At Drikke Æblete
Om håndteringen af kulturforskelle i institutioner
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2654906 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kirsten Hvenegård-Lassen (0000-0002-9258-7026, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Issue | 56 |
| Publication date | 2007-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Tidsskriftet Antropologi (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0906-3021 • E-ISSN: 2596-5425 |
| Publisher | Det Kgl. Bibliotek/Royal Danish Library (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.7146/ta.v0i56.106767 |
| OpenAlex | W2917107558 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
The title of this article, 'Drinking Apple Tea', refers to the account of a social worker visiting the family of his drug-addicted client. While the visit proceeds in silence, the social worker finds his own frustration rising: 'We just sit there and drink apple tea. What am I doing here?' This story points to the fact that cultural differences are difficult to manage within the institutions of the Danish welfare state, since they tend to fall outside the scope of established universal categorizations and norms that form the basis for institutional practices. On the basis of an understanding of cultural encounters that emphasize the creativity of human agency, as well as the institutional fixation of hegemonic norms, the article discusses specific encounters involving majority institutions and ethnic minorities in Denmark. The analysis focuses on the ways cultural differences are either suppressed or displaced as irrelevant factors, or emerge as catchall explanations for the behavior of ethnic minorities. This pattern is to a large extent attributable to the institutional norms and practices that implicitly limit diversity. In some cases, a universal view of human nature means that difference becomes deviance; whilst in others, a focus on cultural difference reduces diversity resulting in stereotypical generalizations of the Other. One way of distributing culture and difference in alternative ways could result from a heightened awareness of the institutional rationalities and practices among the employees
Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Cultural diversity · Deviance (statistics · Diversity (politics · Ethnic group · Silence · Social science · Sociology · Psychology · Research in Social Sciences · Social Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|