Cultural diversity

1. Reflection
 Would you like to live in a place where
everyone:
– Is the same? (Homogeneous)
 or
– Is different? (Heterogeneous)

2. What is Diversity?
 Cultural diversity refers to the wide range of
cultural differences found between and within
nations
– Can be a result of natural circumstances (climate,
geography) or social circumstances (technology
or demographics)
– Societies can be homogeneous or heterogeneous
– Heterogeneity in the U.S. (see chart – p. 91)

3. Have you ever been made to feel like
an outsider?
 When societal tensions arise, people may
look for others on whom they can place
blame or single out persons or groups who
are the “outsider”, who do not belong.

4. Subculture
 A category of people who share
distinguishing attributes, beliefs, values,
and/or norms that set them apart in some
significant manner from the dominant culture.

5. Counterculture
 A group that strongly rejects dominant
societal values and norms and seeks
alternative lifestyles

6. Ethnocentrism
 The practice of judging all other cultures by
one’s own culture
 Based on the assumption that one’s own way
of life is superior to all others
– Can be positive or negative

7. Why might this map
be considered
ethnocentric?

8. Cultural Relativism
 The belief that the behaviors and customs of
any culture must be viewed and analyzed by
the culture’s own standards