How ‘should’ the majority group acculturate? Acculturation expectations and their correlates among minority- and majority-group members

Do minority-group members welcome or reject that majority-group members adopt other cultures? Acculturation is commonly defined as a process of mutual accommodation. Yet, the acculturation of majority-group members has only recently received research attention. To date, we do not know the extent to which minority-group members expect majority-group members to adopt the culture of minority groups and/or to maintain their mainstream culture. Knowledge is also lacking about how these expectations relate to minority-group members’ own acculturation orientations and symbolic and realistic threat perceptions. We further do not know whether such associations are similar among minority- and majority-group members. To address these gaps, we surveyed 246 Muslim minority-group members and 247 White Christian majority-group members in the United Kingdom. Muslim minority-group members’ acculturation expectations towards majority-group members were normally distributed around the midpoint of the scale, suggesting that they did not reject majority-group acculturation on average. Acculturation expectations were correlated with symbolic and realistic threat perceptions among majority-group members but not among minority-group members. Cluster analyses showed that integrated Muslim minority-group members found it relatively important for majority-group members to adopt minority-group culture and to maintain their own culture. In sum, the results support the idea that minority-group members, at least in some contexts and settings, view acculturation as a mutual cultural change rather than as cultural appropriation.     

Are daily intergroup interactions distressing? An end-of-day diary study of associations between daily intergroup interaction proportion and psychological distress/well-being

Laboratory-based studies show that intercultural interactions often cause people to feel stressed and anxious. However, we know fairly little about how intercultural interactions unfold outside of the laboratory. The present study examined associations between the proportion of daily intercultural interactions among 97 university students and their daily distress as well as daily well-being, using a 21-day end-of-day diary design. Overall, on days where participants had a larger proportion of intercultural interactions compared to their habitual level, they reported more psychological distress, with a small effect size. This association was similar for participants with majority status and for those with minority status. Daily proportion of intercultural interaction was unrelated to daily psychological well-being. We also observed no associations between daily intercultural interaction proportion and distress/well-being across days (using lagged analyses). This work extends laboratory-based findings that intercultural interactions are taxing to unstructured naturalistic settings.     

Bridging (Identification) divides: Ethnic minority endorsement of new diversity ideologies

In culturally diverse societies, ethnic minorities are faced with the challenge of negotiating between their national and ethnic identification. Diversity ideologies address this challenge in different ways, by prioritizing national identification in the case of assimilation, and ethnic identification in the case of multiculturalism. However, existing research has highlighted the risks and drawbacks of both ideologies, presenting polyculturalism and interculturalism as new alternatives which construe identities as more complex, dynamic, and interconnected between groups. Given that little is known about these ideologies from the minority perspective, the present study investigated their endorsement among ethnic minorities, as well as associations with their ethnic and national identification in the USA. Results show that, in general, pro-diversity ideologies (multiculturalism, interculturalism, and polyculturalism) are all supported by ethnic minorities, in contrast to assimilation. Moreover, ethnic identification is associated with support for multiculturalism, national identification is associated with support for assimilation, and both are associated with polyculturalism. For interculturalism, associations with ethnic and national identification depend on its subcomponents, which seem to address and bring together the other three ideologies. Interculturalism may therefore be a promising way forward to minimize the risks of assimilation, multiculturalism, and polyculturalism, while also maximizing their benefits to minorities and societies at large.     

少数民族流动人口对城市和谐发展的影响及对策

随着经济社会的快速发展和改革开放的不断深入,少数民族地区的交通条件得到了改善,信息渠道得到了开通,人们的经济文化生活得到了提高,人口流动速度也日益加快,促进了人才的自由交流和先进文化的传播。特别是进入21世纪,我国少数民族人口流动变得日趋活跃。本文以少数民族人口流动和对城市和谐发展为主题,分析了新疆少数民族流动人口的现状及其特殊性,阐述少数民族流动人口对城市经济社会发展的重要影响,强调了城市民族和谐是构建社会主义和谐社会的重要基础,提出协调城市民族关系、做好城市民族工作的对策思路。     

基于IDSDP的少数民族智能决策研究

我国少数民族众多,如何加快少数民族地区的发展成为重要的研究课题。基于互联网和信息处理的发展,以IDSDP系统为基础,从民族地理、风俗习惯、服饰特点等方面入手,探讨建立一个少数民族智能决策研究系统,对相关技术实现框架进行了思路构建和应用尝试。     

和谐社会视野下边疆少数民族地区公民社会发展研究

构建和谐社会是建设有中国特色社会主义的根本要求,而和谐社会的构建需要公民社会的健康发展,一个健全的公民社会是和谐社会的基础。改革开放以来,我国边疆少数民族地区的公民社会蓬勃发展,成绩明显,但由于边疆少数民族地区独特的历史、地理、社会环境,经济发展滞后,社会发育不足等条件的长期存在,严重制约了公民社会的发展。公民社会发展的缓慢和困境,使得边疆少数民族地区和谐社会的构建也步履维艰,困难重重。所以,认清当前边疆少数民族地区公民社会发展的现状和存在问题,找出制约其发展的主要因素是引导该地区公民社会健康发展的关键,也是边疆少数民族地区构建和谐社会的题中之义。     

对贵州省黎平县“民族文化进课堂”工程的思考

随着各少数民族地区经济的发展,各民族之间的交往日趋频繁,各种外来文化涌入少数民族地区,这必然使少数民族文化传承受到了严重挑战。学校教育对少数民族文化传承应发挥主体作用,黎平县“民族文化进课堂”工程实施就是典型例子,它对中小学少数民族文化课程的设置、实施及评价作了初步的探讨,并取得了令人欣慰的成果。     

浅析环北部湾地区古代黎族饮食结构

饮食结构作为一种文化现象,是民族文化强有力的表达方式之一。它反映了不同时代、不同民族的饮食行为和饮食风尚。通过考古学和历史学的视角考察环北部湾地区古代黎族的饮食结构,从中窥测古代黎族的生活环境及其折射出的文化内涵,进而找出当前黎族饮食文化市场开发的魅力基因,为未来的黎族饮食文化发展寻求更好的路径。     

新疆高等职业教育少数民族汉语教学研究

本文分析了新疆高等职业教育少数民族汉语教学的性质、目的、任务和特点,说明了新疆高等职业教育少数民族汉语教学在区域经济发展中的作用和地位,目的在于揭示新疆高等职业教育少数民族汉语教学的特征。     

Minority parental involvement and school barriers: Moving the focus away from deficiencies of parents

There has been an alarming imbalance in recent research on minority parental involvement because it has focused on parents’ variables to identify groups for effective interventions without searching for broader contextual variables. This literature review provides available research findings on the school barriers that prevent minority parents’ participation in their children's school in the United States. The following school barriers were identified: (a) teachers’ perception about the efficacy of minority parents, (b) teachers’ perception concerning the capacity of minority parents, (c) teachers’ beliefs in the effectiveness of parental involvement and developmental philosophy, (d) teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching effectiveness, (e) school friendliness and positive communication, (f) diversity of parental involvement programs, (g) school policies, and (h) school leadership. Increased understanding about the nature of minority parental involvement in their children's school will lead to a more collaborative home–school partnership and ensure the long-term success of parental involvement.