The Levels of Multicultural Interaction
One of the hallmarks of the multicultural work we do is to look at the field from the standpoint of levels. Many of our interactions, especially disagreements, are merely disconnects on the levels of interaction—essentially, what place am I coming from versus what place you are coming from. Add to that the filters of our experiences, good and bad, and you get people (me) operating from assumptions and expectations driven by different levels of who I represent in the culture.
Personal Level
This is where I am coming from usually. I am speaking from the place of my beliefs, values, and experiences, good and bad. These experiences are also shaped by the places I hold in the culture.
Interpersonal Level
This is the realm of you and I—the 1:1 relationship that I have with another person. In this, our beliefs, values, and experiences mesh and collide, and how we account for those dynamics defines our relationships.
Cultural Level
This is even more diverse. As a mentor put it, this is the realm of the one to many. Depending on what culture you are looking at, it is the collective rules, values, beliefs, experiences, and history of the group. It can be as small as a workgroup, as large as humankind.
I look at each circle as its own microculture, where each one is different based on the adaptation of the larger cultural rules by the smaller group. Another example is if you worked at a chain store or restaurant, each store or restaurant would have embedded in it its own microculture based on the personal and interpersonal experiences contained within it. Adaptation to the communities occurs. Language and history play a part. It all adds up.
This is also the realm of the media. Look at national and local news and you will notice local differences from the national culture.
Institutional Level
This is the realm of rules, laws, organizational structure. These rules, laws, and structures are made and adapted by the participation and the greater will and expectations of the culture. As the culture changes, the institution changes to meet the needs of the Institution and the Culture.
Transpersonal Level
Although rarely talked about in the circles I teach, this is the realm of the one to the Creator or that which is greater than oneself.
Putting all this together is easier once you do the work around taking everything personally. As I said before in another piece, once I do MY work on noticing the levels of interaction around me, then I can stop taking things so personally that I miss where the other person is speaking from. That, for me, was the most difficult piece. I seemed to take things too personally.
— Michael Rath