Cultural Identity Interview and Analysis

An interview with a extremity of the Mexican American lodge was conducted on December 1st, 2007. This research will house a summary of that interview particularly, it will include a explanation of the rules, norms, traditions, and values of Mexican American culture. The research will also question a) how the self-reliances regarding cultural norms affect the interviewees behavior in his daily intent b) any disadvantages related to his culture organism forthside the norm and how he reacts to that c) any advantages related to being assimilated to the prescriptive culture and how he reacts d) his sources of efficacy or support e) an analysis of the four property theory and how it relates to the interviewees life.Finally, the research will provide some insight on how angiotensin converting enzyme can effectively communicate with pack of diametric cultures. In fact, colloquy with various members that belong to other ethnic aggroups (i.e. Arab Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, etc) whitethorn be difficult some at times because of the cultural remainder that exists between the groups. Jose Luis Aguilar was born in Tijuana, Mexico on January 7th, 1972. Mexican is the ethnic group he belongs. He lived in Mexico for 29 historic period. In 2001, he immigrated in Los Angeles, California. Job opportunities, presence of family members, and the presence of a massive Mexican fellowship were the factors that brought him to immigrate into the join States. Mexican Americans be the largest Hispanic or Hispanic ethnic group in the linked States. harmonise to the 2000 Census, approximately 20 million Hispanic or Latinos of the 35 million in the United States are Mexican Americans (U.S. Census, 2000). Mr. Aguilars native lyric poem is Spanish. However, during the past years spent in California, he was sufficient to learn basic English, although it dust a second words as the majority of the Mexican American who live in the United States. Richar d Schaefer stated as of 2002, rough 23 percent of Mexican Americans are English dominant, 26 percent are bilingual, and 51 percent are Spanish dominant (Schaefer, 2006, p. 241). Mr. Aguilars theology is Catholic. Indeed, Mexican Americans represent the largest build of Catholic immigrants to the United States comes from Mexico Mexico also sends the largest number of Protestant immigrants to the United States (Murray, 2006).Mr. Aguilar is married. He has a 1 year-old son. Aguilars family has a patriarchal organization as the very(prenominal) as other umpteen Mexican American families pay off. According to Kathleen Niska, Mexican Americans Families continuity was characterized by mothers doing tasks indoors the house, fathers doing tasks outside the house, and both parents performing toddler and early childhood tasks (Niska, 2001). unmatchable of the Mexican traditions that Mr. Aguilar menti iodind during the interview was quinceanera. This ritual is saved in church when wome n appreciation the age of 15 to thank God that they arrived to this stage of their lives. Similar to a wedding day celebration, the celebration of a girls fifteenth birthday is a major event in most Hispanic girls lives as it actor that she begins her journey to adulthood (Mattel, 2001).They are meditatey to get married. The ritual of quinceanera is viewed not only as a gesture to readinessen faith and family exclusively also as a means to prevent teen pregnancies. A quinceanera also allows for sending a message of sexual responsibility (NC Times, 2008). Mr. Aguilar is an autarkical contractor mainly for real estate management companies. He provides common maintenance services at $10 an hour. So far, he had bound choices regarding the jobs (e.g. janitorial, landscaping, and maintenance) he could do since he moved into United States. Lack of educational activity and his pending status with INS (he has not received his green card yet, trim permit only) were the obstacles tha t did not allow him to nurse better paid jobs.According to David Spener, Mexican immigrant clipers play an important economic role inside the United States as fountainhead. They constitute a significant portion (8 percent) of the total U.S. manufacturing work force (Spener, 2000). Mexican Americans are usually have been seen by American companies as cheap labor. Mr. Aguilar shared that members of his culture had been affected by any form of racism, prejudice or discrimination. In particular, he pointed out the bilingualism issue and the tension that the proposition 227 created among his community. Proposition 227 went into effect in 1998 and demand that all public school instruction had to be in English.A) How do assumptions about cultural norms impact your interviewees behavior on a day-to-day basis? Mr. Aguilar pointed out how one particular assumption regarding Mexican Americans culture affects his life on a day-to-day basis. He mentioned that one of his cousins was a gang mem ber he was killed months ago. A popular assumption is that Mexican American gang social station is generational which means the membership from a father to a son or from a family member to another one. Therefore, based on this assumption, people believe that he is a gang member. So, Mr. Aguilars behavior is direct to prevent anything that may mislead people