. ) Handbook of Counselling Psychology, Sage Publications: United kingdom