English Proficiency,Identity, Anxiety,and Intergroup Attitudes: US Americans’ Perceptions of Chinese

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model and Berry’s acculturation framework, this study examined the roles that perceptions of language proficiency, cultural identity, and communication anxiety had on intergroup attitudes and stereotypes in the American–Chinese contact context. Serial mediation analyses with 10,000 bootstrap samples revealed that perceived English proficiency of a Chinese contact had significant indirect effects on affective and behavioral attitudes toward Chinese through American participants’ perceptions of their contact’s host and home culture identification and communication anxiety. Perceived English proficiency had an indirect effect only on positive stereotypes through the Chinese contact’s perceived identification with home culture.     

Prejudice: The status politics of spiro AgnewPrejuicio: La politica de status de spiro AgnewPrejuge: La “status politics” de spiro Agnew

The placement of Vice-Président Agnew in the domain of “status politics” led the author to predict an association between attitudes toward Agnew and attitudes toward two minority groups, Jews and Blacks. To test this prediction, 152 second- and third-generation Greek-American males from Cincinnati, Ohio were interviewed during the summer of 1970. The attitudes of the respondents were assessed by Likert and Guttman procedures. Gamma (g) associations ranging from ?.46 to ?.55 were found between the two types of attitudes; negative attitudes toward Jews and Blacks were accompanied by positive attitudes toward Agnew. Generally, the results were in support of the status-politics interpretation of Agnew's politics. The author suggests that Agnew's status politics may have been instrumental to the “interest politics” of the conservative American establishment which was being challenged by the various minorities during the 1960s.     

The majority influence on interminority attitudes: The secondary transfer effect of positive and negative contact

Among minority members, positive contact with the majority was previously found to improve not only the attitudes toward the majority but also the attitudes toward minority outgroups (the secondary transfer effect; STE). However, the roles of negative intergroup contact and minority groups’ social status in the STE have not been yet examined. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the association between both positive and negative contact with the national majority group (Finns) and mutual attitudes among high-status Estonian (n = 171) and low-status Russian (n = 180) immigrants in Finland. Two mediators of the STE were tested: attitudes toward the majority (attitude generalization) and public collective self-esteem (diagonal hostility). While positive and negative STEs emerging via attitude generalization were expected to occur among both immigrant groups, the mediating effect of public collective self-esteem was assumed only for members of the low-status group. In both immigrant groups, the relationship between positive contact with the majority group and attitudes toward the other immigrant group was positive and indirect through more favorable attitudes toward majority group members. The same mechanism characterized negative contact, where the indirect effect was mediated by less positive attitudes toward Finns. As predicted, public collective self-esteem mediated the effects of positive and negative contact with majority group members on attitudes toward the other minority only among low-status Russian immigrants. The results call for the acknowledgement of different mechanisms explaining the STE among minority groups enjoying different social statuses in host society.     

A latent class analysis of acculturation and depressive symptoms among Latino immigrants: Examining the role of social support

Drawing upon Berry’s (1980) bi-dimensional model of acculturation and using data from a community-based sample of adults in Miami-Dade, Florida, the current investigation compared various immigrant acculturation profiles in their levels of depressive symptoms and assessed the mediating role of social support in explaining mental health differences across these acculturation profiles. Latent class analysis specified separated, partial separated, bicultural and marginal profiles of acculturation among Latino immigrants. Notably, our findings identified a small, albeit significant, marginal class among Latino immigrants, and both bivariate and multivariate findings demonstrated that those in marginal class reported the poorest mental health. Our findings further revealed that the observed mental health disadvantage among the marginal class relative to other immigrants was due to their disadvantage in family support . Overall, this investigation further underscores the importance of family support as an element of immigrant acculturation experience and mental health. From a policy perspective, social support, specifically family support, is critical for immigrant mental health, and a lack of family support may increase the risk for developing a marginal experience and mental health problems among a growing population of Latino immigrants in the United States.     

North Korean women defectors in South Korea and their political participation

This study examines the political participation intentions of North Korean women refugees. Previous literature tends to highlight the sufferings and difficulties that female refugees experience as they leave their homelands and settle in a new country. Few studies have been directed toward the political dimension of refugee life. The empirical results show that North Korean women defectors hold generally participatory attitudes toward politics and mostly liberal opinions on policy issues. Furthermore, among the socio-demographic variables, age and marital status are generally influential in the intention of political participation among the North Korean women defectors. Among the political attitudinal variables, attitude toward environmental policy consistently affects political participation intention. With respect to defector-specific variables, satisfaction with life in South Korea is influential, whereas cultural adaptation is not.     

