Discussion: Cultural Conflicts

We watched part of the film Bend it Like Beckham. In this film, the characters are members of multiple cultural groups and as a result of the demands of these different groups, the characters experience conflicts.

I also described to you the conflict that a young girl experienced by being a member of both her high school swim team and a member of a religion that requires her to dress modestly. The conflict arose because her swim coach wanted her to wear a hydrodynamic swim suit to increase her speed in the water while her parents wanted her to dress in a non-revealing manner. The young girl chose to resolve the conflict by wearing the hydrodynamic suit and as a result greatly angered her parents. In other words, the girl chose to accept the norms of the swim culture over the norms of her religious culture.

Identify and describe two cultural groups of which you are a member and describe a situation in which your membership in them has caused a conflict for you. What was the conflict? How did you resolve the conflict?