If you are minority, did you compare yourself to white cultural norms when you were growing up? If you are white, were you aware of cultural norms of minority group?
Effective communication assignment 9
Answer and submit the “Communication + You” questions on p. 201 #1, 2 (350 words minimum)
As Nakayama Martin and Flores (2002) point out, white adults and especially “white children do not need to attend to the norms and value of minority groups unless they have direct exposure in their neighborhoods and schools. Minority children, however, are exposed to and compare themselves to [the dominant] white cultural norms through television, books, and other media (p. 103). Whereas white people can act without knowledge or sensitivity to cultures customs in a white society. Minority groups are rapidly disciplined for failing to observe white cultural norms. Consider these findings with particular reference to the ways in which the “dominant” or “preferred” cultural identifiers are usually taken for granted and invisible. This means you need to think about the ways in which the powerful people in society are not called upon to explain themselves.” Note that it is for examples, LGBT members of our society are called upon to “justify” their behavior, not heterosexuals that it is women whose promiscuous sexual behavior is subject to negative comments, not men’s (compare use of the word slut with use of the word player): and so on.
Questions
1 Do you agree with what is stated above?
2 If you are minority, did you compare yourself to white cultural norms when you were growing up? If you are white, were you aware of cultural norms of minority group?