The political socialization of youth in a post-conflict community

Political socialization affects the development of young people's attitudes in post-conflict societies. Political socialization may support a movement toward positive intergroup relations, or it may influence the perpetuation of intergroup tensions and divisions. In the context of Vukovar, Croatia, political socialization, for youth growing up in a post-conflict community, involves learning about social relations, including relational power and group status within a multi-ethnic community. The current study examines experiences of political socialization in this context. Qualitative data from ten focus groups, conducted among 11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds, mothers, and fathers of Serb and Croat ethnicity, are analyzed using the constant comparative method. Results indicate a belief in the importance of parents, peers, schools, and the media in the development of youth's political orientations, specifically related to intergroup relations. These attitudes are reflected in the lived realities of youth as political actors through their opinions toward intergroup interactions, their experiences of intergroup contact and conflict, and their beliefs about and recommendations for integrated education. Although some avoided any discussion of war, focus group participants’ predominant perspective reflected beliefs that the political socialization of youth operated to preserve intergroup tensions and division in Vukovar. The paper concludes with a number of policy and intervention implications.     

Peace-building with the hawks: attitude change of Jewish-Israeli hawks and doves following dialogue encounters with Palestinians

This research examines the effect of initial political affiliation (hawks or doves) of Jewish-Israeli youth on attitudes toward planned contact with Palestinians and examines the extent of change in attitudes of these youth toward Palestinians following the intergroup contact. It was hypothesized that Jewish-Israeli hawks will show less favorable attitudes towards these encounters, indicating less motivation to participate in them and lower satisfaction with these encounters. It was also hypothesized that attitude change following the encounter with Palestinians will be smaller for hawks than for doves. These hypotheses were examined by attitude questionnaires completed by Jewish-Israeli hawks and doves both before and after participation in the encounter. In line with the first hypothesis, hawks expressed less favorable attitudes toward the encounter than doves. However, in contrast to the predictions of the second hypothesis, the findings of this study indicated that while doves showed no attitude change following the encounter, hawks’ attitudes toward Palestinians became significantly more favorable after participating in the intergroup dialogue.     

Reclaiming America: the quest for home in Shawn Wong’s Homebase

ABSTRACT

With its dynamic narrative, Shawn Wong's Homebase recounts the story of four generations of a Chinese family searching for a homebase on the land of the United States. Personal experiences, family chronicles, and Chinese American history are portrayed through various forms, including short stories, correspondences, student essays, memories, and dreams. A major theme of the novel is geographically and spiritually “reclaiming America,” or attempts by Chinese Americans to make the United States their “real” home. The protagonist's way to reclaim America involves revisiting landmarks and other places in the United States where his father and grandfather had traveled, through which he tries to discover the meaning of his own life in the United States and thereby to find his personal identity and home in this country. In drawing the topography of Chinese American history, Shawn Wong not only inscribed Chinese American presence on those places where the protagonist's forefathers had lived and worked, but also used legends to implant their heritage into those soils. Shawn Wong hopes that through his writing he can build for Chinese Americans a history, a cultural foundation with myths and legends of their own. Only when a people's myths spread over the land they inhabit can the land truly be considered theirs. The Chinese American identity shaped in Homebase is heroism, rooted in the ethnic identity of the male Chinese American in the American West, and this is the “home” that the protagonist as well as many other Chinese Americans ever quest for.     

Sex roles on television: A comparison of eastern and western media

Research on television sex roles is examined in terms of sex role portrayal, occupational endeavors, attitudes, and personalities. The studies reviewed for the U.S. verified the notion that men and women are still presented in their traditional roles. Women are not portrayed as autonomous, independent human beings, but were primarily sex typed. They were given responsibility for child care and routine home maintenance. On the other hand, men were shown in more serious roles assuming responsibility for family financial support, and thus were very likely to be employed in positions of high occupational status. The studies conducted in Japan and the Philippines likewise adhered faithfully to traditional roles and, in that sense, women were still not functioning to promote an egalitarian life for themselves.     

