Learning Objectives

  1. Analyze one’s own emotional and cognitive reactions to a case study.
  2. Outline the elements that make up a comprehensive definition of culture.
  3. Compare three theoretical perspectives on culture (materialist, mentalist, and practice orientation).
  4. Apply a number of major concepts in the study of culture to a case study.
  5. Analyze how the approaches of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism would benefit or be harm-ful to social work practice.
  6. Give examples of how culture and power  intersect in the social categorizations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social class, and disability.
  7. Summarize contemporary thinking about the interactions of genes and culture.
  8. Analyze the benefits and costs of digital culture.
  9. Identity the major mechanisms involved in cultural change.
  10. Apply knowledge of human culture to recommend guidelines for social work engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation.