Cultural Mosaic

The statement that stuck out the most for me when reading Chao and Moon’s (2005) taxonomy of a cultural mosaic was the statement made by Hofstede, which was, “individuals carry different layers of culture within themselves”. This is because a few years back my mother commented on the fact that I tend to act differently and participate in different things when I was with my various friends. “Why can’t you just be yourself?” she asked. Until then I never put much stock into the differences my friends had between each other or the fact that I acted differently depending on who I was with. Her observation made me start to worry that maybe I didn’t know myself as well as I thought I did. An old statement comes to mind of, “You are your friends”. So then who was I, truly? Once I read the statement that every individual has various layers of culture I felt relieved, thrilled, exalted. My different personality traits don’t mean that I don’t know who I am, but rather, that I’ve known who I was all along. With this I feel comfortable in saying that my cultural mosaic is made up of: daughter, lover, mother (to the four-legged variety), woman, student, worker, friend, Christian, librarian, Caucasian, nerd, beauty queen, heavy metal thrasher, creative writer, Texan, and Michigander.

For my Demographic category I feel that my gender makes up the greatest part of my mosaic. This is because as a woman I have struggled with feeling comfortable in my own skin for the 24 years I have been alive. Throughout middle school and early high school I fought an eating disorder that left me weak physically because I was already weak mentally and emotionally. While there is a small part of me that is resentful for my female body and my insecurity in it, I wouldn’t change my experiences for the world. What I went through in the past has served as a Segway for me to be able to help my friends, family, and complete strangers learn to love themselves for who they truly are. I personally feel that if I had been born a man I wouldn’t have gone through the experiences that I had, which of course would have resulted me not being able to help others in the way I have been able to as a woman.

I was born in Houston, Texas and when I was four-years-old my parents moved me up to Michigan. As Hofstede states in Chao and Moon that there are, “significant correlations between latitude, a rough measure of climate, and three cultural values. Lower latitudes, or hotter climates, were associated with lower power distance, masculinity, and collectivism, whereas colder climates were associated with higher power distance, femininity, and individualism”. I chose climate as the main tool for my Geographical category because I felt that the above quote helped lend a better understanding to some of the contradictory tiles that make me. Perhaps because I was born in Texas, with a lower latitude and hotter climate, this is why I enjoy horror movies, going to dive bars, and immersing myself in the chaos of a heavy metal show as opposed to watching romance flicks, drinking martinis, and keeping up with the latest pop star. However, maybe the fact that I have lived in Michigan for most of my life will help explain why I love being romantic, dressing up, and dancing around to upbeat music. I recognize that within this very paragraph I have managed to write about many stereotypes but I feel that in order to truly explore and explain the different facets of myself it was pertinent to do so.

As said in Chao and Moon, “We classify people into specific groups to help us define who we are and who we are not. We identify with our groups in order to reduce uncertainty in our self-concept and to bolster our self-enhancement”. When thinking about my Associate category for my mosaic I kept coming back to the tiles of my Christianity and my chosen profession. I chose my religion as one of my larger tiles because without it I would be lost. It is something that has given me comfort in my greatest time of need and gives me strength when I feel I have no more left. Also, in my circle of friends I am the only Christian. While I appreciate the different beliefs that my group has, I feel an extremely strong need to keep my Christianity close to me. Mainly this is because it is one facet of me that I don’t share a bond with my closest friends. My profession in librarianship is also an extremely important part of myself. Ever since I learned to read I knew that I was destined to have a career involving books. Now, as I finish up my degree with a concentration in youth services, I look forward to having the chance to light that same spark in other children. That, to me, is one of the greatest services I can give while spending my time on Earth and because of that, my profession deserves a prominent tile in my cultural mosaic.

I think I have learned more about who I am during the time spent reading Chao and Moon and writing my cultural mosaic blog than I though possible. It gave me the chance to sit down and really think about whom I am as a person and how I became that way. After reading Chao and Moon I now know that one must look at oneself not only from afar but up close, because only then will you see all of the different tiles that make up your true self.

Chao, G. T., & Moon, H. (2005). The cultural mosaic: A metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1128–1140.