1. Philosophical/Social/Political Issues in Education Multicultural Analysis
Emphasis
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Examine the effects that culture may have on the learning process and
Educational Leadership.
Definition of Culture
Culture is a way of seeing, perceiving, and believing. In 1871, Tylor
illustrated the type of definition that listed the individual components of
culture: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral,
law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society” (Noel, 2000,p.3).
Functions of Culture
Culture is a historically developed and developing way for a group of people
to deal with the natural and social world. It develops out of a specific history
of a specific group, who lives within a set of social and political factors.
Culture included practices within families, communities, and societies that
have been developed within this sociohistorical context. The functions of
culture can be seen in terms of why cultures are developed. Maslow (1943),
especially, has structured the discussion of the needs of people that are met
by culture. These are needs that must be met in order for the person to

2. develop completely as a person, and these needs can be seen here as those
that are developed within a culture as a way to meet those needs.
1. At the basic level, culture provides a means by which the most
basic human survival needs can be met. This is the lowest level
of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: the physiological needs and
safety needs of the person. Culture plays a crucial role in life
by creating ways to meet these needs, ways that have developed
within a specific social and historically developing context.
2. Culture also plays an important role in giving us a sense of
belonging. Maslow lists these needs as love and belonging
needs and esteem needs. Being part of a culture helps us realize
that there are others who will share our beliefs, views, and
perspectives. By sharing a sense of identity with others, the
sense of self can be turned into a sense of we.
3. Additionally, culture sets for us what would be regarded as
important in becoming the best person we can be. At the top or
upper level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the need for self-
actualization. A culture that has been shaped by its members
will provide for us our sense of what is important in society, or
what we can aim for in our lives to make us feel complete.

3. Culture defines what we do and what we value in situations.
We develop a sense for what is acceptable and unacceptable,
appropriate and inappropriate, in different situations.
Culture has many functions in our lives. It is created by groups of
people in response to the world around them. It helps us survive, feel
a sense of belonging, and pattern our behaviors and beliefs so that we
can locate our roles and expectations within society (Noel, 2000 p.5).
Cautions About Culture
Although an important role of culture is providing a sense of
belonging for its members, there is a danger of creating an “us” and
“them.” Young (1990) describes this concern:
Identification as a member of such a community often occurs
as oppositional differentiation from other groups, who are
feared or at best devalued. Persons identify only with some
other persons, feel in community only with those, and fear the
difference others confront them with because they identify
with a difference culture, history, and point of the world
(p.311).
Another caution about culture is one that is often overlooked. As
described earlier, culture provides ways for our basic needs to be met.
Finally, culture is not static. A group of people does not have a
culture, an unchanging and unalterable view of the world. Norms of
acceptability, morality, beauty, and so on change. Since perspective is

4. formed on the basic of culture and social aspects of life results in
variations and alterations of the perceptual filter through which we
view life (Noel, 2000, p. 6).
Components of Culture
The way people understand their world is shaped by their culture’s
history, traditions and ways of thinking. Each culture provides its own
particular styles of communication, patterns of interaction, and ways of
knowing.
Communication Style
Communications, at its basic level, is the sending and receiving of
messages. But within the system of communication, there are many subtle
variations in how different cultures actually, communications, differences in
what is expected and accepted by different cultures. Studies have found that
several clearly distinguishable communication patterns are shaped by
culture. In one style of communication patterns that participation in
reading, for instance involved engaging in reading and discussing ideas. A
second communication pattern involves listening rather than reading, with
encouragement to imitate, repeat, and recall information. A third pattern
includes much more of a taking the lead in verbal communication. And
finally, cultural style of reflecting as prior to speaking. All these

5. communication patterns may be exemplified by students in single classroom
or school. Thus the idea that there is a single preferred communication
pattern in the school denies the culturally influenced pattern of many
students (Noel, 2000 p. 10).
Intellectual Style
Intellectual style refers to “typical or preferred modes of perceiving
and assimilating information” (Educational Research Services, 1991, p. 14).
Two of the key indicators of intellectual style are knowledge most valued
within a culture and way that learning takes place most prominently for the
individual. A key distinction here is between written and oral cultures. The
phrase “seeing is believing” illustrates one type of intellectual style, in
which people believe and trust information more or only if it is in written
form. This style leads to and develops form a more legalistic culture.
In other cultures, however, societies are continued through an oral
tradition. When agreements are made, these are done through the “giving of
one’s word” or through a handshake. This oral intellectual style lends itself
to using intuition and feelings in decision making. The person in this culture
will be interested in knowing the global implications of a topic, including
cognitive, physical, and emotional aspects involved (Noel, 2000, p.13).