Marriage,Kinship, and Islamic Law in Al-Andalus: Reflections on Pierre Guichard's Al-Ándalus

In his important book on society in Islamic Spain, Al-Ándalus, Pierre Guichard theorises that until the late fourth/tenth century Arabs and Berbers followed what he calls an Eastern family pattern, meaning that they married within the extended family, disinherited women, and calculated kinship through the male line. The subject population, whether they converted to Islam or not, maintained a Western pattern of marrying out, allowing women to inherit, and recognising kinship through the male and female lines. Recently published collections of rulings from Islamic courts, however, complicate the picture Guichard presents. They suggest that Islamic law, which neither favours nor discourages close kin marriage, allows women to inherit property, and recognizes bilateral kinship, was influential well before the late tenth century. Its influence challenged the Eastern kinship model Guichard documents, particularly in the area of women's property rights.     

Satisfaction and closeness in same- and cross-national college roommate relationships: What similarity matters?

Living with a cross-national roommate provides unique opportunities for college students to engage in cross-cultural learning and to form meaningful intercultural relationships. However, little is known about the challenges faced by college students in building a successful cross-national roommate relationship. Based on the similarity hypothesis, this study examined whether or not perceived dissimilarities in living habits or attitudes toward college life accounted for discrepancies between same- and cross-national roommate pairs’ closeness and satisfaction with their roommate relationships. Structural equation modelling with survey data from 479 students (66.4 % female; 13.6 % international students; 17 % with a cross-national roommate) living in on-campus residence halls in a large university in the US showed that college students experiencing cross-national roommate relationships perceived more dissimilarities in living habits and attitudes toward college life than those living with same-nationals, which in turn related to lower levels of roommate satisfaction and/or roommate closeness. However, when perceived dissimilarities along with other variables (including gender, roommate’s study participation status, and roommate assignment method) were controlled, they reported no less satisfaction and even higher levels of closeness than those living with same-national roommates. Findings suggest that the benefits of cross-national affiliations in college residence halls are more likely to occur if educators and staff can help students prepare for and manage perceptions of differences, especially in living habits.     

The inadvertent creation of a neocolonial culture: A study of western sojourners in India

Field work and structured interviews with 139 foreign sojourners in India were analyzed to describe the socialization of aliens into their role. Attitude scales measuring favorability toward the host country and people were also examined in relation to the respondent's occupational status and elapsed time in India. The results from the field work and interviews suggest that the privileges and high status accorded many Western visitors may contribute to the visitors' derogation of their hosts, a process which is often subtle but unmistakable. The visitors appear to become socialized into the world of aliens rather than the world of their hosts. The higher the visitor's status and the longer the elapsed time in India, the more pronounced these patterns appear. While the correlational nature of the study makes it impossible to determine whether persons with initially unfavorable attitudes are selected into the high status positions or whether the positions themselves create such attitudes, it appears reasonable to conclude that there would be less derogation and alienation if the lures of status and money were removed; persons would be neither selected nor influenced by such factors.     

Comparing normative influence from multiple groups: Beyond family,religious ingroup norms predict children’s prejudice towards refugees

In the wake of the global refugee crisis, children are exposed to negative attitudes from public and private spheres. Previous research has identified family, peer, and school norms as significant predictors of children’s inter-ethnic attitudes. We extend this literature by examining normative influence from wider society, which has received substantially less attention. Among 266 children (M_age = 11.24), this study investigates the relative contributions of norms from five ingroups (family, class-peers, Irish, religious and all-humanity) to predict children’s anti-refugee bias. Perceptions of positive family and religious norms were the strongest unique predictors of contact intentions and warmth towards refugees. Intergroup anxiety and perceived threat mediated these relationships. Social dominance orientation mediated family normative influence only. These findings highlight the importance of broader groups (beyond that of proximal ingroups) for understanding children’s intergroup attitudes.     

Sterilizing society: social order and policing sex work in Taiwan

This article utilizes Michel Foucault's view of state racism to analyze the criminalization of sex workers in Taiwan. To explore the political significance underlying the term “sex work” for anti-prostitution activists, we must historically situate their discourses and their impact on legal control in the late 1980s women's movements. Their efforts to reform society followed from their commitment to child protection and from their long-standing goal of eliminating women's sexuality through motherhood. An uphill battle, marshaled chiefly by the amendment of the Youth Welfare Act in 1988 and the legislation of CYSTPA in 1995, it became more furious in its assault on sex workers. By 2009, whereas those anti-prostitution activists had promoted anti-human trafficking provisions to protect victims under the age of 18, such provisions had in reality become mechanisms for arresting anyone related with the sex industry. This means that what was put forward as a principle for the integration of society and its visible order was based on sexual inequality. Contrasting the strategies and rhetoric of regulating sex workers in Taiwan, what is really necessary is to bring the cultural dynamics behind policies into a sharper view of state racism.     

