Diversity Issues

NAME ___________________________________________
September 2008 - Chestnut Hill College
Text - On Being Different, Kottak/Kozaitis
Instructor – J. Ferry

Test has two parts: one section of 10 objective questions (each correct response is 2.5 points), second section of 3 questions requiring essay responses. Each essay will be worth up to 25 points. The essay questions are designed, not to draw out a single correct answer, but to allow you to communicate some of what you have learned about diversity since class began. Essays should be 100 to 300 words in length. I will evaluate your essays with these three criteria in mind: 1) Is there evidence of recent study, 2) Does writer have a clear understanding of the theories, facts and explanations she/he is writing about, 3) Is the essay well-written (grammatical sentences, ideas coherent, organized and presented well, sources stated, conclusions drawn from statements presented).

The test is take-home, open book, without any time-limit. Student may confer with anyone on the matter of the test, EXCEPT with other classmates. Deadline for submission of test is Saturday Sept 27 in class.

Circle the letter in front of the correct answer

1.The author of our text, early on, claims that globalization does not a village make. People, caught in a global web of relations, a compelled to _______________________________________.
a. work within a set of prejudices and stereotypes
b. treat all types of diverse people, their culture and customs, as equal and worthy of equal protection
c. reconstruct a web of local relationships
d. accept feuds and friendships just like in a small village.

2.In chapter one, authors claim that an important American belief and value is _______________________________.
a. Unity in diversity guarantees human survival
b. every group, except native americans, has to pull itself up by its bootstraps
c. women and men are fundamentally and naturally different
d. it is okay to be different, as long as diverse groups subordinate themselves to the good of all.

3.People ____________________________________ ethnic boundaries to distinguish themselves from others and to express their cultural integrity, according to author.
a. destroy or deconstruct
b. construct and maintain
c. violate
d. honor

4.The term "culture" refers to _______________________________________________________
a. the crossroads between nature and nurture
b. developing good manners and refined tastes
c. distinctive and diverse ways of life - traditions and customs - transmitted through learning, which plays a vital role in molding the beliefs and behavior of a society/group.
d. how genes and genetic material moves through generations over time

5. __________________________ refers to disturbed feelings that often arise when one has contact with an unfamiliar culture.
a. ethnic cleansing
b. disgust and loathing.
c. poor customer services
d. culture shock.

6. Kottak asserts that cultures are integrated by __________________________________
a. democratic elections
b. religious tolerance
c. their main economic activities and social patterns, as well as values, and common attitudes.
d. having different people live in each other's communities.

7. In chapter three, the authors say, "The great sociopolitical _______________of the contemporary world is that both integration and disintegration are increasing."
a. threat
b possibility
c. ideal
d. paradox.

8. Multiculturalism is an attempt, not only to understand the ways that people and groups of people are diverse from one another, but it is also a political ideology that recognizes that there are ranked hierarchies in the modern world in which some groups have more wealth, status, power, prestige than other groups; and Multiculturalism _________________________________________
a. wants to maintain that aspect of diversity.
b. seeks to expose, challenge, and change this ranking system.
c. recognizes that the poor will be always with us.
d. is trying to deconstruct differences between peoples through promulgation of a single world culture value system.

9.In chapter 4, the authors write of _________________________________research showing the ways in which some large retail chains have started targeting cultural diversity, focusing especially on the fastest growing ethnic group in the US, the 35 million Americans of Hispanic origin.
a. Christina Aguilera's
b. Karl Marx's
c. Jennifer Steinhauer's
d. Wal-Mart's

10.____________________________ is the tendency to use one's own cultural standards and values to judge the behavior and beliefs of people with different cultures.
a. Intolerance
b. Stereotyping
c. Ethnocentrism
d. Righteous indignation

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ESSAY QUESTIONS

Question #1: Isn't is enough to learn our own manners, morals, customs and culture. Why study diversity? And why might the study of human diversity be more relevant now in our day and age?

Question#2: Imagine that you are a long-time neighbor to a family whose religious faith tells them that it is an abomination of God's will to transfer body fluids from one person to another - doing so is a sin that will land you in hell for all eternity, and that's worse than death.They have a child who is a hemophiliac (in this example: blood doesn't clot; will die after minor cut, if not given transfusion). The child suffers a cut while you are around, the parents are also present. What do YOU do? Why? Why not?
(note: In responding to this question - I will not be evaluating your answer based on what you would do, but on your use of ideas/concepts/theories about diversity and conflict, power and inequality- I am interested in you using some of the ideas your have been studying about in this class, to think your way through the issue of religious/cultural diversity when it conflicts with our "common" laws and customs within certain jurisdictions.)

Question#3: "E pluribus Unum" is a slogan inscribed on our currency. It means "Out of many, One". What does it mean? Does it mean that everybody that comes to this country has to give up their diversity and become American or Americanish? Do Muslims/Jews/Chinese have to go along with this being 2008 (years since Christ was born) if they live in America? Or should we dominant Americans make appointments in Jewish calendar (5700 years since Creation) /Chinese Calendar ( it is now 4706) /Muslim calendar (1429 since prophet went from Mecca)? The question I want you to address is this - Is diversity or conformity necessary for this globalized society we are rushing into?