Multicultural and ethnic sensitivity

Paper should discuss multicultural and ethnic sensitive an individual might encounter or face in working in Human Service Agencies. Nowadays people are inseparable from the economic, social, political and historical context. It is very important to comprehend the impact of this on the individuals` conduct. The word “multicultural” can be defined as interplay between the individuals that represent different minor racial and ethnic groups. We should understand the factors that call forth the attitude to the people from different groups. At this there is a tendency to overstate the differences between groups and conformity inside a particular group as well as the trend to support one group more than the other and can be done thoughtlessly. (G.Ramsey, R.Williams & Vold, 2002)

People within one group show more value and trust, better cooperation contrary to competition. When affiliation is strong they show a lot of prejudice.

If one group is more powerful than the other one or if resources are not distributed justly it may cause problematic issues. This is what is going on in the United States. (G.Ramsey, R.Williams & Vold, 2002)

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Such prejudice and viewpoints may cause miscommunication as behavior that corresponds to norm in one group may not be realized or valued by another group. For instance, when one addresses clients by their first name can be admissible for the ones, but can be totally unacceptable by the other minor racial or ethnic group representatives that are used to more proper relations. (G.Ramsey, R.Williams & Vold, 2002)

It is said that we could see improvements of the relations within group if affiliation is amended. This can be attained if those who would like to make relationships inside the group better use a “color-blind” approach while interacting with individuals from other minor groups and differ from them.

This may decrease racial or ethnic differences and an accent is made on the global or human slants of behavior. (G.Ramsey, R.Williams & Vold, 2002)

In essence the rightful relations between groups can not be achieved only by color-blind approach. From all evidence this kind of approach is not as accurate as multicultural one.

But even if we realize every point of individual’s ethnic and racial context this is not enough to get efficacy unless we treat people with the global view. Such a global view is useful to touch on relations between the different groups. (Grant & Lei, 2001)

One could treat the client or any other individual in a various ways and this could cause the problems in communication process or could even result in a hasty break of relationship. (Grant & Lei, 2001)

The existing works on characterization in the society consider the interaction between the groups within a cultural context and emboldens the comprehension of different factors that have an impact on how we perceive others. (Grant & Lei, 2001)

It is very important for everybody to have multicultural awareness and knowledge along with skills. (Grant & Lei, 2001)

It is said that in order to reduce the attitude full with stereotypes one should have knowledge of the attitudes and values,

The research on reducing stereotypic attitudes and biases suggest a number of Strategies awareness of those attitudes and values, make reasonable efforts for changing the auspicious attitude within group that is shown automatically and reduce the negative perceive of people that represent another ethnic and racial groups. (Grant & Lei, 2001)

It is necessary to treat individual as individual and do not divide people into groups.

Numerous researches were made in order to help people to decrease prejudice of the members of other groups as if we will be close to those groups and establish contact with their members this will definitely result in a better multicultural interaction and will break the stereotypes. (Shepard, 1994)

It is of vital importance to comprehend better and value the outlook of the other groups` members and understand the prospects they have even if they are racially or ethnically different.

When you understand the outlook that the client has, including the feeling that he might have being a member of disgraced group, it will help you to realize the prospects he or she might have and eventually the behavior of your client.  (Shepard, 1994)

Depending on the outlook and life experience customers may behave in a different ways. They might seek for support in social networks, treatment and persistency in treatment.

If you get the sufficient knowledge and will realize the cultural context of the clients you can address this problem. (Walsh, 1996)

More over it is recommended to learn the process of historical development and study the history of the United States with the object to its difference form another major social groups` history. We had many examples in the past history like American Indian holocaust, concentration camps in Asia, Latino groups colonization and all this had an impact on the history development and outlook of the individuals. (Shepard, 1994)

Any relations between individuals can be considered to be multicultural.

One should also gain knowledge on the federal legislation in order to increase susceptibility and to understand the things deeper. In the United States there are major demographic shifts. There are a great number of immigrants from different countries such as China, Mexico, India, the Philippines, Latin America. These people speak their native languages at home while they speak English in their social life. One should be aware of the social environment and how the clients will find it, for instance to offer phone line services in a couple of languages, to offer press in different languages in the waiting rooms and use another methods to show linguistic and cultural susceptibility. (Shepard, 1994)

Anyway everyone should show cultural competence while delivering services to the clients.

References
G.Ramsey, P., R.Williams, L., & Vold, E. B. (2002). Multicultural Education: A Sourcebook. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Retrieved May 21, 2007,

Grant, C. A. & Lei, J. L. (Eds.). (2001). Global Constructions of Multicultural Education: Theories and Realities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Shepard, K. B. (1994, February). ACA, PERF Develop Training on Multicultural Awareness. Corrections Today, 56, 94+. Retrieved May 21, 2007,

Walsh, C. E. (Ed.). (1996). Education Reform and Social Change: Multicultural Voices, Struggles, and Visions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved May 21, 2007,
 

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