28 Jan A cellphone company once

SOCS350 Cultural Diversity in the Professions

Week 2 Discussion

DQ1 Culture Is in the Air

This week’s introduction noted that culture was a lot like air. It is all around us, but we really do not pay attention to it unless it is absent or smells odd. The same is true about our culture. We do not think much about it, and we go through our lives feeling that things are the way they are because that is the way they ought to be. This week, start sniffing the cultural air around you, including your workplace’s communication styles and barriers. Additionally, examine specific cultural healthcare practices and values regarding health promotion and illness prevention.

For the initial post, address the following:

What do you learn about our culture?

Identify some things that are distinctively “American.” Do not include only material culture (objects and physical symbols), but include non-material culture such as language, values, ideology, ethics, behaviors, and the like.

Distinguish your local culture from your national culture?

DQ2 Power Relationships

A cellphone company once ran a television ad touting its call reliability, in which a young man is talking to his future father-in-law, who is telling him to address him by his first name and consider him a friend. The young man launches into a series of variations of the first name. Unknown to either party, the call is dropped and the young man does not hear any response from the father. He becomes very nervous and disconcertedly reverts to “Mr.” and “Sir.” The ad’s message is clear: Use our service and this sort of thing won’t happen.

For the initial post, address the following:

Why do you think the ad agency chose this power relationship for its commercial? Is it one to which you can relate?

Have you had any kind of similar experience at your workplace or school (e.g., with a patient, client, or professor), not necessarily on a cellphone?

Have you encountered the power relationships exemplified in the commercial when implementing various healthcare practices such as disease prevention? Are co-workers and patient receptive?