Multiculturalism and Settlement: The Case of Dutch Postcolonial Migrant Organisations

This article examines the effects of multiculturalism of the 1980s and 1990s on the organisational patterns of immigrant populations in the Netherlands. This is a controversial topic in this country since politics of multiculturalism have allegedly excessively sponsored migrant organisations causing their ??fragmentation?? and having adverse consequences for these organisations?? role in the integration process. Based upon a systematic survey of the available data about postcolonial migrant organisations from 1945 to 2008, our conclusion is that the growth in postcolonial migrant organisations from the 1980s onwards has been impressive. For this specific category of immigrants, there is, however, little in the way of evidence that links this growth, or fragmentation of the landscape of migrant organisations for that matter, to Dutch multicultural minorities policies. Much of the growth should be related to the global phenomena of emerging identity discourses and increasing levels of identity politics. The policy implication is that, at least for the Netherlands, government policies creating favourable conditions for migrant organisations have been discarded without proper justification as counterproductive.     

Multiculturalism and acculturation: views of Dutch and Turkish–Dutch

The psychological component of immigration in the Netherlands was studied by comparing views on multiculturalism and acculturation orientation of Turkish migrants between Dutch majority (N=1565) and Turkish–Dutch minority (N=185) members. Multiculturalism was measured with an adaptation of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (Berry & Kalin, 1995); acculturation orientation was investigated in different domains of life. The results revealed that Dutch on average had a neutral attitude towards multiculturalism in the Netherlands while Turkish–Dutch showed a more positive attitude. Regarding the acculturation strategies, Dutch adults preferred assimilation above integration of Turkish migrants in all life domains. Turkish–Dutch adults made a distinction in public and private domains: integration was preferred in public domains, and separation in private domains. In public domains both cultural groups agreed that Turkish migrants should adapt to the Dutch culture. In private domains there was no agreement at all in the views of Dutch and Turkish–Dutch. These results suggest that the views on acculturation and multiculturalism differ substantially for majority and minority group members. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and Components of Majority Attitudes toward Multiculturalism in the Netherlands

Les prédicteurs et les composantes des attitudes envers le multiculturalisme ont étéétudies chez 341 Néerlandais tout‐venant. Les attitudes relèvent d’une structure unidimensionnelle, mais le niveau d’adhésion au multiculturalisme varie significativement selon les domaines. Le niveau culturel et le fait de vivre en ville avec peu d’immigrés étaient les seules variables positivement corrélées avec l’adhésion au multiculturalisme. Un modèle en pistes causales s’est révélé pertinent, les attitudes et les comportements dépendant des variables psychologiques suivantes; connaissances, satisfaction générale, perspectives d’avenir, désirabilité sociale et perception des normes sociales favorables au multiculturalisme ou en faisant au contraire une menace. Globalement, l’exclusion était désapprouvée par la majorité des Néerlandais, mais le pluralisme culturel nétait pas ressenti comme étant un atout précieux pour leur société, et ils nétaient pas disposés à faire beaucoup d’efforts pour faciliter l’intégration des minorités. Predictors and components of attitudes toward multiculturalism were studied in 341 native Dutch people. Attitudes were found to have a unidimensional structure, but the level of support for multiculturalism was found to vary significantly over societal domains. Level of education and living in city districts with few non‐natives were the only background variables that were (positively) related to support for multiculturalism. A path model, with psychological background variables (knowledge, life satisfaction, life opportunities, perceived social norms about multiculturalism as a threat and support for multiculturalism, and social desirability) predicting attitudes and behavior, showed a good fit. Generally, exclusionist positions were not endorsed by majority Dutch, but cultural pluralism was not seen as a valuable asset of their society, and they are not inclined to put much effort into minority integration.     

