Cultural

Competency
By: Dimitri Villanueva
 No matter where one looks, culture is all around us. Culture is in our blood, it is in our

genes, and it is even in our everyday living habits. There are so many different aspects in the

world that can describe what culture really is. After completing a full semester of Cultural

Competency in Practice, one can be able to grasp a full and educational knowledge of what both

culture, and cultural competency is. There are many different things a person can learn by taking

this class. This paper is going to explain and hopefully give the reader a better knowledge on

culture. One can learn how to understand different cultures in this class. One can also learn about

culture through race and ethnicity, along with religion and spirituality. After enrolling in a full

semester of Cultural Competency in Practice, one can also learn about different generations,

along with gender and sexuality. Culture is all around us, and this is how.

One may ask what exactly culture means. Culture itself can be described in many

different ways. Whether it be through a scholarly source, or even just on a deeper personal level

of discussion, a student who completed Cultural Competency can be described as this: an

individual or a group of individuals live their everyday life. To go into detail, the simple

repetitive action of ones daily ritual, such as going to church, eating dinner with family, doing

certain things with friends, etc. can be defined as culture. According to the Fundamental

Contradictions in Cultural Competence, culture can be defined as, The social heritage of a

community: the total body of material artifacts (tools, weapons, houses; places of work, worship,

government, recreation; works of art, etc.); of collective mental and spiritual artifacts (systems

of symbols, ideas, beliefs, aesthetic perceptions, values, etc.); and of distinctive forms of

behavior created by a people (sometimes deliberately, sometimes through unforeseen

interconnections ) and transmitted from generation to generation (Bullock & Stallybrass,

1977 p. 150). Culture can also be expressed by ones actions and emotions, whether one is taught
to be polite, outgoing, mature, mean, whatever it may be, actions, expressions and daily practices

are all defined as culture. Now that one may have a better knowledge on culture, it is best to

define what exactly cultural competency is, since the class is called Cultural Competency. After

multiple class discussions, it is found that cultural competency is the practice of a society

accepting one another as a whole and for who they are individually. It is the understanding of a

human beings qualities, characteristics and personalities that shapes someone into the person

they are today. According to Cross, Bazron, Dennis, and Isaacs, cultural competency can be

defined as, A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system,

agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work

effectively in cross-cultural situations (Bazron, 2006). A basic society accepting and respecting

one another and understanding ones entire culture is the overall basic knowledge of cultural

competency.

Having an open mind towards culture is a great way to go about life. Once one has

figured out their own personal culture, it is much easier to analyze other cultures, and accept

them for the better. Each and every individual person has their own culture, but can also share

certain aspects of a culture as well. For example, most people in America celebrate Christmas.

This is a holiday that many people enjoy and come together to celebrate. Although, it is

important to know and respect the cultures that do not celebrate Christmas. To completely

understand cultural competency, one must be able to change their views and have a completely

open mind. Try new things, meet new people, and try to understand the culture within every

person you interact. This is a great way to open up ones mind and reach a new sense of cultural

competency.
 After completely a full semester of Cultural Competency in Practice, one may have a

completely new perspective on race and ethnicity. According to Wijeyesinghe, Griffin, and Love,

racism is the systematic subordianation of members of targeted racial groups who have

relatively little social power. (Diller, 2011). Racism has truly made its evolutions from back then

up until now. Even though it is 2016, with all of the amazing things our society has

accomplished, believe it or not, society today still commits acts of racism. It may not be as bad

as it used to be, but racism still exists to a level of comfortability today. After taking this class,

race has been a true eye opener. This class has taught me that racism should not exist anymore

and people need to learn to get along with one another. It is very hard to make it far in life if one

is still racist. Employers will find it unprofessional, and people are you will find it highly

disrespectful. In order to reach cultural competency, one must see past color, and really get to

know an individual. Its just like the old saying, dont judge a book by its cover.

The class Cultural Competency in Practice truly picks at one brain and allows a person to

critically think on a deeper level. Another age old saying that many people still fight about is

which came first, the chicken or the egg? This saying has been compared to a discussion that was

talked about in class. Much related, to the question, does religion form culture or does culture

form religion? After taking this class, one has a much better knowledge on how to look at

religion and spirituality differently. So which is it...culture or religion? The moment one is born,

they are already living in a sense of their own culture. Growing up, a child learns how to eat,

sleep, walk, and every other basic need. Along the way, the child learns a certain language,

creates relationships, and learns certain manners. One learns how to be their own self first, before

learning a religion. According to Lavric and Flere, The strength and direction of the correlation

between psychological well-being and a particular type of religious orientation proved to depend
substantially upon culture. More importantly, the cultural environment plays a crucial role in

shaping the relationship between general measures of religiosity and psychological well-being

(Lavric & Flere, 2008). Culture forms religion, but how exactly does religion form culture?

