Culture and Diversity Essay

Why ask yourself what is diversity? Or What is culture? Diversity and culture are two words in which that even if the definition is not understood or known, these two words are all around us, and we are very much involved in each daily. Diversity is nothing more than differences among all humans. According to "Luther College" (2014) diversity describes the similarities and differences that people have. Diversity has territorial differences and similarities in their thoughts and identities among different institutions and individuals who make up the majority of the community. Diversity includes important dimensions of their identity for example; race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, and age. To understand these differences it is extremely important in the prediction of any one individual's values, choices or responses. (Diversity Center) Diversity is important to the growth of our society but, it can also lead to violence and hatred toward individuals. Even with these listed above, diversity is also valued because, it allows us to learn from the individual differences within us all. In reality, we have to value diversity so that we are capable of working together for the good within our country and our world. According to "Dictionary.com" (2014), ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that certain ethnic or cultural groups are of the most importance, any other group or groups would be viewed in relation to that of our own. The ethnocentric person or group will judge other people or groups compared to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially when pertaining to language, behavior, customs, and religion. I believe that ethnocentrism can very possibly be detrimental to a society in numerous ways, for example; it can cause people to judge before they think about what is going on. We judge wrongly of certain people, groups or cultures, and we do not allow ourselves to get to know them. We prejudge