A Sense of Cultural Self-Identity: Stereotypes and Cultural Values

There can only be few doubts that one’s awareness of the factors that contribute to the formation of the sense of cultural self-identity in people will come as an indispensable asset within the context of how he or she may go about striving to attain social/professional prominence. The validity of this suggestion is best illustrated with respect to the ongoing “multiculturalization” of American society as a whole (Hallman, 2017). The most distinctive identity-forming factors that I believe affect the representatives of the chosen populations have been outlined in the charts below.

African-Americans

Self-identity	Stereotypes	Cultural values
The most notable aspects of existential self-positioning, on the part of African-Americans, are as follows:	The continual stigmatization of African-Americans in the US is reflective of the following racist assumptions:	Among the most prominent cultural values, professed by African-Americans, the following can be listed:
Mistrust towards the traditionally “Eurocentric” social and political institutions in the US, such as the ones concerned with the functioning of the country’s judicial system.	African-Americans are not particularly bright – hence, their presumed inability to score high while IQ-tested.	The value of religious integrity – African-Americans prefer to adopt a religious lifestyle.
Idealization of skin color, as one of the main identity-forming factors.	African-Americans are somewhat lazy, which is why it is always a good idea to have them working in the supervised mode.	The value of collectivism – this term applies to one’s predisposition to address life-challenges in a collective (as opposed to individualist) mode (Beamon, 2014).
Strong affiliation with so-called “traditional values” – something that causes many African-Americans to adopt a patriarchal outlook on the surrounding social reality and their place in it.	African-Americans are innately driven towards violence – the invention of the “gangsta-rap” music genre is commonly referred to as the proof of this assumption’s validity.

Asians (China)

Self-identity	Stereotypes	Cultural values
Asians, in general, and the Chinese, in particular, have traditionally been known for their:	In the US, it became a common practice to stereotype Asians (Chinese) as:	The most well-known Asian (Chinese) cultural values are as follows:
Perceptual holism. The Chinese tend to form their sense of personal self-identity as something closely indicative of these people’s cognitive predisposition to think holistically (contextually).	Extremely hard-working. Even though seemingly “positive”, this particular label has a certain dehumanizing quality to it.	Strong respect towards the elders. This specific value has its roots in the philosophy of Confucianism.
Attitudinal cosmopolitism. Most people of the Asian (Chinese) descent prefer not to pay too much attention to the specifics of one’s ethnocultural affiliation while constructing their value-based opinions of the individual in question.	Nerds. Asian students are assumed to be willing to prioritize studying above everything else – often at the expense of denying themselves the simple pleasures of life.	Strong respect towards the elders. This specific value has its roots in the philosophy of Confucianism.
Attitudinal cosmopolitism. Most people of the Asian (Chinese) descent prefer not to pay too much attention to the specifics of one’s ethnocultural affiliation while constructing their value-based opinions of the individual in question.	Pragmatically minded. The Chinese tend to draw a direct link between one’s value, as a person, and the amount of money that he or she has in the bank.	Glorification of the studying, as the activity that has the value of a “thing in itself”.
Communal mindedness. Most Asians (Chinese) are culturally endorsed to assume that a person’s ability to act as the productive member of the society should be assessed in conjunction with his/her varying ability to contribute to the society’s overall well-being.		Commitment to observing the “Oriental” behavioral ethics while aspiring to attain self-actualization (McGee, Thakore, & LaBlance, 2017).

Middle-Easterners (Palestine)

Self-identity	Stereotypes	Cultural values
The sense of self-identity in Palestinians is evocative to an extent of these people’s statehood-related anxieties. Among the latter can be named:	Palestinians are commonly labeled in the West as:	The cultural values of Palestinians have a Middle-Eastern quality to them. The most notable of these values are:
Ethnic solidarity. Palestinians tend to form diasporas while living in Western countries.	Innately violent individuals. This particular stereotype is being strengthened even further by the way in which the media reflect on the specifics of the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.	Religiosity. Most Palestinians take pride in considering themselves faithful Shiite Muslims.
Political engagement. Palestinians exhibit a certain predisposition towards altering their existential attitudes with respect to what accounts for the current state of affairs between Israel and Palestine.	Predetermined to experience a temptation to rape women.	Veneration of different ritualistic traditions, associated with the Palestinian traditional way of life.
Cultural predisposition towards thinking “tribally” (in the sense of paying much attention to the maters of interpersonal kinship).	Naturally inclined to consider the possibility of becoming Islamic terrorists.	Tendency to profess a strongly patriarchal outlook on life (Aharoni, 2014).

