Working With Diverse Groups and SW Values and Ethics

Whether we are cognizant of it or not, we interact with people who are different from us on a daily basis. Even within our own communities and families, everyone approaches life from a different worldview. It is when we have an experience with persons that are markedly different from ourselves that we become more mindful of our differences; this is often the case when it comes to situations of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on. With this in mind, it was difficult for me to isolate and decide which experiences I wanted to focus on.

Ultimately, I decided upon two instances where I experienced interactions with individuals who were of a different culture and religious background than my own.

The first experience I would like to share was an ongoing experience I had while living abroad. In my early twenties, I moved to Israel to study and work. Having been born and raised in the United States, there was a large cultural gap to navigate.

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Initially, I experienced a lot of stress and anxiety. There were many reasons for this, however, two particularly significant stressors for me were the differences in language and cultural differences. These two factors contributed to many uncomfortable situations. They also provided an enormous learning experience that I try to utilize in daily life. While there are many examples I could list pertaining to these two components, I feel that the best representation relating to my experience with this culture can be summed up in a single word that involves both culture and language: sabra.

Sabra, otherwise known as a prickly pear, is a fruit that grows from the Opuntia Cactus. This cactus can be found in the Negev desert and across the country’s landscape. It is known for being tough and prickly on the outside, but sweet and soft on the inside. This fruit has become a cultural and national identity to the Israeli people who proudly affiliate themselves with this fruit and the analogy it represents. In the United States, being friendly with strangers is not only a cultural custom, but a habit. It is not uncommon to smile or nod to someone on the street or when you make eye contact with a stranger. In fact, sometimes we can even interpret the lack of this gesture as rude or hurtful. To many people around the globe, this is a known “Americanism” unique to our culture, but for those of us who were born and raised with this American worldview, this is an subconscious cultural norm. I learned this firsthand while living in Israel.

Initially, my experience in the country was stressful and very lonely. I frequently felt isolated and saddened by the perceived lack of friendliness I experienced and wondered if it was because I was perceived as an outsider and internalized this feeling. It was easy to view the people around me as mean and uncaring. My experience closely related to research detailing “Israeliness” and the factors involved in negotiating Israeli identity (Sela‐Sheffy, 2004). While I later came to understand and become more cognizant of this phenomenon, it wasn’t until a friend referred to the prickly fruit analogy and explained the mentality to me that I began to understand the cultural lens with which I had been viewing the situation. She, as well as many others, were happy to explain this difference in culture as well as their lack of understanding as to why Americans are overly polite and friendly to strangers. The interpretation of communication on both sides are referred to as “stumbling blocks” in intercultural communication research, as I was operating with the expectation that others would act and react similarly to me (Boaca, 2014).

This experience has since opened my eyes to how culture cannot only affect how we approach a situation but also how we interpret it. It shed light on how easily a simple cultural difference can have such a significant effect on how we communicate with others, both verbally and nonverbally.

The second example I wish to share also took place in Israel, however, this experience brought to my attention my own cultural bias and also paved the way to better understanding the biases of others who are in the cultural or religious majority of a region. While I, myself, am not a religious person and was raised with multiple religious backgrounds while living in Israel I came to expect that the people around me identified as Jewish. Not only was this due to the notion that Israel is a Jewish state and that the nations rules, holidays and customs were formed around the core beliefs of Judaism, but also because the vast majority of individuals around me were, in fact, Jewish. At one point during my time overseas, I was working for a company in the city of Ra’anana. One day, during a lunch break, I was talking to a friend about an upcoming event or holiday, with the assumption of her Jewish heritage and religion. She kindly brought to my attention that she wasn’t Jewish, and was, in fact, Muslim, originating from a Palestinian village.

This situation was uncomfortable as I had inadvertently approached the conversation with some level of ethnocentrism, therefore, making an assumption according to the cultural norm. My actions correlate with Henri Tajfel’s literature concerning individual and social psychology of intergroup behavior (Tajfel, 1974). Further consideration of this incident has helped me to understand and relate to members of my own culture in the United States who navigate life under similar assumptions. Having grown up with a Jewish parent in a society that is predominantly Christian, it is very common to experience situations where Christian faith is assumed. Because I have experienced this my whole life, it does not bother me, however, it does make certain exchanges uncomfortable. Ironically, in this situation, I had become the person acting under an assumption and this experience gave me a greater understanding as to how easy it is to navigate through daily life with assumptions that others share my core beliefs and ideologies or conform to the societal norm.

It is through the lessons of these combined experiences that I navigate my personal life and with which I intend to approach my professional life as a social worker. In gaining better insight of my own bias and the cultural bias or perspective with which members of our society approach and read their experiences with one another, I can better uphold and continue the ethical principles of social work in remaining mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2017). This exposure offers the opportunity to better understand culture and its function in human behavior and society as noted in Section 1.05(a) of the Code of Ethics, to better maintain a sensitive approach to clients’ cultures noted in Section 1.05(b) and to better navigate issues as they pertain to the nature of social diversity as well as the oppression populations may face.