in this sense, e.g. wearing red or blue, or particularised clothing, or having tattoos.B) Does your interviewee recognize any challenges or disadvantages related to her/his culture being outside the norm? How does he/she respond to those challenges? Similar to several other fellow Mexican Americans, Mr. Aguilar is able to communicate in his native talking to without learning English properly. In fact, Spanish language is commonly utter in the city of Los Angeles. Almost every place (grocery stores, restaurants, public offices, and so forth) has signs and directions in Spanish language. This massive promotion of Mr. Aguilars native language in the United States encouraged by Mass Media represents a disadvantage. wireless and idiot box have also been factors that allowed Mexican Americans, as Mr. Aguilar, to maintain their lord cultural values. In fact, in 2004, there were over 678 Spanish language radio stations compared to 1982, when there were 12 Spanish language television stations in the United States. This number to a greater extent than doubled indoors 10 years. Several artists (e.g. Jennifer Lopez or Shakira) helped to promote their cultures by singing in their traditional languages (Jandt, 2007). Mr. Aguilar has responded to this challenge by enrolling himself in an adult school in order to improve his English. However, as of today, he is still struggling to write, read and speak English fluently.C) Does your interviewee recognize any privileges or advantages associated with assimilating to the prescriptive culture? How does he/she react to that recognition? Mr. Aguilar recognized that being assimilated to the normative culture has some advantages. In particular, he stated that a imperious aspect is that immigrants learn the language of the normative culture they are able to avoid any form of isolation and segregation. Furthermore, these immigrants likely will not face any prejudice from the dominant society as he experienced during his stay in the United States.During the interview Mr. Aguilar recalled a fewer family acquaintances with 3rd generation sons and daughters who had an adaptation in the American culture different compared to their parents. In fact, they were able to go to school, learn the language, get a college education, and obtain a good job. They became a part of the American culture. In fact, they celebrate the 4th of July and the Thanksgiving, which are truly American holidays. They also had to learn about professional sports other than Mexican soccer. He now is also ceremony baseball, basketball, and American football games.D) What does that pers on cite as being sources of strength or support? Mr. Aguilar cited church and family as his sources of strength or support. As many others fellow Mexicans Americans, Mr. Aguilar gives exceptional importance to religion and family on a day-to-day basis he is very active in his community especially with humanitarian initiative promoted by his catholic church. Mr. Aguilar is very family orientated. He tries to spend as much time as possible with his family it may be common to see him doing business with his families around.E) An analysis of the four dimension theory and how it relates to the interviewees life A theory from the course that was well related to Mr. Aguilars interview is the four dimensions of culture by Geert Hofstede. Particularly, Aguilars interview confirmed that in the Mexican culture masculinity is predominant, in general due its accounting. Mexican families were mainly patriarchal therefore men were in charge of the family they were working to provide money and fo od while women were at home taking care of the children. Mexican culture is based more on collectivism due mainly to the fact that more people with financial difficulties seek to one another for help or pick up together (e.g. two or three families living in the same apartment). Power distance is embodied in the Mexican culture. Mexico is a ontogeny country with significant financial problems. The difference between people (e.g. sad and rich people) is well marked. Finally, the fourth dimension, uncertainty avoidance, is correlated to religion and history of the cultures (Jandt, 2007). Roman Catholic Christian cultures and cultures with Romance languages (e.g. Mexico) tend to score high. In conclusion, communication with various members that belong to other ethnic groups may be difficult at times because of the cultural difference that exists between the groups.However, comprehensive language can be an effective way to communicate with such members. Mr. Aguilar and the interview er are from different culture backgrounds. There were times during the interview where inclusive language was used to avoid miscommunication. Choosing the right words when communicating with members who have different backgrounds may help to prevent miscommunication that may end up stereotyping them on the basis of race, gender, disability, religion, or other factors. Furthermore, conducting research and gathering instruction on members with different backgrounds may help not only to bruise language issues but also can assist people in becoming more culturally sensitive.Referenceshttp//nsq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/322http//www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/05/faith/17_56_271_3_08.txt