Levels of Culture, Part II

Shallow Culture

Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

- Cesar Chavez

In a previous essay, I talked about the three levels of culture (surface, shallow,  and deep), focusing on surface culture. As a reminder, surface culture is the observable elements of a group - things like food, music, holidays, and stories. 

Shallow culture in the culture tree metaphor is represented by the trunk and branches.¹ As Zaretta Hammond writes, “This level is made up of the unspoken rules around everyday social interactions and norms.”² It includes elements like:

• Concepts of time

• Personal space

• Eye contact

• Ways of handling emotion

• Non-verbal communication

• Being honest

• And more

At this level, we put into practice our deeper cultural values (more on deep culture coming next month!). While we can see our own actions and the actions of others, we can’t necessarily articulate why we do things the way we do - it’s just what seems “normal” to us.

Importantly, it is at the shallow culture level that we interpret certain actions as respectful or disrespectful.³ Take eye contact, for example. One cultural lens teaches (often implicitly) that making eye contact is a sign of respect. In the classroom setting, this can be viewed as a signal that a student is listening. A different cultural lens views making eye contact, particularly to someone older or in authority, as extremely disrespectful; a person shows respect by deferring eye contact. Another example is honesty. One cultural lens views being honest and direct as respectful because nothing is hidden or kept secret. A different cultural lens sees directness as disrespectful and instead values politeness above all, even if it means skirting the truth. 

As you might imagine, cultural clashes can often occur at the shallow level. In developing cultural competency, it is important to be able to recognize, value and navigate these different elements. If you’re like me - a member of the dominant culture - the expectation is often that people from other cultures conform. This is known as assimilation; at times it is an unspoken expectation and other times is forced upon groups of people. Practicing cultural competence requires challenging this expectation because it doesn’t value different elements of cultures. In fact it directly devalues them. For cultures other than the dominant one, members are required to navigate the differences (or pay the consequences), thereby creating marginalization. Members of dominant culture do not have this experience and therefore often lack the necessary skills of cultural competency. 

It is essential, then, that we are able to identify and name the unspoken rules of our own shallow culture. In doing so, we can see that our cultural elements are only some of the many that exist around us and expand our view to better understand them. This helps us to become aware of the different behaviors and actions that emerge from shallow culture elements other than our own and recognize that different elements are not superior or inferior to one another. As we deepen our understanding, we can come to value various cultural elements and learn to navigate them with honor. In doing so, we move towards justice. 

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As I shared when I wrote about surface culture, I started writing “I am from” poems about various elements of my own culture based on the culture tree. The following is my poem about the shallow culture element of concepts of time:

I am from

“On time is late.”

For most events,

          showing up 10-15 minutes

          before the schedule start time

          often the first to arrive

          resigning myself to helping with

          the final preparations and set-up

For Sunday morning church,

          arriving 20-30 minutes early

          to claim “our spot”

          sitting through final sound checks

          and watching everyone else come in

Not only “on time is late,”

          but also arrive early enough

          that the hosts are still

          finishing final touches.

(Side note: This most definitely shifted for me shortly after I started college. 🙂)

What is an element of shallow culture that you’re from? Share with us in the format you prefer.

I’m excited for us to be able to learn from each other as I share what I’ve learned. It’s important that sharing and learning be welcoming and inclusive. 

Expectations for comments:

1. Be curious

2. Be kind

1.  Here’s “Figure 2.1: Culture Tree” from the book (yes, you’ll need to zoom in to really be able to read it): https://resources.corwin.com/sites/default/files/03._figure_2.1_culture_tree.pdf

2. Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). What’s Culture Got To Do with It? Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students (pp. 22). Corwin, a SAGE Company.

3. Significantly, this is why I shifted from using language of “treat everyone with respect” to “uphold people’s dignity.” Our understanding of what is respectful and disrespectful is deeply tied to our deeper cultural values and can vary greatly.