A Racial Identity Model by Wing Sue and Sue describes five stages of development that oppressed people experience while trying to understand their culture, the dominant culture and the oppressive relationship between the two cultures. The Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model (R/CID)), an elaboration of the MID (Minority Identity Development model) by Wing Sue and Sue, encompassed a broader population that may be also applied to White identity development. The R/CID is a conceptual framework to help therapists in understanding their culturally different clients’ attitudes and behaviors. The five stages of development that oppressed people experience are: conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness. Conformity is when a person does not appreciate or is neutral towards their self, others of their minority group, other minority groups, but they appreciate/admire the dominant group. At the stage of dissonance a person is aware of racism while starting to learn to accept and appreciate their culture, begins to realize similarities between different minority groups, and start to feel that the dominant group is not fully beneficial. Resistance and immersion is when someone may appreciate their self, connect with their culture, have alliances with other minority groups, and dislikes the dominant group. In the introspection stage, a person may feel concerned for their own self-appreciation and unequal appreciation in the cultural group, try to work together with other minority groups while trying to understand each other differences, and have feelings of distrust and anger towards the dominant group. The final stage, integrative awareness, is when person appreciates their self, their minority group, other minority groups, and the dominant group.
Reading a Racial Identity Model by Wing Sue and Sue is very informative. I liked reading the scenarios that Wing Sue and Sue included in their text to help the reader better visualize what the definitions of each stage are. As I read this article, I was able to compare my feelings to the emotions described in the stages. It was surprising to find that the feelings I have are like the ones described in a few of the stages. I think that not only I would be able to relate to the stages described in this reading, many other people can too.
In Leonder-Wright’s Are There Class Cultures, he discusses four cultural classes: low-income, working-class/lower middle-class, professional middle-class, and owning-class. He discusses the different views and experience that each class has. He compares the four cultural classes based on views of employment, as activists, and college experiences. He concludes his article with the emphasis that if all cultural classes work together, the movements that we are passionate about will be stronger.
In Leonder-Wright’s Are There Class Cultures, he discusses four cultural classes: low-income, working-class/lower middle-class, professional middle-class, and owning-class. He discusses the different views and experience that each class has. He compares the four cultural classes based on views of employment, as activists, and college experiences. He concludes his article with the emphasis that if all cultural classes work together, the movements that we are passionate about will be stronger.
Looking at Are There Class Cultures by Leonder-Wright was very interesting. I did not think that the categories of class would be related to culture. When I read the title, I thought the article was going to be about different cultures, but I found out that it was really about the differences and similarities of classes. Reading about the different opinions and experiences that each cultural class undergoes shows the weaknesses and strong points of each. I agree with Leonder-Wright that all the cultural classes should work together to ensure movements that are important to us will be stronger.