The Power of Culture

Our cultural knowledge is usually “just the stuff we know”.  We tend to become most aware of our own knowledge when we enter a different cultural context.  This does not mean we have to travel across the globe to have a cross-cultural experience.  We have all likely had the experience of spending time visiting a different family, starting a new job, or moving to a new school.  Our foray into the new setting may feel awkward and uncomfortable. 

Lisa Delpit (2006), writes about the “culture of power” in her book entitled, Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom.  Delpit identifies that the majority group with the insider knowledge holds the power.  This majority group may not be aware of the knowledge that they have, but those who do not have the knowledge are often keenly aware of what is unknown.  Explicitly teaching people the cultural rules encourages quicker adaptation to the new context.  Delpit writes, “Unless one has the leisure of a lifetime of “immersion” to learn them, explicit presentation makes learning immeasurable easier” (p. 26). 

When I teach introductory special education courses, we talk about the culture of special education.  The field is filled with so much jargon and patterns of behaviors.  When a family first enters special education with their child, they can be very overwhelmed by the interactions with large groups of professionals who all have the insider knowledge.  It is so important that someone on the team takes time with the family to provide some explicit teaching about what will happen in the process.  Professionals often forget this step because they are just doing the stuff they know.

Another example of this transition came out in a study I have been working on related to first year college students.  Participants in my study had participated in a four-week summer bridge program prior to their first year at college.  The participants described how empowering it was to be given information about expected behaviors at the school prior to the start of the school year. 

The sharing of insider knowledge is not always done so the outsider may experience all of the missteps and frustrations of not knowing exactly what is expected.  Whether in the workplace, education setting, or even welcoming someone new to the family, it is very important to take the time to share some of the “stuff you know” to empower others in their transition.