What is a culture?
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Throughout this course you will learn about what a culture is and how we can define culture. Is culture something that just relates to your ethnic background or is culture something that is defined by your own experiences? You will also learn about how cultures can also be made by recent movements occurring throughout the world such as the LGBTQ culture. Finally you will also learn how cultures can also lead to bad stereotypes of people who aren't necessarily close to their ethnic culture.
Different perspectives:
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Throughout the course you will learn about different perspectives. You will learn about how people from different regions express different points of view on different world issues. You will also learn about the dangers of things like one sided opinions. If we only gain the perspective of one person we miss out on the important opinions and views of other people. The danger of specific voices missing leads to, for the most part, bias perspectives. When we do not have the specific voices or opinions it can lead to some pretty skewed thinking of one’s culture or place.
Some perspectives you will learn about include a structural functionalist who looks at how society works as a whole to promote specific ideas and values. Another perspective includes looking at a conflict perspective. This means looking at something based on violence and division. A symbolic interactionist looks at how symbols may show or present certain ideas. A cultural materialist may look at how images or symbols may present ideas about a certain culture. Finally a feminist perspective looks at things from the view of how that may or may not empower women and their rights.
Some perspectives you will learn about include a structural functionalist who looks at how society works as a whole to promote specific ideas and values. Another perspective includes looking at a conflict perspective. This means looking at something based on violence and division. A symbolic interactionist looks at how symbols may show or present certain ideas. A cultural materialist may look at how images or symbols may present ideas about a certain culture. Finally a feminist perspective looks at things from the view of how that may or may not empower women and their rights.
Culture over time:
Barriers to Understanding
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Throughout this course you will about the "barriers" that can prevent understanding of a certain culture. These include labels, colonization, gender roles, systemic barriers, stereotypes, culture appropriation, media representation and generational barriers. In this course you will be required to understand these barriers and see how they apply to examples in the real world. Finally you will also learn about how we can tear down this barriers so we can gain a better understanding of a culture we might consider to be very "foreign"
Stages of Continuum
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Going through the course you will also learn about the stages of continuum. These stages allow you to measure to what extent you understand a certain world issue. The stages also show you how you can progress higher on the stages of continuum from becoming unaware to taking action. Unaware is someone who is unsure about the issue or does not even know it was an issue in the first place. Aware involves having some knowledge of the issue and is someone who is beginning to take in different perspectives. Being concerned occurs when you have begun to do research about the issue in question and have begun to look into new perspectives in more detail. Knowledgeable involves someone who has done all the research required and now is someone who is trying to interpret the information. Being motivated to change involves someone who is thinking about how to make change by thinking before taking action. Finally taking action involves educating others about the world issue in question and by volunteering to help said world issue.