When cultures meet

Question 1

Modernisation

Answer 1

Economic development/industrialisation Changes in eco-cultural framework -> Expect cultures to adapt to new context -> Prediction: cultural beliefs and values will become more secular and more rational.

Question 2

Post-modernisation

Answer 2

In context of economic prosperity/security -> Shift from manufacturing to service economy -> Prediction: cultural beliefs and values will become post-materialistic -> Less focus on survival -> Greater focus on self-expression.

Question 3

Testing cultural change

Answer 3

World values survey -> 7 waves from 1981 to present -> Representative national samples in >75 countries -> Traditional  secular-rational values -> God less important, lower respect for authority, lower national pride, abortion more accepted, childrearing more focused on independence and less focused on obedience and religion -> Survival  self-expression values -> Self-expression and quality of life more important, economic and physical security less important, people report being happier, more people have signed or would sign a petition, homosexuality more accepted, people are seen as more trustworthy

Question 4

Intercultural contact

Answer 4

Plural societies -> migrants, sojourners, refugees, tourists, indigenous people. Why there? -> voluntary – forced, sedentary – mobile, permanent – temporary. Global communications.

Question 5

Acculturation

Answer 5

Classic definition:“Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups” Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits, 1936, cited in Berry, 1997, p. 7) In practice, one group usually changes more. ‘Acculturating group’ vs. ‘receiving society’. Minority vs. majority (numerical or power/influence)

Question 6

Effects of intercultural contact

Answer 6

Adaptation processes -> Affective -> Behavioural -> Cognitive -> Acculturation strategies -> Changes (or not) in practices, values and identifications. Intergroup relations -> Power differentials -> Peaceful/hostile -> Cultural changes -> Both groups -> Can lead to emergence of new cultures.

Question 7

Adaption (ABCs)

Answer 7

ABCs of coping with “culture shock” Affective -> (a.k.a. “psychological adaptation”) -> Psychological well-being vs. anxiety, stress, depression). Behavioural (a.k.a. “sociocultural adaptation”) Learning effective social skills for new cultural environment
vs. social difficulties in everyday functioning -> Cognitive, Beliefs, values, and cultural identity.

Question 8

Outdated view of acculturation

Answer 8

Separation vs assimilation (cultural maintenance vs relationship with dominant group). Key question (for minority members) Is it considered to be of value to maintain cultural identity and characteristics, or to maintain relationships with dominant group?

Question 9

Acculturation strategies

Answer 9

Berry’s (1990, 1997) theoretical model distinguishes TWO key questions:
1. Is it considered to be of value to maintain cultural identity and characteristics?
2. Is it considered to be of value to maintain relationships with other groups?

Question 10

Assimilation

Answer 10

relationships with dominant group, cultural maintenance. Integration -> relationships with dominant group. Marginalisation -> relationships with dominant group, cultural maintenance. Separation -> relationships with dominant group, cultural maintenance.

Question 11

Individual’s strategies measured in terms of:

Answer 11

Preferences for contact, Preferences for cultural maintenance, Cultural identities, Language use and proficiency, Cultural practices (food, clothing, media, etc.) Family and peer relationships, Largest study to date: 4000 young immigrants, 30 ethnic groups, 13 nations, Cluster analysis shows four predicted groupings (Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006).

Question 12

Findings of individual strategies

Answer 12

In most samples surveyed, Participants tended to prefer integration to the other acculturation strategies, Participants who adopted integration showed the best psychological adaptation / least stress, Marginalisation is least adaptive, Assimilation and separation show intermediate and more variable outcomes, depending on context

Question 13

What do we mean by integration

Answer 13

Living with multiple cultural identities -> (cf. frame-switching studies) -> Bicultural identity integration -> Perceptions: harmony or conflict? Strategies: blending or compartmentalising? Integration predicts well-being -> Especially harmony.

Question 14

Settler vs non-settler societies

Answer 14

Berry et al. (2006) distinguished between “settler societies” (e.g. Australia, Canada, USA) “non-settler societies” (e.g., France, Germany, Sweden, UK) Some key results: Integration more common in settler societies. Separation predicts psychological adaptation better in non-settler societies -> Also varies with culture of origin.

Question 15

Strategies of dominant group

Answer 15

Multiculturalism -> integration, needs policy and values. Melting pot -> assimilation, also pressure cooker, segregation -> separation, also rejection. Exclusion -> marginalisation -> extreme = ethnocide.

Question 16

Cultures and identities

Answer 16

Self-categorisation theory (Turner et al., 1987) Intercultural context  cultural identities. Culture used to define self. Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Striving for positive cultural distinctiveness. Also maintain cultural continuity against threat. Threats to majority and minority identities

Question 17

Majority group identity processes

Answer 17

Cultural majority members MAY feel threatened -> Symbolic threats to national identity -> Different cultural practices could undermine distinctiveness and/or continuity -> Depending on how national identity defined -> Realistic threats to social dominance -> Perceived competition or loss of privileges -> Reject minority members or identity expressions -> Intergroup hostility, prejudice, discrimination -> Assimilationist policies.

Question 18

Minority group identity processes

Answer 18

Minority cultures rejected by majority -> Perpetual foreigner syndrome (Wu, 2001) -> Assimilation required but not possible -> Segmented assimilation (Portes & Zhou, 1993) -> Assimilation to a pan-ethnic minority identity -> Reactive ethnicity (Rumbaut, 2008) Rejection  identification  wellbeing.

Question 19

Globalisation

Answer 19

Intercultural relations on global scale, NB cultural contact no longer depends on geography, All cultural groups inhabit broader global context, Global culture ≈ Western culture, Americanisation, Westernisation, McDonaldisation, But also Japanisation, World Music, etc. Local and global cultural identities. Pressures to maintain cultural differences. Loss of distinctiveness would be loss of identity. Anti-globalisation movements (e.g. anti-capitalism protesters, fundamentalists, national separatists). Tourist gaze values cultural ‘authenticity’. “Westernised” identity can also be distinctive.

Question 20

What is the future of culture?

Answer 20

Increasingly problematic to treat nations as self-contained sociocultural systems -> International mobility (tourism and migration) -> International mass communication -> Changes in eco-cultural context -> Yet cultural differences persist -> Development in parallel -> Maintaining cultural distinctiveness.