Social and Cultural Diversity

Social and Cultural Diversity Paper Writing Instructions
Overview
The Social and Cultural Diversity Paper (1,750-2,000 words) requires the student to identify and reflect on possible personal biases regarding gender, religion, sexual or gender orientation, race, socioeconomic status, disability status, or culture. The purpose of this paper is to raise the student’s personal and professional level of awareness regarding the subject of diverse populations.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a grading rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Process Schedule
The Social and Cultural Diversity Paper assignment will be accomplished in a five-step process, with individual steps submitted and graded regularly throughout the course, according to the following schedule:
1) Outline (Due Week 2)
2) References (Due Week 4)
3) First Draft (Due Week 6)
4) Final Paper (Due Week 8)
Content Guidelines
When constructing this paper, use a three-part structure according to the following guidelines:
Part 1
The first part of the paper requires you to identify information from your own personal history. Use the following questions to help guide your reflections:
1) Identify your personal biases and how they may impact your counseling approach. Remember, everyone has biases. The point is not to project them onto your clients.
Note: It is preferred you discuss your cultural biases.
2) Describe your personal history by documenting experiences with discrimination you may have experienced and how your cultural background impacted these experiences. If you have not had any experiences, share why you believe this to be true.
3) Identify memories of contact with those who were culturally different than you, and your experiences associated with these differences. Be specific.
4) How has your life experience affected how you may relate to persons different than you? Be specific.

Part 2
The second part of the paper requires you to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of racism/discrimination. Use the following questions to help guide your reflections:
1) What does it mean to be a subtle racist? Please include a referenced definition and example.
2) Why could there be significant differences in perceptions and values of members within the same ethnic group? Be specific.

Social and Cultural Diversity Outline

Author Note
 
Social and Cultural Diversity
Diversity involves appreciating the differences in people based on their demographic characteristics (Schneider & Heath, 2018). Cultural diversity may be based on social status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, sex, age, and gender (Danso, 2018). Organizations are embracing social and cultural diversity as they realize that it leads to increased job satisfaction, productivity, and motivation in the workforce. Cultural diversity is important for every society to accept people from every part of the globe to create multicultural and dynamic teams, thus, increase creativity and innovativeness to foster growth (Wood et al., 2019).
In my life, I have witnessed several cultural and social biases. I have also had my own biases, which have made me treat people differently. I have had a hard time dealing with passive women and submission in controlling relationships. Being a very strong-willed and independent individual, I always want to have control over my life and relationships, without feeling challenged. For this reason, in relating with women, I have had biases with passive people who avoid confrontation and shy away from facing issues but let things happen to them. I feel that passive women are submissive, compliant, and receptive, which gives me a bias towards them.
I experienced discrimination when I was in 3rd grade. My class had only one African American, who was actually my friend. The African American girl was bullied by my classmates and they would make fun of me for being her friend. I have always been friends with African Americans and my daughters are half black, half white. I have been called horrible names and even looked down on from my own race because I have more black friends than white. The experience makes me appreciate cultural diversity and I am motivated to appreciate everyone’s differences without discriminating them.
In conclusion, social groups need to manage the diverse workforce to minimize discrimination and biases, which would lead to positive social integration and relationships. My personal biases and experiences I have witnessed have made me understand that cultural and social discrimination is not right and should be managed to allow everyone in a group to appreciate the diversity in others.
 
References
Danso, R. (2018). Cultural competence and cultural humility: A critical reflection on key cultural diversity concepts. Journal of Social Work, 18(4), 410-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017316654341
Schneider, S. L., & Heath, A. F. (2018). Ethnic and cultural diversity in Europe: Validating measures of ethnic and cultural background. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1550150
Wood, A., Kleinbaum, A. M., & Wheatley, T. (2019). Cultural diversity broadens social networks. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qvthk
Hello Melissa, I know that I am including a huge amount of information here but I want to match the assignment guidelines to the “EXCELLENT CONTENT” descriptions on the Week 8 Final Paper rubric. I would encourage you to cross reference the below information with your rough draft to ensure that you are including all of the necessary information in a comprehensive manner. I also encourage you to use headings in your paper to delineate each content area, this helps you organize your writing and helps me quickly identify them as well.
This outline was to include:
1. Introduction – complete
2. Definition of cultural diversity – complete
3. Main body containing content guidelines provided in “Social and Cultural Paper Writing Instructions” – partially complete
4. Conclusion – complete

Part 1
The first part of the paper requires you to identify information from your own personal history. Use the following questions to help guide your reflections:
1) Identify your personal biases and how they may impact your counseling approach. Remember, everyone has biases. The point is not to project them onto your clients.
Note: It is preferred you discuss your cultural biases.
2) Describe your personal history by documenting experiences with discrimination you may have experienced and how your cultural background impacted these experiences. If you have not had any experiences, share why you believe this to be true.
3) Identify memories of contact with those who were culturally different than you, and your experiences associated with these differences. Be specific.
4) How has your life experience affected how you may relate to persons different than you? Be specific.

FROM THE “EXCELLENT” CATEGORY ON THE RUBRIC: “Identifies personal memories of contact with other cultures and describes experiences associated with the contact. Uses specific examples to describe how personal life experiences have affected how they relate to people of other cultures. Comprehensively describes how their personal biases could affect them as a therapist.”

Part 2
The second part of the paper requires you to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of racism/discrimination. Use the following questions to help guide your reflections:
1) What does it mean to be a subtle racist? Please include a referenced definition and example.
2) Why could there be significant differences in perceptions and values of members within the same ethnic group? Be specific.
FROM THE EXCELLENT CATEGORY ON THE RUBRIC: Provides a thorough discussion of what it means to be a subtle racist. Describes why people from the same ethnic group can have significant differences in their values and perceptions of the world in a logical, concise manner. Information provided is fully supported with scholarly references and student illustrates advanced understanding of the effects of racism and discrimination.