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Cultural identity theory


Cultural identity refers to a person's sense of belonging to a particular culture or group. This process involves learning about and accepting traditions, heritage, language, religion, ancestry, aesthetics, thinking patterns, and social structures of a culture. Normally, people internalize the beliefs, values, norms, and social practices of their culture and identify themselves with that culture. The culture becomes a part of their self-concept (Lustig, 2013). However, some studies have noted that existing cultural identity theory may not account for the fact that different individuals and groups may not react to or interpret events, happenings, attitudes, etc. in the same ways as other individuals or groups.

Myron Lustig notes that cultural identities are central to a person’s sense of self. That is because cultural identities “are central, dynamic, and multifaceted components of one’s self concept” (Lustig, 133). Lustig also points out that cultural identities are dynamic, and they exist within a changing social context. As a result, a person’s identity changes as do one’s ongoing experiences in life (Lustig, 135). Other researchers describe cultural identity as referring to the content of values as guiding principles, to meaningful symbols, and to life styles that individuals share with others, though not necessarily within recognizable groups (Boski et al., 2004). In addition, Boski et al. point out that most books and studies have ignored cultural identity as a theoretical construct in the field of cross-cultural psychology. Instead, books and journals report works on the theme of social identity. Social identity is described as a sense of “We-ness,” or attachment to a group that one is a member of, and by comparison to others. The sense of “We-ness” remains culturally empty, however. Even with natural groups, it is portrayed in trait-attributes, “which is not different from those used to characterize individuals” (Boski et al., 2004). There is, however, research evidence about the social (ethnic) vs. cultural distinction (Sanchez-Burks et al., 2000). This study found that the task-oriented cultural style was generally more favored than the task-plus interpersonal alternative, particularly among Anglo-American participants, for whom ethnicity did not matter. Mexican and Latino participants, however, showed some degree of favoritism toward ethnically similar participants (Sanchez-Burks et all, 2000).


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