Levels of Culture

___________________________

Hidalgo's Levels of Culture:

1.    Concrete:

This is the most visible and tangible level of culture, and includes the most surface-level dimensions such as clothes, music, food, games, etc. These aspects of culture are often those which provide the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations."

Which of the items listed above are the parts of our culture that we see?

 2.    Behavioral:

 This level of culture clarifies how we define our social roles, the language we speak, and our approaches to nonverbal communication. The Behavioral level REFLECTS our values. Aspects to be listed in this category include language, gender roles, family structure, political affiliation, and other items that situation us organizationally in society.

Which of the terms above are indicators of how we act? 

3.    Symbolic:

This level of culture includes our values and beliefs. It can be abstract, but it is most often the key to how individuals define themselves. It includes values systems, customs, spirituality, religion, worldview, beliefs, mores, etc.

Which of the characteristics of culture we listed reflect how we think?

Hidalgo, N. 1993. Multicultural teacher introspection. In Perry, T. and Fraser, J. (Eds.) Freedom's Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom. New York: Routledge.

Let’s look at the three levels: concrete, behavioral and symbolic.  Look at the characteristics that went into each of those levels.  Now I want you to think about which of the levels is the most important to you when you consider your culture.  Which of the levels has the components that you think imperative to being a member of your culture?

When I reflect on the pieces of my culture, I find that it isn’t necessarily the foods, clothes, or music that unite me with others of my group (especially in a country that has such diversity in foods) nor is it in the language that we speak or how many people live in our houses.  These are very integral to how I look (concrete) and act (behavioral), but they are very much influenced by the things that I value and believe (symbolic.)  I have overwhelmingly found that people also feel that the symbolic level of culture is the one that best defines who they are and for what they stand.  This isn’t about how others view you, but how you view yourself.

Here is the AHA…

When you come in contact with people different than you, on which level do you judge them? (Most often by the concrete, huh?)

On which level would you like to be judged by?

What forces in our society might contribute to our simplification of the culture of other's, even though we don't want to be defined simplistically ourselves? (That is a good question for the discussion board – hint!)

Now I need to go off on my education tangent.  Think about what type of multicultural education you received in your primary education years.  Both when I was growing up and when I was in the classroom as a teacher, it was the same.  If there was any type of multicultural education at all it was very little and consisted of celebrations like Cinco de Mayo, Black History Month, or cultural celebration nights/assemblies that highlighted the foods, dress, music, and celebrations of your and your peer’s ancestry.  Think about those social studies/geography reports on countries around the world.

Concrete level, right?

Focusing on this very surface level of culture gives many students and educators the idea that they “know” about diverse groups of people.  Just because you go eat sushi and are can salsa dance doesn’t mean that you have a cultural understanding of these cultures.  This simplistic look at culture trivializes the importance of the other aspects, the aspects that we just identified as the ones that really are what define us.  Exposing yourself to other types of food and celebrations can be great places to begin, but understanding that to really become culturally competent----- is to get to the symbolic aspects.

Investigating your stereotypes about other groups is a place to start.  Write down some stereotypes that hold about a certain group.  (Asian Americans, gays, people with disabilities, homeless people, etc…)