Multi‐group acculturation orientations in a changing context: Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents in Israel after the lost decade

Grounded in a contextual approach to acculturation of minorities, this study examines changes in acculturation orientations among Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents in Israel following the “lost decade of Arab–Jewish coexistence.” Multi‐group acculturation orientations among 237 respondents were assessed vis‐à‐vis two majorities—Muslim Arabs and Israeli Jews—and compared to 1998 data. Separation was the strongest endorsed orientation towards both majority groups. Comparisons with the 1998 data also show a weakening of the Integration attitude towards Israeli Jews, and also distancing from Muslim Arabs. For the examination of the “Westernisation” hypothesis, multi‐dimensional scaling (MDS) analyses of perceptions of Self and group values clearly showed that, after 10 years, Palestinian Christian Arabs perceive Israeli Jewish culture as less close to Western culture, and that Self and the Christian Arab group have become much closer, suggesting an increasing identification of Palestinian Christian Arab adolescents with their ethnoreligious culture. We discuss the value of a multi‐group, multi‐method, and multi‐wave approach to the examination of the role of the political context in acculturation processes.     

Effects of basic human values on host community acculturation orientations

Although literature provides evidence for the relationship between values and acculturation, the relationship between host community acculturation orientations has not yet been investigated. In this study we tested the effects of four high-order values (openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement, devised according to Schwartz's model) on host community acculturation orientations towards immigrants (devised according the interactive acculturation model) in the public domain of employment and the private domain of endogamy/exogamy. Participants were 264 Italian University students, who completed a questionnaire containing the Portrait Values Questionnaire, a measure of personal values, and the Host Community Acculturation Scale, aimed at measuring Italian acculturation strategies towards three groups of immigrants: Immigrants (the general category), Chinese (the valued immigrant group), and Albanians (the devalued immigrant group). Results showed that personal values are related to the adoption of acculturation orientations: In particular, the values that mostly impacted on acculturation orientations were self-transcendence and conservation. Values concerning self-transcendence encourage the adoption of integrationism, integrationism-transformation, and individualism and reduce the adoption of assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism. Values concerning conservation encourage the adoption of assimilation, segregation and exclusion orientations and reduce the adoption of both types of integrationism and individualism. Minor effects were found regarding self-enhancement and openness to change.     

Acculturation attitudes, perceived attitudes of the majority, and adjustment of Israeli-Arab and Jewish-Ethiopian students to an Israeli University

The authors investigated adjustment to an Israeli university by students from two minority groups, Israeli Arabs and Jewish Ethiopians, as a function of their different acculturation attitudes (J. W. Berry, 1990). Social adjustment of both Arabs and Ethiopians was contingent on acculturation attitudes supporting participation with the majority. Psychological adjustment of both groups was negatively associated with personal acculturation preferences that deviated from the shared acculturation attitudes of the respective in-group (i.e., assimilation in the Arab group, and separation in the Ethiopian group). The perceived attitude of the majority also contributed to the psychological adjustment of both groups. Major theoretical implications are that both attitudes of the majority and adjustment to the in-group play an important role in psychological adjustment of immigrants.     

Acculturation and adaptation of Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents: predictors of adjustment across life domains

This study explores how acculturation is related to adaptation across different life spheres for 162 Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents in a suburban community in Maryland. Because the different contexts of refugee adolescents' lives vary in acculturative demands, different patterns of acculturation should be related to adaptation in different life spheres. The study uses a multidimensional measure of acculturation and assesses acculturation to both American and Russian cultures as it relates to psychological adaptation, peer relations, and school and family outcomes. Findings support the general ecological thesis that acculturation to different cultures is differentially related to adaptation across life domains. Acculturation to American culture predicted better grades and perceived support from American peers. Acculturation to Russian culture predicted perceived support from Russian peers. Both American acculturation and Russian acculturation predicted reduced loneliness and perceived support from parents. Further, different dimensions of acculturation, such as language and identity, were differentially related to adaptation. Implications for acculturation theory and measurement are drawn, and cautions are offered about the interpretation of acculturation studies using single proxies such as language use or preference.     

PEOPLE OF GOD,CHILDREN OF HAM

Taxonomies inherited from the nineteenth century have shaped the discourse surrounding the racial identity and supposed roots of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. Through their interactions with just a few colonial actors, some of whom were Christian missionaries, others who were Jewish Zionists, a small group of young Falashas developed an elite status in Ethiopia as the true lost Jews in Africa. While most historians specializing in the history of Ethiopia do not believe the Beta Israel are a “lost tribe” of the ancient Israelites, Ethiopian immigrants have altered their self‐conceptions over the past hundred years and come to see themselves as both black and Jewish. This essay offers an alternative reading of the Beta Israel narrative, and asserts that the transformation of their social identities are embedded in a political process of racialization tied to racial ideology, and both secular and religious institutions and the State. In the process of incorporation into western society, their social identities have been transmogrified from religious others in Ethiopia to co‐religionists yet racial others in Israel.     