6. Intellectual style refers to a community’s style of thinking and
decision making that is based more clearly on the written word or oral
tradition. Some communities are based more clearly on the written style or
on the oral style, but many may endorse and use both ways of thinking.
Connected to these intellectual styles, different cultures vary on how
decisions are made, with some emphasizing logical and analytic thinking,
and others operating more closely on the use of intuition and feelings (Noel,
2000, p. 13).
Styles That Are Privilege in Schools
When reflecting upon these different components of culture, it
becomes clear that some styles are more often accepted and expected within
schools. Students who display these styles are often treated with high
esteem in the school. One way to describe this practice is to say that certain
styles are “privileged” within the schools. On the other hand, consider how
those students who do not have these styles as part of their culture will
struggle within the school environment.
In thinking about how schools are structured, it can be seen that some
cultures and communities have similar styles to the schools’, whereas others
have styles that function in ways different from the schools’. The outcome
of these culturally influences styles is a different set of patterns of

7. participation in schools by students who have developed these different
communication styles, organizational styles, and intellectual styles (Noel,
2000, p. 15).
Characterizations of Culture
A number of researchers have interpreted the actions of different
cultures by providing characterizations of cultures, pointing out
communication, organizational, and intellectual styles. Some distinguish
cultures based on race, others distinguish them based on culture alone, and
others distinguish between rural and urban cultures. Although we may think
that the way we act is “normal,” clearly a wide variety of cultural differences
result in a variety of ways of acting.
Edward T. Hall has provided a different type of characterization of
cultures. The characterization is environment, social surrounding, and the
organizational networks with their setting. High context cultures tend to
organize themselves in a group orientation, whereas low context cultures
place the organizational focus on individual achievements. The high
context cultures are characterized as reasoning and decision making through
intuition and feeling, whereas low context cultures are described as using
analytic and word oriented reasoning (Noel, 2000, p. 17).

8. People who live in rural and in urban places live a very different
geographic, economics, and social contexts. Any analysis of rural and
urban cultural characteristics must include a historical and sociological
examination of the lived experiences of groups and individuals. The rural
culture emphasis is on family or group oriented work and traditions that are
necessary for the continued survival of the community. Because the
children are participating in work that has been handed down through many
generations, “their sense of place within the historical continuity of their
people was also reinforced (Noel, 2000, p. 18).
In urban settings, there are new and diverse types of jobs and
occupations. Identity is based on responsibility for the group to continue. In
this type of culture, learning cannot proceed through observing and imitating
adults who work in the job that the child will certainly have. Instead,
“education in the future-oriented, achievement-oriented era… tended to
instill a systematic, convergent, goal-directed, future-directed style of
thought, with a problem-solving emphasis (Noel, 2000, p. 18).
One additional way to identify the differences in rural and urban
cultural characteristics is through the German concepts of gemeinschaft and
gesellschaft. Defined by Tonnies, a culture based on gemeinschft is one that
is personal and sharing oriented. The gemeinschaft type of culture is most

9. often identified as rural. A gesellschaft culture is one that is based on
deliberately chosen association is most often identified as existing in urban
societies.
Social Foundations of Education
Throughout the history of American education, one of the main
functions of education has been the socialization of students into the
dominant culture. Although schools have the important purpose of teaching
“reading, writing, and arithmetic,” they also serve the role of reproducing
and perpetuating the established social, cultural, political, and economic
structures and norms of society.
In reflecting on the different components and characterization of
cultures, it should be clear that there are certain patterns of thinking,
believing, and valuing that our schools encourage in students, and that other
patterns are discouraged within schools. The main idea of discontinuities
between home and school cultures is that many children, the culture of their
home and their community is very different from the culture of the school
system. Children are socialized to believe, think, and act in specific ways by
their families and their communities. Their styles of communicating,
organizing, and thinking at home are considered natural and are encourage
and accepted. However, for many children, these same behaviors are

