Essay On African American Culture

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Social workers are increasingly called upon to provide care to elderly people from a number of different faiths and cultures. According to MacKinley (2010), “Culture is a way that a group of people define meaning in their being. The anthropological view, describes a concept of culture as: an historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which mean communicate, perpetuate, and develop the knowledge about and attitudes to life". Preserving the culture of people who are becoming increasingly frail in later life is a particular challenge for those who provide their care. It has been the responsibility of the caregiver to support and affirm the culture of the …show more content…

In the African American culture death is seen as a part of the “rhythm of life”, which lessens the cultural fear around aging. Many individuals of African American descent embrace the idea of sharing the relative’s latter life with younger generations. While, the Chinese and Indian were found to be quite similar in respects to their views of their elders. Both cultures embraced those of the aging population as the highest virtue, head of household and often times cared for them in their old age (Huffington Post, 2017). One vast difference found was children of Chinese descent were labeled as “uncaring or a bad son” if they placed their parents in retirement homes (Huffington Post, 2017). From a personal perspective, the difference exists because many cultures found outside the American traditions, pride themselves greatly on family and keeping the traditions of their culture and passing them on to future generations. Whereas, African Americans children often times were forced, guilt tripped or being ridiculed for not falling align to what is expected of them (i.e. caring for those aging within the

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