Intercultural competence development based on the Intercultural Development Continuum TM and the IDI ® is relevant to anti-racist work and goals and effective as an anti-racism strategy, because it focuses on eliminating interpretations of difference and behaviour based on biases and stereotypes while increasing interpretations of difference and behaviour based on cultural generalizations and frameworks.
This is because if individuals can develop their intercultural competence, they will become better at bridging across different values and beliefs. They will therefore be less likely to judge people based on perceived race, nationality, language, or accent, and to judge these differences in a negative or overly critical way. They will also learn to avoid the trap of applying stereotypes as they realize that members of a cultural group are individuals in the way they interpret and manifest their worldviews. Stereotypes, by the way, are evaluative personal traits assigned to a group. Stereotypes support less complex perceptions and experiences of cultural differences and commonalities.