Depending on who you are and however you were raised, or whatever you believe in, you can

choose your religion. This ultimately defines your culture. When studying religion and

spirituality, one must remember that their religion is not the only out there. There are many

different religions, and once an individual is able to acknowledge and respect that, they are one

step closer to reaching cultural competency through religion and spirituality.

As Cultural Competency in Practice discusses many different topics throughout the

semester, it is important to acknowledge the discussion of culture through different generations.

The three most important generations in todays society are the Gen Xs, the millennials, and the

baby boomers. As a participant in class, most students were born as a millennial. Millennials in

the 80s and 90s lived through the progression of change of technology. There used to be dial up

internet, box computers, box television sets, and flip phones, if one was even fortunate enough to

have one. But as the world progresses throughout the years, so do millennials. Technology has

changed in so many different ways, to the point of having a computer in your pocket. Times have

changed and so should the rest of the world. Progression will carry itself and continue to grow

with change for the betteror worse. As the years go by, the Gen Xs slowly die out and the

millennials continue to take over with education, careers, and everything else happening today.

According to Bryan Halligan says from Human Resources, he proposes that we spend less time

debating whether Millennials are slackers or savants and focus instead on how we as

entrepreneurs and business leaders can adapt our companies to attract millennials. The way in

which people work has changed forever, and those of us who dont adapt will be left in the dust
when competing for top talent. Generations will come and go, but it is important to understand

that even though they differentiate from each other, they are also alike in some way shape or

form. Between generations, each one made a progressive change in the world and created how

we act in todays society.

Another important aspect that the class of Cultural Competency in Practice discussed throughout

the semester is gender and sexuality. Gender identity within our nation has made some pretty

drastic changes from the 1900s till now. Mostly men would be the bread makers while women

would stay at home and clean and take care of the children. Women were not allowed to vote and

it seemed almost acceptable to use physical abuse within a relationship. In todays society, both

men and women are viewed as equal and individual human beings who can support themselves,

while being stay at home spouses. Society has done a great job progressing forward through the

topic of gender equality and has reached a level of cultural competency.

Cultural Competency has allowed students to critically analyze culture as whole through

a different perspective. After finishing the semester, many different topics have been reviewed

culturally, there was simply not enough time to capture all types of cultures. One topic that could

be talked about is whether there is a culture of nerds. This can be discussed and reviewed in

many different ways. The number one clich that has been portrayed for centuries is jocks and

nerds, or cool kids and nerds. Sure, this may have been an entertainment clich seen in many

different television shows and films, but when applied to real life, is there an actual culture of

nerds? Yes, yes there is. Although, the definition of a nerd can be applied through many different

aspects. Technically, a nerd is simply just an individual who knows a lot about a certain subject.

There are many different types of nerds. An individual can be a nerd for music, a nerd for school

subjects, a nerd for sports, the list goes on and on. It is okay to be a nerd, mainly because there
are plenty of nerds all around. The culture of a nerd is mainly a person who truly enjoys a certain

subject. If society can get past the general clich of the vision of a nerd, one can take a closer

step to becoming culturally competent.

Culture is all around us, and after taking Cultural Competency in Practice, it has offered

an overall better knowledge of the subject as a whole. Within the class many different topics

were discussed, including what culture and cultural competency is, how to understand other

cultures, race, religion, different generations, and gender. After reading this paper the reader

should have a better knowledge on cultural competency, and what the class is all about. The real

question is, will the reader open up their minds to different cultures and become culturally

competent with todays society? After taking this class, which is highly suggested, any student

would agree that they would consider themselves culturally competent.

 RESOURCES:

National Association of Social Workers. (2001). NASW standards for cultural competence in
social work practice. Washington, DC: Author

Bullock, A., & Stallybrass, O. (Eds.). (1977). Culture. In The Fontana dictionary of modern
thought (pp. 149150). London: Fontana/Collins.

Diller. (2011). Understanding Racism, Prejudice, and White Privilege.

Lavric, M., & Flere, S. (2008) The Role of Culture in the Relationship Between Religiosity and
Psychological Well-being.

Halligan, B. (2013). How Millennials Think, and What To Do About It. Human Resources.