Anti-refugee attitudes towards Syrian people living in Turkey: Culture dimensions and motivational personal dispositions

Syria experienced a civil war that resulted in more than 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Turkey as of October 2022. This sociodemographic change has led to tensions between the local population living in Turkey and Syrian refugees, resulting in a social environment characterized by anti-refugee attitudes and intergroup conflicts. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the internalization of Hofstede's culture dimensions by individuals and anti-refugee attitudes and to test the mediating roles of needs for cognition and recognition in this relationship. The sample consisted of 439 (295 women and 144 men) Turkish university students aged between 18 and 31 years (M = 21.47, SD = 2.36). According to the main results, (i) internalization of culture dimensions of long-term orientation, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance predicts the likelihood of endorsing anti-refugee attitudes towards Syrian people living in Turkey and (ii) the need for recognition associated with impression-motivated heuristic thinking mediates the relationship between internalization of culture dimensions of masculinity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance and anti-refugee attitudes. The results can be addressed by interested parties to reduce negative attitudes of the local population and facilitate the process of refugees' adaptation and sustainable integration into society.     

From Bohemia to Britart – art students over 50 years

In the mid-1980s, Frith and Horne (1987) were describing the experience of British arts schools as, “an anachronism, with students desperately clinging on to attitudes to work and play, which had otherwise vanished” (p. 12). Among these attitudes were the importance of freedom and experimentation in one's work, the status of the artist as an outsider, and the superiority of art over other forms of activity, such as design. Despite huge social changes and contemporary concerns about the “instrumentalization” of arts policy and education (Singerman, 1999; Wilson, 2007), the article argues that the Romantic ideology of the artist is remarkably persistent, and continues to shape graduates' attitudes to their working lives. This in turn feeds into contemporary debates about the nature of cultural labour (Ross, 2003) and the role of the “artistic critique” (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2005), and, crucially, provides an empirically based view of these debates from the perspective of cultural workers themselves.     

The density of social networks moderates effects of intergroup contact

This study tests how the density of the social network in which intergroup contact takes place might affect the extent to which contact improves intergroup attitudes. Having contact with more outgroup members in dense social networks, in which everybody knows each other, may reinforce contact's positive effect. In this case, outgroup contact is shared with ingroup members, which suggests positive ingroup norms toward the outgroup. Alternatively, more contact in denser networks may improve intergroup attitudes less because density may increase subtyping or reduce the salience of ethnic group memberships. These competing hypotheses are tested among white American adults in a nonprobability online sample (N = 305) and in a representative national sample (N = 1270). In both studies, contact is associated with more positive attitudes toward racial outgroups but the positive contact effect is weakened if that contact takes place in a denser social network.     

From boot camp to bu‐bu? IT surveillance,patriarchal familism,and labor control: a South Korean case study

Abstract

Information technology capable of real‐time evaluation has changed the nature of labor control by completely monitoring a system. This homeostasis of real‐time control eliminating the space barrier has increased workers' stress and anxiety and weakened the workers' solidarity. An IT surveillance system, frequently called an electronic panopticon, has been viewed as the sophisticated form of the Talyor principle of scientific management. However, IT surveillance has operated in the way of combined form with the cultural values of a certain society. In this paper, I show how cultural values influence labor control through IT surveillance using a case study from the tire industry. H tire company has introduced the DAS (Data Acquisition System) for increasing productivity through a new control system. Real‐time evaluation, an instant report of each workers' merit on the monitor, and compensation have made workers feel constantly under surveillance and under stress due to competition with other workers. This IT surveillance has more deeply influenced labor control when combined with patriarchal familism – composed of features such as group‐oriented attitudes, hierarchical relations between the old and young, subordination to one's seniors, etc, which have come to be viewed as some of the typical cultural values prevalent in South Korea. Although the basic principle of technology may be the same in all societies, the effects of applied information technology depend on specific socio‐historical contexts: not only culture, habits, and politics, but also the power relations between managers and workers. I will tentatively designate this as a ‘hybrid form’ of labor control, in the sense that cultural value is added or intermingled with the principle of IT surveillance.