Diversity Worksheet

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Diversity Worksheet

What is Diversity? Why is it valued?
The term "diversity" is used broadly to refer to many demographic variables, including, but not limited to, race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics. “Diversity should be respected and valued because nobody is completely the same as anyone else, even within the categories above. People tend to reject what is different. Our differences/diversities can lead to growth as a society or it can lead to violence and hatred. We must value our diversity in order to work together for the common good of our society/world.” (Source: US Dept of the Interior)

What is ethnocentricism? In what ways can ethnocentricism detrimental to society? Ethnocentrism can be defined as the preferencing of an individual’s culture over the cultures of any other group. Ethnocentrism leads us to make false assumptions about cultural differences. We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs. “Such generalizations -- often made without a conscious awareness that we've used our culture as a universal yardstick -- can be way off base and cause us to misjudge other peoples.” Ethnocentrism can lead to cultural misinterpretation and it often distorts communication between human beings. “Ethnocentric thinking causes us to make wrong assumptions about other people because ethnocentrism leads us to make premature judgments.” (sources Wisegeek.com T.Ellis-Christensen and Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University)
Define Emigration and Immigration
These 2 words are mixed up frequently, mostly because they sound the same I think but have completely different definitions. I think the biggest difference in the two in that one means to LEAVE and one meant to ENTER. Below I will list the Webster’s definitions of both words. “Immigration: im·mi·gra·tion (Noun) The movement of non-native people into a country to settle there, permanently.” “Emigration: em·i·gra·tion (noun) the act of permanently leaving one's country or region to settle in another.” (dictionary.reference.com)

What are the ways groups of people are identified? Groups of people are identified in many different ways. The typical identifiers are race or ethnicity, age, religion, gender, social class, and sexual orientation. Some of the other ways groups of people can be identified is by a sorority or fraternity affiliation, or social groups.

Why do people label and group other people? One reason why people label or group others is because they label and group everything. (it’s a way of life) I have also found that grouping things help to learn about different things. I looked online for something to back up my thought and found this excerpt from Janet Grischy on labeling and grouping people and things: “Children do not discover that a fire burns, they learn that fire burns. They do not fear that a dog will bite, but that all dogs bite. For children in certain stages of development, labeling and grouping and stereotyping is an efficient shortcut to understanding a world that is huge and confusing, and sometimes nearly impossible to comprehend. Labels and groups are often inaccurate, but not always. Fire does burn, and dogs do bite. The generalizations and categorizations of stereotyping help children to master useful concepts quickly. Of course, stereotyping may possibly lead to phobias, and also to racial, ethnic and gender prejudice. The generalizations of an ignorant child will be less useful to an adult.” (Janet Grischy, life123 2012)

Define Culture. Is culture limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds? Explain. The dictionary definition of culture is: “the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge, which constitute the shares bases of social action; or, the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people, which are reinforced by members of the group.” (dictionary.reference.com) I agree with this definition because in my family this is true. We have traditions that we carry over every year for holidays and whatnot. Different traditions and things that we are teaching the children, in hopes that they will continue to observe as they grow up and have their own children. Is culture limited to racial and ethnic backgrounds? I don’t think so, I think that there are many things that make up your culture. Race and ethnic backgrounds ARE definitely a part of it but I think that as we grow older there are many facets of our lives that become our “culture”.