Determinants of Readiness for Out-group Social Contact: Dominance Relations and Minority Group Motivations

Findings that members of minorities are more ready for social contact with members of dominant groups than vice versa have been attributed to a motivation of minorities to integrate into the larger society. We theorize that minorities hold opposing motivations—to integrate vs. to maintain unique group identity—the balance of which determines readiness for out-group contact. Study 1 examined readiness for out-group contact among three groups of Israeli teachers—Jews (dominant group), Muslim Arabs, and Christian Arabs (minorities). According to sociohistorical analyses, Muslim Arabs are more activated to maintain uniqueness and less motivated to integrate than are Christian Arabs. Study 2 examined recent Russian immigrants to Israel (minority) and veteran Israelis (dominant). Individual differences in motivation to integrate vs. maintain minority group identity were measured among immigrants. In both studies, the balance of motivations predicted minority group readiness for contact with the dominant group.     

Differences between Jewish–Israeli and Arab–Israeli college students in attitudes toward date selection and sex relations: A research note

Jewish and Arab–Moslem students attending an Israeli college were compared for their date selection criteria and their attitudes toward sexual relations. Questionnaires were completed by 214 Jews and 162 Arabs. Seventy percent of the respondents in both groups were women. Jews (more than Arabs) and males (more than females) showed a greater tendency to mention physical appearance as a selection criterion. In both ethnic groups, women thought that a longer dating period is needed before having sex. However, Jewish females did not differ from Jewish males in their vision of the appropriate age to start having sex, whereas Arab men and women did differ. The findings indicate that Israeli–Arab college students are considerably more traditional than Jewish students in their attitudes toward sex and dating and that the gender differences among Arabs are larger. The results are controlled for religiosity, family status, and financial status.     

Perception of the Minority's Collective Identity and Voting Behavior: The Case of the Palestinians in Israel

Abstract

The author investigated how Palestinian (n = 130) and Jewish (n = 153) Israeli university students perceived the collective identity of the Palestinian minority in Israel. The Palestinian and Jewish respondents perceived the “identity space” of the minority as linear, or bipolar, with 1 pole defined by the national (Palestinian) identity and the other defined by the civic (Israeli) label. The Palestinian respondents defined their collective identity in national (Palestinian, Arab) and integrative (Israeli-Palestinian) terms; the Jewish respondents perceived the minority's identity as integrative (Israeli-Palestinian). Different political outlooks among Palestinian respondents were related to their identification with the civic (Israeli) identity but not to their identification with the national (Palestinian) identity. In contrast, different political outlooks among Jewish respondents were related to their inclusion, or exclusion, of the national (Palestinian) component in their definition of the minority's identity. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of a minority acculturation model (J. Berry, J. Trimble, & E. Olmedo, 1986).     

Towards an Interactive Acculturation Model: A Social Psychological Approach

The first part of this paper proposes a continuum of ideological premises that seeks to account for the broad range of immigrant integration policies adopted by Western democratic states. In the second part, a review of Social Psychological models of immigrant acculturation strategies demonstrates the need to explain more clearly the interactive nature of immigrant and host community relations. The Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM) presented next proposes that relational outcomes are the product of the acculturation orientations of both the host majority and immigrant groups as influenced by state integration policies. The model makes predictions regarding the acculturation combinations most likely to produce consensual, problematic, and conflictual relational outcomes between immigrants and members of the host community. Social psychological research is needed to test the validity of the IAM model empirically.     

Premigration ethnic and national identities: Jewish adolescents planning emigration from Russia and Ukraine to Israel

