Culture and cultural groups are everywhere, even in the work place. In America we have a dominate culture and that culture even affects the workplace.  In this article by Allaya Cooks-Campbell, she discusses what dominate culture is and what it means for the workplace. This includes that professionalism is very white centered. Allaya also discusses how sub-cultures form and how those can turn into counterculture to combat the dominate culture. At the end of her articles she talks about how we can start to promote a workplace that is not biased.

First and foremost dominant culture is defined as, ” In the US, the empowered group of relatively well-off, white, European American, nondisabled heterosexual men.” (449). Success is very white centric in America. Additionally another point made is about the aggressive approach which is, “Communication practices that are seen as hurtfully expressive, self promoting, and assuming control over the choices of others.” (451). People in these groups are often seen as pushy. A final point made in the book is assertive accommodation, “Co-cultural members whose abilities and interpersonal skills are valued work cooperatively within the dominant culture. They openly advocate for the needs of people in both cultures.” (454) This is a way to describe the middle ground where co-cultures work with dominant cultures to make accommodations without one group being pushed out.

The article is a great way to understand Co-Cultural theory. Starting with the dominant culture.  This is even seen in the workplace. Professionalism is very white centered in America. This includes how the wealthy are portrayed by media, name bias, hair and fashion among various other things. The wealthy and successful are portrayed as white business men. There is also a name bias, if you do not have a European sounding name or a name viewed as “unusual” you may be asked to use a different name or may not be hired at all. As seen not that long ago natural hair for African American women was a huge topic and still is today. There were places that viewed natural hair as unprofessional and required them to relax or straighten their hair in order to be more “professional”. In terms of subculture becoming counter culture: counter culture can easily be described as an aggressive approach by co-culture groups. Often times counter culture groups are viewed as pushy with how aggressive they can be in their approaches. Additionally, it is very confrontational in nature. As stated in the article, counter culture can not co-exist with the dominant culture, one is always undermining the other in some way. Finally,  the last part of the article is a good way to understand assertive accommodations. It takes initiative and reaching out in order to improve. It is also important to talk about the subject and include both sides in the discussion so one group is not pushed out. Being too aggressive will not fix anything. It is important to bring awareness to the perspective of other groups so perhaps both can start to understand, and perhaps meet at the middle ground.