On Diversity

We hung out at the mall last night. It is impressive. So many beautiful fashionable clothes and shoes! The people of this town take high pride in appearance and dress very well, we think. On the streets, like in Kiev, no one wears baggy PJ-looking pants and hoodies, or what we may consider more comfortable attire (compared to tight fitting pants, skirts, high-heels, dress slacks, panty hose, etc). Fashion is at a premium overall; which is quite nice, actually, in terms of aesthetics. Yet, it is very homogenous in an external way. And, it is interesting that there are no people of no color here, either; that is, we have not seen anyone who appears to be a natural blonde (in spite of the fact that there are an abundance of blonde hairpieces sold at the market!) or anyone who looks Scandinavian or old-English so to speak (yes, we've been watching too much of the Tudors on DVD!). Also, the women tend to dress very feminine. A woman in a hoodie with baggy jeans and tennis shoes walking along the street is one we haven't seen yet. So, it makes us wonder about how Little Chix sees the world. She is definitely very sensitive to fashion and roles. And, from a curious space of culture and social workings - what does a low level of diversity mean? We researched this a little bit and it proved to be a fascinating find. Check this out from the United Nations: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34321&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html - "Cultural diversity is a driving force of development, not only in respect of economic growth, but also as a means of leading a more fulfilling intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual life." So, in a broad-brush-stroke sort of way, is it fair to say the less diverse a culture, the less economically developed they are? Does this mean that Ukraine can increase its standard of living by welcoming more diversity? By American standards, Ukraine is much different. But, in a way, its simplicity and values are more relaxing and less pressuring. Somewhat akin to wearing uniforms to school, there is less to decide, so you focus on non-dress issues. This whole topic is intriguing. Does less diversity create a stronger feeling of national pride or not? How valuable is national pride, anyway? Ukraine seeks greater national pride, and rightfully so after its independence from Russia. True, if we lived here, we could easily distinguish the difference between being Russian, Greek, Turkish and Ukrainian as one of our drivers pointed out to us that "that person on the street over there is a Russian." We totally could not tell the difference between this street person and our driver (who was not Russian but Ukrainian). So, it is a matter of external subtleties, or lack thereof. To what extent in a culture does the outside correlate with the inside? That is, if people look diverse on the outside, are they as diverse on the inside (in terms of their values, temperaments/traits, goals, etc). or not? Isn't the inside more important or not? Maybe there is actually more diversity here in Ukraine than in the US or that meets the eye, because this is a relationship-driven society. Who you know, and the uniqueness of each transaction and its relationship is key here. In the US, we have this business philosophy that transactions may not be as unique overall, because we are more task-driven versus people-driven in the way we do business. The level of systemization and process seems to be much higher in the US than in Ukraine. It could actually be that diversity is much richer in Ukraine from an individual level of analysis (that is, in terms of individual's personalities, motivations, character, and especially trustworthiness and integrity) and much richer in the US in terms of outward visibility (dress, customs practiced, ethnicities celebrated, etc.) Such is a curious topic. Very curious to be able to compare and contrast at a deep level - if only we could!