Cultural Context of Social Relations

Question 1

What is acculturation?

Answer 1

• John Berry definition: the dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of the contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual members
• When groups of people that are different to each other come together and undergo change

Question 2

What is social identity theory (Taifel and Turner)?

Answer 2

• We develop a sense of self (self-schema) based upon the groups we identify with
• We seek self-esteem through group membership
• In an attempt to assure themselves that they are in the right/best group, they will in some capacity ostracise or devalue other groups
• People exhibit group favourtism towards their ingroup

Question 3

What is the minimal group paradigm?

Answer 3

• People establish salient group boundaries based on even the most banal or minimal difference

Question 4

How are ingroup love and outgroup hate related?

Answer 4

• Ingroup love does not necessarily equate to hostility towards outgroup
• Ingroup bias/discrimination to those in the outgroup is motivated by the preferential treatment of those in the ingroup rather than direct hostility toward outgroup members

Question 5

What is Allport’s Intergroup Contact Hypothesis?

Answer 5

• Allport’s hypothesis is that intergroup contact can be beneficial under a certain set of conditions:
  1. Equal status of groups
  2. Common goals of groups
  3. Interdependent cooperation (the two groups are relying on each other to achieve common goals)
  4. Support of authorities, laws and customs

Question 6

What did Pettigrew add to the intergroup contact hypothesis?

Answer 6

• He added a 5th condition to the intergroup contact theory:

5. The contact situation must provide the participants with the opportunity to become friends:
   - The power of cross-group friendship to reduce prejudice and generalise to other outgroups

Question 7

What are the 3 main stages in the reformulated intergroup contact theory?

Answer 7

1. Initial contact:
   - Decategorization
   - Leads to liking without generalisation
   e. g. meeting a Turkish person and enjoying that persons company and liking them without considering their group status
2. Established contact
   - Salient catergorisation
   - Leads to reduced prejudice with generalisation
   e. g. positive stereotyping, meeting nice Turkish person and getting to know them and generalising that all Turkish people are good people
3. Unified Group:
   - Recategorisation
   - Leads to maximal reduction in prejudice as we recategorise the group as being within our ingroup
   e. g. regarding Turkish people as just other humans

Question 8

What is the Unidirectional Model of Assimilation?

Answer 8

• Earlier model developed by Allport
• One scale, from complete ethnocultural maintenance to complete assimilation
• Biculturalism is between these two points

Question 9

What is John Berry’s bidimensional model of asimilation?

Answer 9

• Based on the response of two questions that ethnocultural minorities face:
  1. Do I want to maintain the culture and traditions of my ethnocultural background?
  2. Do I want to adopt the culture and traditions of the host/majority group?
• Based on the answers to these two questions there are 4 acculturation orientations: Integration, Assimilation, Seperation and Marginilisation

Question 10

Explain Integration:

Answer 10

• The person wants to preserve their ethnocultural heritage and adopt the host culture and identity
• Relates to the strategy of multiculturalism

Question 11

Explain Assimilation:

Answer 11

• The person does not want to preserve their ethnocultural heritage and they want to adopt the majority (host) culture and identity
• The strategy is the melting pot/pressure cooker (enormous pressure for minority groups to conform to majority identities

Question 12

Explain Segregation:

Answer 12

• The person wants to preserve their ethnocultural background and does not want to adopt the host/majority culture and identity
• Strategy is separation

Question 13

Explain Marginalisation:

Answer 13

• The person does not want to preserve their ethnocultural background/identity and does not want to adopt the host culture and identity
• Strategy is exclusion

Question 14

What is acculturative stress?

Answer 14

• Defined as a reduction in health status of individuals who are undergoing acculturation

Question 15

What is culture shock/acculturation phenomena?

Answer 15

• A specific set of stress reactions that occur in relation to acculturation: lowered mental health status (anxiety and depression), identity crisis and heightened psychosomatic symptoms

Question 16

What are the main features of the relative acculturation extended model?

Answer 16

• Acculturation orientations of individuals depend on the domain in question

Question 17

What is theinteractive acculturalation model?

Answer 17

• It is not the acculturation orientations of host/minority groups themselves that best predict intergroup relations but rather the actual fit of the host/minority orientations

Question 18

What is the concordance model of acculturation?

Answer 18

• It is not the acculturation orientations of host/minority groups themselves that best predict intergroup relations but rather the percieved fit of the host/minority orientations

Question 19

What are the main features of the acculturation orientation congruence model?

Answer 19

• As well as examining relative fit as a predictor of intergroup relations, it introduces 4 other factors:
  1. Multiple variations of ‘relative fit’
  2. Intragroup discrepancies
  3. Intrapersonal discrepancies
  4. Stronger focus on acculturative stress as an outcome

Question 20

What are the 3 forms of multiculturalism?

Answer 20

1. Indigenous groups:
   - Forms of empowerment amongst Indigenous peoples in colonial countries
   e. g. recognition and land rights and title
   e. g. recognition of cultural rights
2. Sub-state National Groups:
   - Forms of empowement amonst sub-cultural minority groups e.g. Basques and Catalans in Spain
   e. g. Federal or quasi-federal territorial autonomy
   e. g. official language status
3. Immigrant Groups:
   - New forms of empowerment amongst immigrant communities e.g. Indians in Australia
   e. g. Adoption of multiculturalism in school curriculum
   e. g. inclusion of ethnic representation and sensitivity in mandate of public media
   e. g. funding of ethnic group organisations to support cultural activities

Question 21

What are the common criticisms of multiculturalism and integration?

Answer 21

1. What originally is intended to foster integration ultimately or inadvertently creates a situation of separation and segregation.
2. In the name of tolerance there is an acceptance of intolerance.
3. Protected by multiculturalism’s tolerance, dangerous elements- namely fundamentalists and terrorists- are able to organise, recruit, and broadcast their message.
4. The presence of so many unique cultures will undermine the core culture of the country.
5. Too many resources are spent catering to cultural special needs