10. improper and unacceptable at school. Sometimes the school’s culture
contradicts the home culture. Often the languages of children are
disregarded and devalued. The result may be such harmful effects as
misinterpretations of students’ actions, inconsistencies in expectations and
treatment of students, and possible failure in the school (Noel, 2000, p. 21).
Conclusion
Culture is defined as a way of perceiving the world. Our perspectives
on life are shaped by our experiences within our particular society and
communities. Even though it is important for our understanding of our
identities to understand the culture that helped shape them, it is equally
important to recognize that a culture is not perfect and it is not static. Thus a
balance in understanding our own cultural perspective and the value of other
cultural perspectives is important in our world (Noel, 2000, p 6).
There is always a concern with assuming that a culture can be
characterized by a few characteristics. The danger is that stereotypes about
entire groups of people will be formed. It is important to recognize that the
dominant culture’s way of being, which is also stressed within the school, is
but one of the myriads of cultures and perspectives represented in the United
States and in the world. In reality cultures have developed ways of life that

11. may share some characteristics with other cultures but may also have a
number of specific ways of living (Noel, 2000, pp. 19-20).
Each cultural way of life has developed within a culturally influenced
set of histories, traditions, and patterns that help shape the identities of
people today (Noel, 2000, p. 20).
School is the setting in which children will spend countless days and
hours of their lives; schools have a key role in shaping children. In effect,
schools are the key sources of the development of each next generation of
society. As such, school- the teachers, administrators, curriculum, physical
structure-tend to socialize students into the dominant view of society that
largely determines the structure of society. The schools help reproduce the
dominant society by socializing students into the value, beliefs. There are
several perspectives on why cultural socialization is practiced within the
school and on who benefits from these practices. One way to look at it is
that when students gain the knowledge, values, and beliefs of the dominant
culture, then as they become adults, society will function more smoothly. A
major role for schools, including the teachers who work in them, is to
recognize their parts in the cultural socialization of students, to understand
the effects on student’s identities, and to determine the steps to take to

12. provide an educational and social experience for students that does not do
harm to students socially constructed identities (Noel, 2000, pp. 25-26).
Internet links:
Cross-Cultural Cognitive Psychology - General - Ohio State University
School of Music Cross-Cultural Cognitive Pscyhology - General Altarriba,
Jeanette, editor. 1993. Cognition and culture: A cross-cultural approach to
cognitive psychology. xiii, 405 pp. Advances in psychology, 103.
Amsterdam
http://www.music-cog.ohio-state.edu/Musi...
UW Press - : The Cultural Dialectics of Knowledge and Desire - South
Asia / Religion / Anthropology / Philosophy The Cultural Dialectics of
Knowledge and Desire Charles W. Nuckolls With a Foreword by Stephen A.
Tyler "Strikingly original and engaging."—V. Narayana Rao, University of
Wisconsin–Mad
http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books...
Research Knowledge and Policy Issues in Cultural Diversity and
Education - Systemic Reform: Perspectives on Personalizing Education--
Sept. 1994 Research Knowledge and Policy Issues in Cultural Diversity and
Education Roland G. Tharp The increasing diversity of cultural and ethnic
groups in American schools has led to a pa
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/S...
Influence of Evaluators' Prior Academic Knowledge - Discusses the
effects of the preconceptions of educators of bilingual Hispanic children on
language learning.
http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/miscpubs/nysabe/...
Cross-Cultural "Specialized Knowledge" - For professionals and students
in the cross-cultural field and for people in all walks of life who wish to
better understand this field.
http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/psy561/at...
Cross-Cultural Science Education: - Cross-Cultural Science Education: A
Cognitive Explanation of a Cultural Phenomenon Published in Journal of

13. Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 36, pp. 269-287. Glen S. Aikenhead
College of Education University of Saskatchewan 28 Campus Drive Saskato
http://www.usask.ca/education/people/aik...
Key terms:
Culture – the way of seeing, perceiving, and believing
Intellectual style – typical or preferred modes of perceiving and assimilating
information
Geminschaft – a culture that is personal and sharing oriented. This culture is
most often rural.
Gesellschft – a culture that is based on deliberately chosen association rather
than natural birth into a community. This culture is most often urban.