The ethnic and national identities of Jewish high‐school adolescents planning emigration from Russia and Ukraine to Israel were investigated about six months before their emigration. The national identities of adolescent emigrants (n = 243) were compared with those of non‐emigrant Russian and Ukrainian adolescents (n = 740). The emigrants’ attitude to their country of origin was less positive and their identification with Russians and Ukrainians was weaker as compared with the non‐emigrant adolescents. In addition, the attitude of the emigrants towards Israel was more positive than their attitude to Russia or Ukraine. Finally, the emigrants’ strongest identification was with the Jewish people, followed by identification with Israelis, while their weakest identification was with Russians and Ukrainians. Israeli and Jewish identities of the emigrant adolescents were positively correlated, and they were independent of the Russian and Ukrainian identities. Perceived discrimination was negatively correlated with the emigrants’ attitude to Russia or Ukraine, and it was positively correlated with the emigrants’ identification with Israelis and with the Jewish people. Jewish ethnicity was correlated with identification with Jewish people; however, it was not correlated with any component of the Israeli or Russian/Ukrainian identities. The study results indicate that in the premigration period emigrants form a multidimensional system of ethnic and national identities, which reflects their partial detachment from their homeland and affiliation with the country of provisional immigration. This premigration identity system may be termed “anticipatory” (cf. Merton, 1968), because it is not based on real contact with the country of provisional immigration, but rather on the emigrants’ expectations. On the other hand, the premigration identities are reactive, in the sense that they reflect the emigrants’ reaction to the perceived discrimination they experience in their country of origin. The results of the present study are discussed in light of social identity theory.     

An Intergroup Perspective on Immigrant Acculturation with a Focus on Collective Strategies

This study adopted an intergroup perspective on immigrant acculturation, which views immigrants as members of a disadvantaged social category. Its primary purpose was to relate the relative disadvantage of certain immigrant groups to a preference for collective acculturation strategies. Questionnaires were administered to immigrants from four ethnic groups, two of which (blacks from the Caribbean, and Chinese) were considered to be relatively more “stigmatized” within the Canadian context than the other two (Greeks and Italians). In addition, a cross-generational methodology provided comparisons between first-generation immigrants (n = 116), and their adult children (n = 133). It was hypothesized and found that the more “stigmatized” immigrants perceived themselves to be at a greater social disadvantage and were more supportive of a collective integration orientation than less stigmatized immigrants. Parents were more likely to endorse a collective acculturation orientation and exhibited a stronger ethnic identification than their children. The results are interpreted using an intergroup approach to immigrant acculturation.     

Psychometric characteristics of the Iranian Acculturation Scale

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure acculturation of Iranian immigrants in Canada. The 20-item Iranian Acculturation Scale showed Cronbach alpha of .83. Item-total correlations ranged from .25 to .65. Four factors were extracted, based on responses from 119 Iranian immigrants (43 men and 76 women) living in Toronto. The scale tapped different acculturation dimensions, cultural identity, language, family-related attitude and family-related values. The longer these Iranian immigrants had lived in Canada, and the earlier the age of moving to Canada the better acculturation suggested by their scores.     

When intergroup apology is not enough: Seeking help and reactions to receiving help among members of low status groups

Relations between groups are characterized by competition and suspicion. As a consequence, members of low status groups may question the meaning of apologies offered by a high status group, especially under unstable status relations. In two experiments, the present research investigated the role of the intergroup versus interpersonal apology and the potential moderating effect of the stability of intergroup relations on low status group members' (a) help seeking (Study 1) and (b) responses to receiving help (Study 2) from a high status group. Consistent with our hypotheses, when status relations were unstable rather than stable, following a formal intergroup relative to an interpersonal apology by an Israeli official, Israeli‐Arab students sought less dependency‐oriented and more autonomy‐oriented help from an Israeli‐Jewish study coordinator (Study 1) and Jewish‐Ethiopian newcomers reacted more negatively when they read about an Ethiopian‐Jewish student receiving unsolicited dependency‐oriented help from an Israeli‐Jewish college student (Study 2). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

EDITOR'S NOTE

The article deals with the ways in which Mizrahim—Jewish immigrants who came to the State of Israel after 1948—influenced the local Jewish sacred geography. Besides taking part in rituals in the older and more established holy places such as King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, Mizrahim tended to adopt and develop holy places where only hints of ancient Jewish sanctity were to be found. These places were used before 1948 mainly by the local Muslim population and were adopted now by Jews. This reality prevailed mainly in the social and geographical periphery of Israel, in regions and places where immigrants were usually settled by the Israeli establishment during the 1950s and 1960s. Mizrahim, in need of accessible and informal holy sites near their new settlements, brought now to the development of such places as the Tomb of Raban Gamliel in Yavne, the Tomb of Judah in Yahud, and the Tomb of Benjamin near Kfar‐Saba. The emergence of this sacred space, in a state that had just come into being and into which there had been mass immigration of Mizrahim, displacing or replacing the indigenous population of Arabs, is at the heart of the paper.     

