Diversity has always been a challenge for managers and people involved in both academic and corporate environments. Schools, colleges, and universities now cater to students, teachers and staff members coming from all sorts of backgrounds. People can be of different race, ethnicity, skin color, sexual orientation, age and gender. In educational settings, it is important for facilitators to understand how different people react to diversity around them. The Developmental Model of Intercultural sensitivity is a framework that outlines certain behavioral attributes that correspond to people’s reaction to cultural diversity. It consists of six stages; the first three are ethnocentric, which means that the person experiences strict ownership of one’s ethnicity and culture. The other three stages are ethno relative, which means that the person starts looking at his/her own culture from the other person’s point of view.
Ethnocentric stages
The first stage is denial. During this initial stage, the person might disregard any and all other cultures and ethnicities. A person at this stage refuses to recognize the existence and is completely disinterested in other cultures around them. They tend to be socially cut-off and isolated from any situations that involve people from other cultures and ethnicity. An example would be a particular student who avoids participating in the school’s play, sports teams, cultural events etc. just to stay away from cultural diversity. Continuous exposure and interaction with the diverse environment may be just enough to make a transition to the next phase which is defense. In this stage the person might see other cultures as insignificant as or lower in status than their own. In many instances, the individual might even show hostility or racism towards other cultures. For instance, a new exchange student might be admitted in to a school. The class he/she is admitted to might be predominantly local with little or no diversity. At first, the new student might have a hard time adjusting and settling in due to the local students looking down upon at the new exchange student. They might not sit with the new student, play with them, and share with them or even talk to them. In many cases, this might even lead to verbal insults, making fun of the newcomer or even violence. This behavior can be collective or individual as well.
In the minimization stage, the person regards his/her culture as universal. If confronted by any differences, the person thinks of them as unsuitable and odd and may even try to impose his/her own beliefs and forcefully match theirs with the other cultures. For example, physical contact between men and women is not suitable in some cultures like the Islamic. A Muslim girl who refuses to shake hands with a fellow American student might result in the American student being offended and insulted instead of realizing that she is just following her culture.
Ethnorelative stages
This portion starts off with Acceptance which is a stage when the person accepts his/her own culture as one of the many different cultures that exist. This may not always be positive but people in this stage are generally curious to know more about other cultures. A student at the acceptance stage will not have an ethnocentric attitude but will be respectful towards other cultures and might even try to find out more about his/her fellow students through research or even casual conversation.
After accepting the fact the world all around consists of different types of cultures, a person may transit into the adaptive stage. At this stage a student in a diverse environment might start looking at things from the perspective of different cultures. This invokes consideration and mental flexibility and makes the mind broad. The class of students that was once hostile and made fun of the new exchange student’s accent or attire might now realize that those are just different ways of doing the same thing and are perfectly acceptable just like their own ways. After adapting to the cultural differences, a person makes the final transition into the integration stage. At this stage, a student would look into blending in with the different forms of cultures surrounding him or her. They make take on certain influences as well like a particular student in the class might adopt a few traits from the new exchange student with respect to clothing, music or even learn their foreign language.
Ethnocentric stages
The first stage is denial. During this initial stage, the person might disregard any and all other cultures and ethnicities. A person at this stage refuses to recognize the existence and is completely disinterested in other cultures around them. They tend to be socially cut-off and isolated from any situations that involve people from other cultures and ethnicity. An example would be a particular student who avoids participating in the school’s play, sports teams, cultural events etc. just to stay away from cultural diversity. Continuous exposure and interaction with the diverse environment may be just enough to make a transition to the next phase which is defense. In this stage the person might see other cultures as insignificant as or lower in status than their own. In many instances, the individual might even show hostility or racism towards other cultures. For instance, a new exchange student might be admitted in to a school. The class he/she is admitted to might be predominantly local with little or no diversity. At first, the new student might have a hard time adjusting and settling in due to the local students looking down upon at the new exchange student. They might not sit with the new student, play with them, and share with them or even talk to them. In many cases, this might even lead to verbal insults, making fun of the newcomer or even violence. This behavior can be collective or individual as well.
In the minimization stage, the person regards his/her culture as universal. If confronted by any differences, the person thinks of them as unsuitable and odd and may even try to impose his/her own beliefs and forcefully match theirs with the other cultures. For example, physical contact between men and women is not suitable in some cultures like the Islamic. A Muslim girl who refuses to shake hands with a fellow American student might result in the American student being offended and insulted instead of realizing that she is just following her culture.
Ethnorelative stages
This portion starts off with Acceptance which is a stage when the person accepts his/her own culture as one of the many different cultures that exist. This may not always be positive but people in this stage are generally curious to know more about other cultures. A student at the acceptance stage will not have an ethnocentric attitude but will be respectful towards other cultures and might even try to find out more about his/her fellow students through research or even casual conversation.
After accepting the fact the world all around consists of different types of cultures, a person may transit into the adaptive stage. At this stage a student in a diverse environment might start looking at things from the perspective of different cultures. This invokes consideration and mental flexibility and makes the mind broad. The class of students that was once hostile and made fun of the new exchange student’s accent or attire might now realize that those are just different ways of doing the same thing and are perfectly acceptable just like their own ways. After adapting to the cultural differences, a person makes the final transition into the integration stage. At this stage, a student would look into blending in with the different forms of cultures surrounding him or her. They make take on certain influences as well like a particular student in the class might adopt a few traits from the new exchange student with respect to clothing, music or even learn their foreign language.
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