Customer Reviews

Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Overall I would not recommend this book, particularly since there are others out there that I find more useful and reputable (I definitely recommend Counseling Multicultural and Diverse Populations by Vacc, DeVaney and Brendel). This book is not worthless. Like all multicultural counseling books, it challenges one to introspect and look more deeply into prejudices, biases, stereotypes, etc., that affect the counseling relationship, which is useful. However, the authors (as other reviewers have noted in chorus) do appear to have some pretty deeply held prejudices about multiple cultural groups, particularly Euro-Americans; they frankly appear to have a lot of anger toward Euro-Americans. They also appear to have some major misconceptions about some theoretical orientations, such as psychodynamic therapy (of which there are too many varied forms to even make conclusions about in the first place).

The book is full of contradiction that often leaves the reader feeling back at square one, and too many of the examples they use for discussion purposes in each chapter are focused on youth populations (<18 years old), which is not helpful for therapists working with young adults or adults. There is also an exorbitant amount of redundancy that leaves the reader feeling bored. I was also frustrated with their clinical recommendations for each ethnic/racial group, which were presented in very stereotypical and black/white terms, instead of allowing for variation within ethnic/racial groups.

Perhaps worst of all, too many of the "facts" they present turn out to be supported by 1) no research at all (i.e. no citation is offered), 2) "research" that is not empirical (such as books, which are considered "secondary sources" and are often just someone else's opinion), 3) research that is not empirically-sound (such as observation, interview, or other qualitative research that is not clearly empirically rigorous or is outdated, or 4) (worst of all but all too common in this text) citations reference an outdated book (from 1970s or 80s), which in turn references an even more outdated research article (from 1950s or 60s).

This is simply unacceptable. To be a reputable resource, the great majority of citations need to be from recent research that is empirically sound (whether qualitative or quantitative). This book just doesn't make the cut.

p.s. despite the plethora of negative reviews this book has received, your course instructor may be compelled to use it, since (as is common with texts) Sue & Sue are sending out free copies to everyone and their brother. I would strongly urge your course instructor (if you are a student) to consider using a different text.

I'm a Japanese, and there are lots of misunderstandings about Japanese culture. For example, on chapter6, he states, "Japanese language does not seem to have a distinct pronoun I". YES, IT DOES. It is simply a matter of fact. Although I even e-mailed him about those concerns, he said I need to read the context. Who is defensive? Isn't he mentioning not to be defensive about multicultural issue?
Also, in the class of multicultural counseling, my classmates are pointing out a lot of biased facts for other cultures. It is doubtful that we can believe and take this book as a truth.

I got this book because it was required for a class. Having taken similar classes before, I think this book is fine for people who are just beginning to learn about socio cultural concepts and how they affect the therapy situation. I would liked more complicated case examples. They simplify situations to a great extent and its not that simple in the therapy room! Good read for beginners though.

Previous critical reviews have detailed pretty much everything I found of this book (except the expectedly mindless "liberal" comments), so I'm just adding to the general consensus of this text as deeply flawed but useful. The revolutionary rhetoric Sue and Sue utilize is indeed dated and counterproductive; what may have been necessarily and productively inflammatory fifteen or twenty years ago now plays as tired and old. There is much to be said for smashing the cocoon of power and privilege, but critical thought long ago graduated to more comprehensive vistas than "whitey bad, everybody else good." My biggest beef with this text is that it's used in graduate courses when it should be applied at the introductory, first year undergraduate level where shock value has considerable weight. At the graduate level I expect far more comprehensive, subtle, and nuanced investigations of whatever subject I'm studying.
However, at the same time I read on this site more than a smidgeon of exactly the sort of calcified, racially privileged bleating which the authors try so clumsily to fracture, so obviously their task is hardly finished. I just hope they either a) pass the torch to a younger, more adept generation of cultural authors, or b) attend to the coherent criticisms of their work carefully, and take them to heart for the next edition.

This book is elementary in nature. There is a poor use of quantitative data to support generalized claims. I would not recommend this text for anyone who is serious about addressing cultural issues in the classroom or for any professional development. Politically Correct assumptions for Cultural Issues should be the title of the text. Although it does have some good information, the author clearly wants to direct the reader into a specific worldview and I believe that anyone who is not educated will have a skewed view of reality if they embrace the views of the authors.

I, as well as some of my classmates, are less than pleased with the approach of this textbook. It is being used in a M.A. level psychology class, to discuss and become aware of cultural issues in therapy situations. Our complaint has come from the opinion that Sue and Sue lack a perspective from both sides. They will explain how an unaware therapist did not handle a session well due to his/her lack of cultural awareness, but then the other side of how the client's attitudes and actions also affected the outcome of the therapy is not considered and discussed. Sue and Sue offer a very skewed perspective that allows individual's from other cultures who have chosen to live in the U.S. to be the victim's of poor treatment, and yet; Sue and Sue does not show how the attitudes and actions of these cultures can also adversely impact the outcome of situations that they experience. Someone needs to write a textbook that adequately covers both sides of this cultural diversity issue! The dean of my department is unaware of such a text, otherwise, he said we would be using it.

This book is a disappointment; it has a negative and depressive overtone. It makes assumptions, gives opinions as fact, and makes intellectual leaps. For example, p. 311 reads, "But, just as the history of the United States is the history of racism, it is also the history of antiracism as well." That sounds balanced at first read, but to equate the history of the US with the history of racism ignores what is happening all over the world. It ignores the six million jews that died under the Nazi regime; it ignores the Serb and Croat conflagration, the Hmong, the Khmer Rouge. It ignores what is happening in Kenya, Chad, Sudan, and Nigeria today, or Rwanda or the Congo just a few years back. It ignores the history between Japan and Korea, Ukraine and the Soviet Union, the Australians and the Maori, the Kurds and the Iraqi's. That type of oversimplification casues me to wonder what else is not being throughly addressed.

I'm not a big fan of the book. It seems very repetitive with the main ideas that can be gotten out of the first couple of chapters. Reviews implications for some of the major cultural groups, but this can be done just by doing your own research. The book was mandatory for my class. Otherwise, I would not recommend buying it. Amazon was great though with speed of delivery and condition of product.

I'm not exaggerating. I was forced to read this book for a 'multicultural issues in counseling' course, and it was physically painful for me to move my eyes over the lines of vitriol spewed forth by this terrible twosome. It is an unfortunate and bewildering regression to times past, to unabashed racism, ignorance and hatred, ironically cloaked in a textbook purporting to alleviate the same. Any college or university employing a professor who lists this garbage on his or her syllabus should be sued for discrimination.

This is a stinking, incompetent pile of garbage that has senselessly slaughtered too many trees. I hope that someday soon a mediocre or better mind might do the work to get this out of counseling course syllabi. The Sues have already stolen enough money. Sue's work is poorly thought out, poorly researched (5th ed. and the Sue brothers still get information on the use of "I" in Japanese wrong and which generation (1st, 2nd, etc. is which in the US)
I have traveled the world, been insulted and assaulted for my white skin color while living as a minority, and generally lived a multi-cultural life. I've studied under smug products of the affirmative action culture/theorists and been marginalized and lied to by professors who would consider themselves 'vanguards' that are 'success stories'. I've learned that a lot of folks are generous, kind and that there are dopes in every creed, culture and group within and at every level of every culture.
Meanwhile, in a multi-racial society, how do we keep the neat lines that the Sues 'discovered'? If we play the 'blood'/'race' divisions of Sue, Tiger Woods is mostly Chinese. Tiger is simply Tiger. Ask him if you like. This book is bound within normative assumptions of the 1960's. Time to put it out of its misery.