Assimilation,multiculturalism, and colorblindness: Mediated and moderated relationships between social dominance orientation and prejudice

Using correlational and experimental data, we examined the degree to which personal and perceived normative support for the acculturation ideologies of assimilation, multiculturalism, and colorblindness mediated and moderated the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and prejudice among 299 White students at three American colleges. Correlational results indicated that personal support for the acculturation ideologies mediated the SDO–prejudice relationship. Personal support for assimilation (a hierarchy-enhancing ideology) positively related to SDO; multiculturalism and colorblindness (hierarchy-attenuating ideologies) negatively related to SDO. An experimental manipulation varied whether assimilation, multiculturalism, or colorblindness was considered normative in the United States. In addition to a control, a fifth condition primed the Obama presidency. SDO related most strongly to prejudice toward American immigrants and ethnic minorities when assimilation norms and the Obama presidency were primed. Efforts to reduce the associations between SDO and prejudice are discussed in terms of highlighting hierarchy-attenuating national norms of multiculturalism and colorblindness.     

Perceived cultural distance and acculturation among exchange students in Russia

The relations of perceived cultural distance, personality, acculturation orientations and outcomes were studied among exchange students (N = 187) in Russia who came from various countries in Asia, sub‐Saharan Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. The hypothesis was supported that a larger perceived cultural distance between mainstream and immigrant culture is associated with less psychological (homesickness and stress) and sociocultural (behaviour with Russian students and behaviour with co‐nationals) adjustment. The statistical relations between perceived cultural distance, personality and sociocultural adjustment were much stronger for host domain behaviour than for home domain behaviour. Adjustment was higher for participants with more cultural empathy, openmindedness and flexibility. Adjustment showed statistically stronger associations with cultural distance than with acculturation orientations. It is concluded that cultural distance may be more salient than acculturation orientations in studies of heterogeneous groups of immigrants. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sexual Prejudice Among Heterosexual College Men as a Predictor of Condom Attitudes

Heterosexual male college students (N?=?100) (average age?=?19.7; 43% European American; 39% Christian) from the southwestern U.S. completed surveys in order to test a model predicting condom attitudes from religiosity, gender role attitudes, sexual prejudice, and the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease.” In the final model, those who reported more religiosity, more traditional gender role attitudes, and greater anxiety about interacting with gay men also reported feeling their core values and beliefs were threatened by gay men. In turn, men who felt strongly threatened in this way more strongly endorsed the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease,” and stronger endorsement of this belief was associated with more negative attitudes about condoms and condom use.     

Die Zukunft gestalten im Angesicht der Vergangenheit

We report on the 4th Nazareth Conference with Jewish and German participants, most of whom are psychoanalysts. As Herman Beland has observed, these Conferences are intended to be “something like a self-experiment by Germans and Israelis to become, in the presence of the other group, aware of the unconscious identity of both people after the Holocaust.” There is still a widespread inability to mourn for the consequences of the terrible events in the years between 1933 and 1945 and deal satisfactorily with their effects. None of the groups, neither the German, nor the Israeli / Jewish, can do their own inner work without the other. For this reason, the method chosen as appropriate was the Tavistock-style “group relations conference”. This approach was developed by the Institute of Human Relations in London and does not focus on the individual’s behaviour but uses large and small groups to investigate group processes in the here and now. -The present work describes, among other things, the unexpectedly strong resistance towards changes of the conscious and unconscious inner images both of one’s own group and of the other. This process led to a feeling of hopelessness and paralysis within the German group that, due to the presence of the Jewish group, we could not avoid. For the Germans, it was hard to bear and observe the mutually shared history. Jewish participants were not able to accept their own German–Austrian childhood memories as a part of their own identity and connect them to the Germans. Each participant across the groups experienced the fantasy of destruction and the unfruitful effects of division. We had to feel how much the fate of the Germans and the Jews were interlocked to understand the participants’ tensions and efforts for opening new pathways.     

Jewish-Arab relations in Israel: a psychology of adolescence perspective

Jewish and Arab high school seniors (61 Jewish boys and 51 Jewish girls, 57 Arab boys and 49 Arab girls) participated in a study of future orientation and described their hopes and fears for the future. The present analysis focuses on part of the data pertaining to the respondents' cross-ethnic references. More Arab than Jewish adolescents referred to the other ethnic group. The cross-ethnic references contained hope for peace and fear of war; the Arab statements, however, also showed discontent with Israeli authorities. More Arab than Jewish adolescents referred to collective issues (the people, the state, the world). The percentage of Jewish and Arab adolescents concerned with Jewish-Arab relations relative to the number addressing other aspects of collective concerns were similar (12% for Jews and 16% for Arabs). For Jews, this small number was related to adolescents' egocentrism and for Arabs, to adolescents' ethnocentrism.