Cultural Identity Paper - Essay Example

?I would describe the cultural identity of my family as white. Because it is a small family, compared to other families in my town, I would consider my family as more tight-knit than other families that I have come across. In terms of ethnicity, I characterize myself as white, but my cultural heritage extends back to Portuguese roots. According to my family history, this Portuguese history is all the history of have, with two parents that come from fully Portuguese backgrounds. Nevertheless, this Portuguese history was not particularly emphasized in my childhood, and so I do not speak some of the Portuguese language that was commonly spoken in my childhood home. Part of my family’s cultural history is the Catholic religion, which has been passed from generation to generation. We celebrate Catholic holidays, attend Catholic services, and partake in all the traditions inherent to the Catholic faith. We enjoy and take pride in participating in the Catholic aspect of our family’s cultural history, since it gives us a sense of connection with our ancestors who lived on the continent of Europe and who valued the strength they received through Jesus Christ. In terms of class, my family belongs to the middle class; however, I would consider my family as belonging to the upper portion of the middle class, with a few more amenities than most other families in my town and across the country. Together, these factors comprise my personal sense of cultural identity. Of these factors, I believe that class and ethnicity are most important, particularly because they have the most direct relationship to economic and interpersonal success in American society. Class has the strongest potential for separating people. For instance, people from different races, whether black or white, will always be friends if they share a certain number of interests. But the interests that people have are largely the result of the money and resources they have at their disposal. A rich black man and a poor white man will not have anything to talk about because their life’s focus (and direction) is simply too different to create a worthwhile relationship for them both. Additionally, ethnicity is important because it directly affects our actions. For instance, my ethnicities as Portuguese and as a Catholic are the primary reasons that I regularly attend Catholic services with my family. Yet another important factor to my cultural identity is the relationship between my parents (mother and father). Because my parents had a good relationship, there was a good relationship between my parents and myself as a child (Malinen, Kinnunen, Tolvanen, Ronka, Wierda-Boer, & Gerris, 2010). This means that my parents do a better job of transferring the cultural history of the family; because we are a tight-knit family, I have a better perception and a higher reverence for my familial history. My family invariably defines success as financial stability, family support, respect for self and others, and happiness. Firstly, financial stability is important because, as I pointed out earlier, class is the strongest determiner of our relationships with others. If we cannot first support ourselves, then we cannot offer value to others who can. Our first priority must be to become financially independent from others. Research seems to agree with this point (Shim, Xiao, Barber, & Lyons, 2009). Secondly, family support is important because our families, for most people, give our life meaning. The fullest impact that people can make as human beings are in their role as parent. Through our children, we will live on for generations through the things we communicate, instill, and impress into their minds. Thirdly, respect for self is crucial for having the self-esteem to make one’s life successful. If one does not respect himself, he cannot hope to acquire the means for either success in his financial situation or in his relationships with others. Similarly, one needs respect for others to maintain those relationships he needs to forge to find financial and interpersonal success in the first place. Lastly, my family values happiness as the final purpose of life. There should be no other end goal that one has other than to be satisfied with what one has done with his or her life. If one dies unhappy, there is certainly no “success”. I do not believe these expectations are changing. As far as I remember, my parents, as well as their parents have expressed these values. Perhaps there was a time long ago in the history of my family where everyone held different measures of success as more important, but this transition to personal happiness, family, financial independent, and respect as important values was not a recent one. As such, there is not a clash between generations as to what is most important. I think the strong influence of my parents over my life, and the influence of their parents over theirs, has led to a situation where the generations are in relative agreement over what constitutes the good life. Because everyone generally agrees on what is good for one’s life, and everyone has generally embraced those values throughout their lives, there is not much of a conflict between members of the same family. I can certainly imagine a situation in which individuals are more influenced by society as a whole and people outside of the family. People in that situation would fundamentally diverge with past generations on what constitutes the good life, and a deep disagreement would result (Weihua, Xiaohong, & Pengli, 2008). However, in my family at least, there exists no such disagreement and of course, family remains one of the most important aspects of our lives. My family’s cultural group is strong because, frankly, class homogenizes us. Because white people retain a strong hold on the middle and upper classes of society, they are able to resist the kinds of conflicts that affect races and ethnicities that tend to stay toward to bottom of society’s class system. Until white people’s majority status in much of the United States begins to fade, this group will continue to hold the same kind of values and principles. However, belonging to the “white” group, because it is such a large group, does not allow its members to form as strong of bonds with other members of the group, like members of minority races tend to do when they form their own private communities. People tend to stereotype white people not in negative ways, but in ways that are misrepresentative of the entire cultural group. Although white people may belong to one all-inclusive “race”, they self-identify with countless numbers of “ethnicities”, whether they are “Polish-American”, “Italian-American”, “Russian-American”, or in my case “Portuguese-American”. These ethnicities divide the white race represented in America into many different fragments that do not necessarily share a great number of characteristics. People, particularly from other races, tend to stereotype white people as powerful, rich, close-minded, conservative, and sometimes racist. While some of these stereotypes certainly identify some people represented as “white”, they by no means represent everyone classified as “white”. These stereotypes do not limit me in any severe way; however, they can at times block me from forming relationships with people of different races. For instance, when I was a child, my friendship with a boy from an African-American family faded as we got older, due primarily to shifting attitudes toward one another simply in terms of our racial differences. I believe that differences between people in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, and class will continue to decrease, as our nation grows older and less cognizant of our differences. In future generations, these factors will not create borders between groups. Although we should always be aware of our cultural history, we should not let it determine how we interact with others. I hope that my family and future generations will not let social attitudes shape the way they act and form relationships with other people. Stereotypes may not negatively affect my life, but they surely do affect the lives of other people who have no control over other people’s prejudices. My cultural heritage and my family is a strong source of meaning for my life, since it provided me with values and principles I still hold today. Works Cited Malinen, K., Kinnunen, U., Tolvanen, A., Ronka, A., Wierda-Boer, H., & Gerris, J. (2010). Happy spouses, happy parents? Family relationships among Finnish and Dutch dual earners. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 293–306. Shim, S., Xiao, J., Barber, B., & Lyons, A. (2009). Pathways to life success: A conceptual model of financial well-being for young adults. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 708-723. Weihua, Z., Xiaohong, Z., & Pengli, X. (2008). Development of future generations: Oriented virtual negotiation support system for intergenerational conflict. Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment, 6, 63-72. Read More