What does culture mean in career practice?

We often tend to 'decide' a person's culture by their appearance, so pigeon-holing them as a particular culture: a 'sorting hat' (Rowling, 1997) if we will. Pigeon-holing is superficial, and can be pretty hit and miss. It lacks nuance for showing a person's lived cultural connection. Culture is not simply 'race', but encompasses aspects of cultural origin, ethnicity, and identity.

Culture has been defined in a number of ways: shared reality; tribally; mentally; and in our practices. For example, culture has been defined as shared reality, a “shared learned behavior that is transmitted from one generation to another, for purposes of individual and societal adjustment” (Marsella & Leong, 1995, p. 203). Thus, due to our unique cultural experiences, we each define reality differently. This is ethnocentrism, or “the spectacles we use in the construction of our reality” (Marsella & Leong, (1995, p. 205).

Culture may be thought of as tribal: in that it serves as “a reminder to institutions and individuals that there are other 'tribes' in the world” (Austin, 1999, p. 1). Our 'tribe' has a shared history, customs, traditions, and stories which connects us, and our sharing makes our tribe more cohesive.

Further, culture is a mental process. The guru of culture - Geert Hofstede - defined culture very early on as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others” (Hofstede, 1989, p. 391). This programming includes “an amalgam of values, meanings, conventions and artifacts that constitute daily social realities” (Kitayama & Park, 2010, p. 111). Culture is often metaphor that we use in "self-representations, cognition, emotion and motivation" (p. 111). It affects how our brains work, our mental self-image - and how we see others (Kitayama & Park, 2010).

Culture relates to how we act, to our practices: our tikanga. Culture is “customs, practices, languages, values and world views" helping us to distinguish all the societal clusters making up Aotearoa's complex society, "such as those based on nationality, ethnicity, region or common interests” (Ministry of Social Development, 2016). In the 2018 Census 70% of people in New Zealand identified as 'European': the only ethnic group decreasing with each successive census while the percentage of people who identify as Māori, Pasifika, or Asian in Aotearoa is growing (Statistics New Zealand, 2018). For a career practitioner in Aotearoa New Zealand, our context is key. Beyond being a multicultural nation, we are also bound by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, our founding de facto constitution, to honour the Treaty principles and the partnership with tangata whenua.

We cannot simply categorise people according to what we 'assume' to be their culture: we must take the time to explore our clients' cultural origin, ethnicity, and identity: we must be culturally competent. Cultural competence can be defined as our expertise in "adapt[ing] and function[ing] effectively in culturally diverse contexts" (Alexandra, 2018, p. 62). As practitioners, cultural competence is vital in meeting Treaty obligations in our practice. CDANZ members are required to “give due regard to cultural diversity and in particular for the provisions of, and the spirit and intent of, Te Tiriti O Waitangi” (CDANZ, 2016). In acknowledging the increasing diversity of our nation, we also accordingly must ensure our practice remains culturally competent. 

Sam, Helen, Beate, Karen & Juanita

References:

Alexandra, V. (2018). Predicting CQ Development in the Context of Experiential Cross-Cultural Training: The Role of Social Dominance Orientation and the Propensity to Change Stereotypes. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 17(1), 62-78. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0096

Austin, J. T. (1999). Culturally sensitive career assessment: A quandary. ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Center on Education and Training for Employment [Digest No. 210]. http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-2/career.htm

CDANZ. (2016). Code of Ethics. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://cdanz.org.nz/ModularPage?Action=View&ModularPage_id=26

Hofstede, G. (1989). Organising for Cultural Diversity. European Management Journal, 7(4), 390-397. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-2373(89)90075-3

Kitayama, S., & Park, J. (2010). Cultural neuroscience of the self: Understanding the social grounding of the brain. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(2-3), 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq052

Marsella, A. J., & Leong, F. T. (1995). Cross-cultural issues in personality and career assessment. Journal of Career Assessment, 3(2), 202-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/106907279500300207

Ministry of Social Development. (2016). The Social Report 2016 – Te pūrongo orange tangata. https://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/cultural-identity.html

Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Statistics New Zealand. (2018). 2018 Census ethnic group summaries. https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-ethnic-group-summaries/

* Helen Davies-Martin, Beate Wiebel, Karen Bennett & Juanita Farrelly has kindly prepared much of the material used in this post