Week 1 Acculturation and Multiculturalism Flashcards
Acculturation is proposed as a what process
multidimensional
process consisting of the confluence among heritage-cultural and receiving-cultural practices, values, and identifications.
an expanded operationalization of acculturation is needed to address the …
“immigrant paradox,”
what is the “immigrant paradox”
international migrants with more exposure to the
receiving cultural context report poorer mental and physical health outcomes
what is acculturation
changes that
take place as a result of contact with culturally dissimilar
people, groups, and social influences
who can acculturation happen to
any intercultural contact e.g. globalization so anyone
why are their gaps in values between many migrants
and the societies that are receiving them
collectivistic vs individualistic
Acculturation was originally conceptualized as ….
a unidimensional process in which retention of the heritage
culture and acquisition of the receiving culture were cast as
opposing ends of a single continuum= as gain one culture must get rid of another = straight line assimilation. receiving and traditional culture are independent dimensions
Within Berry’s model, these two dimensions (old and new culture) intersect to create four
acculturation categories
assimilation, integration, marginalization and separation
T: (adopts the receiving culture and discards the heritage culture)
assim
T: (rejects the receiving culture and retains the heritage culture)
seperation
T: adopts the receiving culture and retains
the heritage culture
integration= biculturalism
T: rejects both the
heritage and receiving cultures
marginalizaition
which best
integration
, the degree of ease versus difficulty
involved in integrating one’s heritage and receiving cultures is, at least in part, determined by …
the degree of
similarity (actual or perceived) between the heritage and
receiving cultures
refer to the process of selectively acquiring or retaining elements of one’s heritage culture while
also selectively acquiring some elements from the receiving cultural context :T
enculturation
The acculturation categories model, however, has
been criticized on 3 fronts
1 the cut point between
high and low is arbitrary and will differ across samples,
making comparisons across studies difficult= not all of Berry’s categories may exist in a given
sample or population, and that some categories may have
multiple subtypes
2 validity of marginalization as an approach
to acculturation has been questioned
3. one size fits all
examined migrants in isolation and used terms
such as …, implying that individual
differences in acculturation outcomes are the result of
specific choices made by migrants
acculturation strategies
to understand acculturation, one must understand the …. in which it occurs
interactional context
e.g. of context?
characteristics of the migrants themselves, the groups or
countries from which they originate, their socioeconomic
status and resources, the country and local community in
which they settle, and their fluency in the language of the
country of settlement
T: refers to membership in a group that holds a specific heritage
and set of values, beliefs, and customs
ethnicity`
T: shared meanings, understandings, or referents held by a
group of people
culture
Culture is always synonymous with nations and national boundaries. t or f
Culture is sometimes, but not always,
synonymous with nations and national boundaries.
what contextual factors effect ease of acculturation
language, ethnicity, culture, cultural similarity and the circumstances surrounding their migration
a shared language is part of the fabric of
national identity and that migrants who speak other languages (or cannot speak the language of the country or
region in which they are settling) are considered a …
threat to
national unity
Berry enumerated four categories of migrants:
voluntary
immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and sojourners
do voluntary immigrants leave
search of employment, economic
opportunities, marriage, or to join family members who
have immigrated previously
why do refugees leave
involuntarily displaced by war, persecution, or natural disasters and are resettled in a new country, usually by virtue
of agreements between international aid agencies and the
governments of those countries that have agreed to accept
the refugees
why do asylum seekers leave
those who, by their own
choice, seek sanctuary in a new country because of fear of persecution or violence.
why do sojourners leave
time-limited basis and for a specific purpose, with full intentions to return to their countries of
origin after that period of time is over eg international students or seasonal workers
these purposes for leaving contribute to levels of discrimination
t seen as a contributor or drain on countries resources
acculturative stressors and discrimination
may remain salient beyond the first generation t or f
T
. For
voluntary migrants—immigrants and asylum seekers—migration occurs because of the confluence of two general
factors:
1 (a) The desire or need to leave the country of origin
(the “push”) is stronger than the desire to stay there
2 (b) the receiving country is in need of the type and class of
labor that the migrants have to offer.
