Multicultural Essay
My relation to power and privilege and other identity categories
Relation to power and privilege means both the power I posses and power of freedom. I am a typical Chinese and I believe that my relation to power and privilege is strongly positive. Chinese culture has an activity orientation of “doing”; it was defined by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck in their cultural framework. I am very hardworking person as my parents taught me never to give-up in life. I believe in “doing” and striving harder to achieve my desired target. “Doing” people are those who run after an opportunity to build their career to achieve their goals in life. Such people are very powerful. According to Francesco and Gold (p.26), Chinese culture is a large power distance society where people have different ranks, and there is a power distance among the people. The most powerful person influences the whole society. It shows that Chinese society is a power driven society. For instance, in a Chinese organization, there are several ranks of people. The top leader makes a decision and his followers follow this decision. It demonstrates that a powerful Chinese governs the whole system. Similarly, I know my power and in the context of my power, I manage my relationships with others. Knowledge is my weapon that can protect me and make me powerful.
I have a privilege to practice everything. Chan (p.336) analyzed that in Chinese society people can give their views and can share their thoughts which give them a right of freedom. In other words, I belong to an egalitarian culture. I am studying in England; whereas, my home country is China because my parents have given me this privilege to gain knowledge. Hence, I am deeply affected by the beliefs and values regarding power and privilege in Chinese culture.
Time orientation is an identity category of mine. I am a past as well as future oriented person. Mullins (p.49) identified the ranking of countries on different dimensions. I and my family are strongly connected to Confucian work dynamics that means that we are past oriented in terms of following traditional values. Moreover, we are future oriented by knowing the effects of the current situation on the future generation. My mother sent me abroad to achive higher education and to know the world. Due to my parents, I met different people belonging to different cultural background. I learnt a lot. My experience is good. My parents knew my needs and they always wanted to make my future better. Both past oriented and future oriented life is an identifiable category of my race.
Second identity category of my culture is “harmonized orientation”. I work in a harmonized manner with nature. I do not dissipate the things. I am living a comfortable life and enjoy every bit of it. I am a helping person as my parents taught me to help others because they know the feelings of a helpless person. My father used to take his medicine cabinets to the people who were living in villages and were not able to visit a doctor because of the poor traffic conditions. Such helping action of my father helped aided him in gaining a good and respectable impression. Therefore, I also try to work with the nature to make my life harmonized.
Racial identity development model
Within the framework of racial identity development model, I have developed an understanding that my parents told me that my race is Asian even they sent me for higher studies is England. My parents told me to share goods things with others. I still believe the same thing and try to share good things with others and keep myself happy. I belong to Chinese ethnic background. I have certain values and norms that reflect my culture. I believe that up till now, I have met several people who belong to various ethnic backgrounds. I share good relationships with others. I have seen many things that I have never seen before in my life. I experienced new stuff that made me learnt many things. Moreover, in terms of gender, my mother has always taught me that a woman should always support her husband. Besides this, my parents have also taught me that a girl should acquire education to make her future bright. I believe that I can protect my future with the weapon of knowledge only. I have learnt that women is a supporter and a hero who never shows off herself and maintains the dignity of her family. Since now, I have also understood that I as a Chinese have a racial identity, and I believe that I am a string woman and a supporter of my family.
Two specific social constructs
Social constructs are the shared ideas of humans that organize a system of social interaction (McLaughlin, p.82). The two specific social constructs that have affected positively on me are race and feminism. Race is a social construct that has positively affected on my participation in studies because people think that there is a racial difference. My father also faced issues in his past. When I came to England and interacted with different people, I analyzed that there is no such racial difference. The stories shared among my friends made me realized that race is not always an issue. My mother told me that one should not always look at the bad side; a person should also look at the positive side. I have realized that a person learns from his mistakes and mistakes do not negatively affect a person.
Another social construct is feminism. I believe that in today’s society both men and women are equal. My parents have also taught me that everyone is equal regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, color and religion. The inherent culture of Chinese society is based on the masculine society. When my mother sent me to England, she wanted me to experience new things and become a strong woman. I also believe that the socially constructed feminism phenomenon has helped me in becoming a reputable educated and strong woman who can take a stand and protect herself.
