Diversity & Culture

I spoke to three people this week and asked them to share their definitions of diversity and culture.

Person #1 defined diversity as involving race and ethnicity. They defined culture as the way people live based on their beliefs and values.

Person #2 defined diversity as a good sampling of extremes of characteristics of people. They defined culture as way of life that is usually share by a group that incorporates certain aspects.

Person #3 defined diversity as a random group of people. They defined culture as what your family believes in.

We have talked about a few of the topics that these three people mentioned, including race and ethnicity. We have also discussed how our outward appearances can attribute to our diversity. We have also talked about our beliefs and value systems and their play in diversity.

However, these three all mention surface culture topics, not as much deep culture. Deep culture is embedded in everyday life and includes books, music,  and daily habits. I think culture is a well-understood term for these three but they may not realize how complex of a concept it is.

As I think about what others have said to me about diversity and culture, I wonder if I would have been able to come up with definitions as quickly as they did. All three were very comfortable with the topics and were more than willing to be involved. The way person #2 discussed culture being a shared way of life was insightful;  a culture cannot become that way from just one person, but the different social identities that build us up make us unique within those shared cultures.