despite the rapid
population growth among minority groups, Whites have
remained economically advantaged why is this
discrimination
T: holding even more
strongly onto one’s cultural heritage and resisting adoption of the receiving culture
reactive ethnicity
… encourages ethnic minority migrants and their descendants to remain
separated from the mainstream receiving culture. (reactive eth)
discrimination
patterns of acculturation observed in the United States can be translated to all
to other countries of settlement.
caution should be taken when generalizing patterns of acculturation
history of immigration in US
Since the founding of the original
British colonies, the United States has attracted successive
waves of migrants from various parts of the world, starting
with the Irish in the mid-18th century and continuing
through the Germans and Scandinavians in the late 18th
and 19th centuries, the Southern and Eastern Europeans in
the late 19th and 20th centuries, and the “new” immigration
(consisting largely of Latin Americans and Asians) that
started when restrictive immigration quotas were lifted in
1965
discrimination against
migrants perceived as different from the mainstream population is a new phenomenon t or f
f
ethnicity disappears after the
first generation for all im
f only for white ones look and act like others
hispanic is an american term
t grouping all togehter
Migrants of color therefore face the task of …
integrating
themselves into a society that may never fully accept them
To Whom Does
Acculturation Apply?
?
what factors determine which subgroups of migrants may face
different types of challenges?
ethnicity and cultural similarity, age of immigration (acquire cultural practices), visible second generation, ethnic enclaves
migrants who arrive as young children as the “… generation”
1.5
why does age matter
most direct
contact with their countries of origin- easily identified as migrants (not speaking language = disrespectful)
acculturation is an issue for some, but not all,
second-generation migrants
t (recognizable= prompts questioning what ethnicity means to them)
problem with studies of acculturation and health?
uni rather than bidimensional approaches to studying acculturations
“greater” degrees of acculturation were associated with
problematic health outcomes :T
immigrant paradox (better to not assimilate for ones health)
Hispanics born in the United States, or who have spent a
considerable amount of time in the United States, are more
likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders than are
Hispanics born abroad or who arrived more recently
t
problem with the link bw acculturation and health
doesnt adress biculturalism = not clear which dimension is responsible for the
increase in risk for health-compromising behavior and
whether the practical implication is that immigrants and
their children should (a) be discouraged from acquiring the
practices of their new homelands, (b) be encouraged to
preserve practices and social ties from their countries of
origin, or (c) both.
different types of acculturation? which most studied
behavioral acculturation,” “value acculturation,” or “identitybased acculturation.”
behavioural most studied
e.g. of behavioural acc
language use
language use explained less than …% of variability in
behavioral and value-based indices of acculturation
20
T: the extent to which the person (a) has explored what her or
his ethnic group means to her or him (exploration) and (b)
values and feels attached to her/his ethnic group (affirmation)
ethnic idnetity
3 parts of ethnic identity
the extent to which the person (a) has explored what her or
his ethnic group means to her or him (exploration) and (b)
values and feels attached to her/his ethnic group (affirmation)
resolution—having
decided what one’s ethnic group means following a period
of exploration
positive or neg outcomes of ethnic identity
both reported mostly positive
American identity
was associated with self-esteem for all
f only for white americans
Ethnic identity appears to be protective
in
most (but not all) cases, but we do not yet understand the
functions of receiving-culture identity vis-a`-vis mental and
physical health outcomes
… like collectivism or machismo,humitity etc are also assumed to change as a result of acculturation
Cultural values
… attitudes and values may place
the person at risk for health-compromising behaviors,
whereas … attitudes and values may be protective.
individualistic, collectivist
what is the multiculturalism hypothesis
those who are secure in their identity
will be in a psychological position to accept those who are culturally different
from them.=lower levels of ethnocentrism and
more positive views of multiculturalism (both as policy and practice)
dominant group members who are
more accepting of a multicultural ideology benefits?
higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction
how accepting are people who exp discrimination
made to feel less secure, either by
questioning their right to be who they are (by discrimination or exclusion) or by
threat (to their identity or very existence) = reciprocate this negative affect
by turning against those who undermine their security
T persons experiencing rejection by others develop an
identity that is opposite to one that relates to the source of the rejection. holding even more
strongly onto one’s cultural heritage and resisting adoption of the receiving culture.
“reactive ethnicity”
discrimination encourages ethnic minority migrants and their descendants to …
remain
separated from the mainstream receiving culture= reactive eth