Native-Americans

Self-identity	Stereotypes	Cultural values
The building blocks of the sense of self-identity in Native-Americans are widely assumed to be:	Native-Americans have been subjected to stigmatization since America’s early days. The most widely circulated stereotypes, in this regard, are as follows:	The foremost cultural values of Native-Americans include:
Amplified spirituality. Native-Americans are commonly described as intrinsically spiritual individuals, preoccupied with trying to lead a communally integrated lifestyle.	Native-Americans are “natural-born” drunkards.	Commitment to honoring the elders/native rituals.
Environmental mindedness. Many Native-Americans make a point in positioning themselves as the environmentalist movement’s activists.	Native-Americans cannot be assimilated into the society, which is why they will be better off being forced to live in “reservations.”	The tradition of “subtle defiance.” Most Native-Americans consider themselves having been robbed of their land, and also of their right to pursue a traditional way of life.
Context-centeredness. In a similar manner with the Chinese, Native-Americans prefer to focus on the “context” rather than the “essence” while addressing a particular cognitive task.	Native-Americans are unhealthily preoccupied with trying to reclaim as much land as possible.	The culture of “intertribal solidarity.” Native-Americans tend to take “native issues” close to heart, regardless of the actual locale (Leavitt, Covarrubias, Perez, & Fryberg, 2015).

Europeans (Germany)

Self-identity	Stereotypes	Cultural values
The formation of one’s European (German) identity is believed to be to be reflective of:	The most commonly occurring stereotypes of Germans derive from the following speculative assumptions:	The typical (as of today) “Germanic” values include:
The German people’s endowment with the “Faustian” (object-oriented) mentality, which prompts the concerned individuals to feel like enforcing their dominance on the surrounding social/natural environment.	Germans are very accurate/punctual people. At the same time, they tend to be cruel and sentimental.	Strongly defined sense of individualism/self-centeredness.
The fact that Germany contributed greatly towards the development of Western philosophy and music.	Most Germans are blond and blue-eyed. They experience an unconscious attraction towards Nazism, even without realizing it consciously.	Secularism. Most Germans (and Europeans, in general) prefer to lead a secular (non-religious) lifestyle, even if affiliated with Christianity formally.
The fact that even today, most Germans cannot help experiencing the sensation of historical guilt over the country’s Nazi legacy.	Germans are innately predetermined to derive much pleasure from waging wars/acting in a warlike manner.	Scientific industriousness. Germans have traditionally been known for their ability to contribute to the continuation of scientific progress on this planet (Koehne, 2014).

Given the listed particulars of my sense of cultural self-identity (as seen in the previous paper), I believe that I will be most likely to reach a mutual understanding with African-Americans and Native Americans. After all, there is indeed a good rationale to assume that the workings of these peoples’ psyches are somewhat similar to those of my own – not the least due to the ancestral memories of discrimination, shared by African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Hispanics (Guglani, 2016). The ontological soundness of such my belief is supported even further by the fact that, as one can infer from what has been said earlier, there are a number of reasons for the existential attitudes, on the part of all three peoples, to be compatible (Contreras, 2016).

At the same time, however, I am deeply convinced that it will not prove particularly challenging for me to be able to find the “communication key” to the representatives of the rest of the chosen populations, as well. The reason for this is apparent – while conducting the research I was able to increase the measure of my intercultural competence rather substantially. In particular, I learned that when it comes to indulging in intercultural communication, one may never cease paying close attention to the culturally/historically determined peculiarities of how people from different ethnic backgrounds tend to go about trying to realize their full existential potential.

References

Aharoni, S. (2014). The gender-culture double bind in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations: A narrative approach. Security Dialogue, 45(4), 373-390.

Beamon, K. (2014). Racism and stereotyping on campus: Experiences of African American male student-athletes. The Journal of Negro Education, 83(2), 121-134.

Contreras, S. (2016). For economic advantage or something else? A case for racial identification switching. Review of Black Political Economy, 43(3-4), 301-323.

Guglani, L. (2016). American, Hispanic, Spanish-speaking? Hispanic immigrants and the question of identity. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 15(6), pp. 344-360.

Hallman, H. (2017). Millennial teachers and multiculturalism: Considerations for teaching in uncertain times. Journal for Multicultural Education, 11(3), 194-205.

Koehne, S. (2014). Were the National Socialists a folkish party? Paganism, Christianity, and the Nazi Christmas. Central European History, 47(4), 760-790.

Leavitt, P., Covarrubias, R., Perez, Y., & Fryberg, S. (2015). “Frozen in time”: The impact of Native American media representations on identity and self‐understanding. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 39-53.

McGee, E., Thakore, B., & LaBlance, S. (2017). The burden of being “model”: Racialized experiences of Asian STEM college students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 10(3), 253-270.