A multiculturally competent person is aware of and knowledgeable about cultural differences, their own cultural identity, and the history and contemporary struggles of marginalized groups. They balance this awareness and knowledge with continuous empathy and curiosity. They also examine how social context, power, and systems of privilege and oppression influence and constitute the world, their own worldview, and relationships. This whole process is grounded in a commitment to social justice that seeks action, empowerment, and social transformation.

A fundamental task in practicing from a multicultural perspective is to recognize that social and cultural differences exist, that they make a difference, and that they need to be understood in order to negotiate our world effectively. Multicultural practice pays special attention to racial, ethnic, gender, socio-economic, sexual orientation, religious, spiritual, ability, and linguistic differences. These cultural differences are not neutral, but rather, are hierarchically organized by the social systems of privilege and oppression.

Everyone has a cultural identity. It is critical to recognize your own culture (e.g., race, ethnic, gender, socio-economic status, etc.) and continually reflect on how your cultural identity influences your worldview, relationships, and ability to bring about desired outcomes. It is particularly important to recognize those aspects of your culture that may afford you with privilege and those that may bring about social marginalization or oppression.

Multicultural practice places great emphasis on the social and contextual dimension. It is critical to be mindful of how social, relational, institutional, and cultural contexts impact your own person and relationships in general. Multicultural competence involves moving beyond individualistic ways of looking at the world and giving primacy to socio-cultural and contextual factors.

Having competent knowledge about the history and current struggles of the social and cultural groups that compose our society is fundamental to multicultural competence. Along with knowledge, it is also important to develop effective skills for putting this knowledge into practice. These skills include being able to empower the people we work with through supportive relationships and making sure our words, actions, and materials used are inclusive and affirmative.

Multicultural competence is not only about what we know, but also about what is yet to be discovered in the moment. It is important to recognize the limitations of “textbook cultural information,” and develop cultural empathy by striving to understand and feel how others are experiencing the world. This involves looking at things from multiple perspectives and exercising your curiosity.

It is fundamental to recognize that we live in world that is oppressive to many people because of their group affiliation or cultural characteristics. Recognizing this fact, leads to a moral commitment to work against whatever serves to hurt, marginalize, or oppress by providing cultural alternatives and fostering equity in all aspects of our society. Enacting social justice involves considering the political consequences of our actions, being mindful of how power operates explicitly and implicitly, and actively collaborating with the people and communities we work with.

This handout was developed by Armando Hernández Morales (2003).

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