Self-Analysis of Cultural Identity: An Overview of How My Values, Beliefs, Motivations, Expectations, Attitudes, and/or Behaviors Come About

Cultural identity is a framework (Jameson, 2007) introduced to help us make sense of how we have derived our values, beliefs, motivations, expectations, attitudes, and/or behaviors from. In most cases, all these are a given throughout our lifetime and they emerge at the subconscious level, without necessarily much questioning. They are what they are, thus giving rise to the diversity of people at a deeper level. These differences affect how we interact with other people, especially in the context of business communication. We may find ourselves communicate differently when facing people from outside our organization than when facing people from our internal organization, or when dealing with an international partner versus when dealing with a local partner. Some contexts are more egalitarian than others, while some are more formal. In some contexts, consideration of certain religious beliefs is integral to business practices. In some others, they can be completely irrelevant. All these provide an avenue for deciding whether we wish to “stay true” to ourselves or allow ourselves to adjust with whoever we communicate with (and how much). In Jameson’s (2007) framework, there are a variety of components that make up our cultural identity: Vocation, Class, Philosophy, Geography, Language, and Biological Traits with Cultural Aspects.

Vocation may include our occupational field, profession or job category, employing organization, or its subunit. In a larger organization, you may find that different units may have their own unique values or expectations about something (such as when it comes to efficiency or procedures). Financial industries versus creative industries may have different ways of doing things. Class may include our social, economic, and educational class. Our idea of happiness may be different across different economic classes. Some may find organizing an event in a luxurious place to be of the utmost importance, while some may opt to organize an event that places an emphasis on perceived modesty. People holding a bachelor’s degree may have different expectations from those not going to college at all. Philosophy may include religious and political beliefs. Even people who subscribe to the same religious background can have completely different worldviews if one is more conservative and the other is more liberal. Geography may include our nationality, region, state, province, city, density identification, or residence. Those who move from place to place may have different expectations from those who have stayed in one place most of their life. Those living in a crowded place may see things differently from those living in a place with much fewer people. Language may include any language one speaks, including its dialects or accents. Those who speak one language may see things differently from those who speak multiple languages. The last one is Biological Traits with Cultural Aspects, which may include age, gender, sex, sexuality, ethnicity and race, as well as health background. Different generations may see things differently as they are exposed to different things.

In every person, all of these play out in a complex way to induce a certain set of values, beliefs, motivations, expectations, attitudes, and/or behaviors. In a person, some aspects are also seen as more important than others. As we move on with our lives and have more experiences and meet different people, the meaning and significance of each aspect of our cultural identity may change or evolve. In my own case in terms of vocation, I am part of a profession called a university professor, whose jobs include teaching, doing research, and engaging in community services to say the least. But I have also been involved in various international projects, activities, or engagements because of my role dealing with matters related to international education and/or internationalization of higher education. My role as a spouse and a parent can also be part of this. In terms of class, I have been generally part of the middle or working class and I have a PhD or a doctoral degree. I also studied astronomy, which in the Indonesian context is extremely rare, but I later navigated my academic life to the field of management. These fields are somehow viewed differently in the society. Though I did not really go to top schools during my middle or high schools, I went to study in one of top universities, shaping my future expectations. Then, I had an opportunity to study in the United States, with a prestigious scholarship. In terms of philosophy, I grew up being a relatively conservative Muslim but later discovered fundamentally different approaches to understanding scriptures and were exposed to teachings of various religious traditions. Though I do not identity myself in a political sense necessarily, my exposure to political climate in Indonesia and the United States has shaped my political views to some extent. This brings me to geography. Having lived in Bandung for most of my life until college, I became exposed to something new when having a chance to do a short-term program in the Netherlands, the first opportunity that opened up the way I thought about things. Because of this aspiration to see the world and because of my job, I have visited various countries and lived in some. In terms of language, though I only speak few languages, English has been very instrumental to my self-confidence and eventually education and career. It started in my senior high school when I began to develop an affection towards English. Lastly, in terms of biological traits with cultural aspects, age (or generation) is something that simply goes along with my life. For most of my life, I had a rather fixed, yet neutral, idea about my ethnicity (which is Sundanese). But it is not until I received a more fine-tuned perspective of my ethnicity based on my DNA-test, which apparently reveals some European flavors. The way I understand my gender and sexuality has overall evolved as I gain more understanding about the subject matter from multiple perspectives. That is, what I understand to be "a man" and its associated features or characteristics evolves as I have experienced various facets of life.

With all these and their intersections or interactions, consciously or subconsciously, my values, beliefs, motivations, expectations, attitudes, and/or behaviors are derived and they keep evolving as new things are experienced. They can be reflected in the way I dress, the way I speak, the way I present or project myself, the way I expect teamwork to operate, the way I deal with conflicts, the way I regard superiors, they way I engage with people (including my eye contact), and many other things, which I may or may not realize. Not only that these can be reflected in my personal life but also in my professional life.

Feel free to let me know in the comment section below the component(s) of cultural identity - or sub-component(s) - that you want me to elaborate further in a separate post, in relation to values, beliefs, motivations, expectations, attitudes, and/or behaviors.

Written on August 18, 2024

More to read: Jameson, D. A. (2007). Reconceptualizing cultural identity and its role in intercultural business communication. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 44(3), 199-235.