Family Relationships among Immigrants and Majority Members in the Netherlands: The Role of Acculturation

This study examined the nature and size of differences in family relationships in five cultural groups in the Netherlands (Dutch mainstreamers, and Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean immigrants). In order to get a better insight into the differences in family relationships, a distinction was made between family values and family ties. Family values refer to obligations and beliefs about family relationships whereas family ties involve more behavior‐related relational aspects. Results confirmed that the cultural differences in mean scores between immigrants and majority members were larger for family values than for family ties. Individual background variables had a much stronger association with family values than with family ties. In addition, first‐generation immigrants had more traditional family values and reported stronger family ties than did Dutch mainstreamers. Second‐generation immigrants had more traditional family values than Dutch mainstreamers but they did not report stronger family ties. In conclusion, the distinction between family values and family ties as different expressions of family relationships is highly relevant in an acculturation context, because cultural differences between the various immigrant groups and the mainstream group are not the same for values and ties, and acculturative changes are different for both. On se penche dans cette étude sur les relations familiales, leur nature et leurs différences dans cinq groupes culturels des Pays‐Bas (Hollandais de souche et immigrants turcs, marocains, surinamiens et antillais). Pour accéder à une meilleure appréhension des différences dans les relations familiales, on a opéré une distinction entre les valeurs et les liens familiaux. Les valeurs familiales font référence aux obligations et aux croyances concernant les relations familiales alors que les liens familiaux touchent des aspects relationnels plus comportementaux. Les résultats confirment que les différences culturelles (estimées au niveau des moyennes) entre les immigrants et les membres de la majorité de la population sont plus nettes pour les valeurs que pour les liens familiaux. Le fond culturel des individus est plus fortement associé aux valeurs qu’aux liens familiaux. De plus, les migrants de première génération présentent davantage de valeurs familiales traditionnelles et témoignent de liens familiaux plus forts que ceux des Hollandais de souche. Les migrants de seconde génération ont également plus de valeurs familiales traditionnelles que les Hollandais de souche, mais pas de liens familiaux plus étroits. Disons pour conclure que distinguer valeurs et liens familiaux comme étant des expressions différentes des relations en famille est tout à fait pertinent dans un contexte d’acculturation puisque les différences culturelles entre les divers groupes de migrants et les autochtones ne sont pas identiques pour les valeurs et les liens et que l’impact dûà l’acculturation n’est pas le même dans les deux cas.     

A Study of Social and Political Attitudes Among Members of Propagandist Societies

Summary

The effects of anger arousal, type of expression, and communication destiny on anger and aggressive drive are examined. One hundred ten students were exposed to an insulting or a noninsulting communication. Subjects replied to the communication by supporting it, opposing it, or taking a neutral position. Some were told that their replies would be read by the person who had written the communication (target), and others that their responses would not be shown to the target. Results show that anger arousal produced more hostility than the nonarousal and that anger arousal interacted with type of expression. Angry subjects who had expressed their feelings became more hostile than subjects who had expressed the opposite of their feelings. Angry subjects who had taken a neutral position, however, were lowest in hostility. Experimental effects attributable to other variables were nonsignificant. The results are interpreted in terms of a cognitive interference hypothesis.     

The Ethnic Hierarchy Among Majority and Minority Youth In The Netherlands

This study tests the hypothesis that ethnic groups have consensus about the relative position of ethnic out-groups in society. A survey among ethnic majority and minority youth in the city of Rotterdam indicated that: (a) each ethnic group preferred the in-group, (b) there was consensus on an ethnic hierarchy within ethnic groups, and (c) ethnic groups largely agreed on the ethnic rank order. Among the Dutch respondents, the ethnic hierarchy was found to be related to real cultural differences. The scheme of ethnic preferences corresponded inversely to the rank ordering of the ethnic groups in terms of collectivism. Among ethnic minority youth the rank ordering did not correspond to cultural differences but to existing socioeconomic status differences.     

Stability of Majority Attitudes toward Multiculturalism in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2007

The success of multiculturalism as an ideology to deal with cultural differences depends upon the level of support for multiculturalism by majority members. It has been argued that support for multiculturalism in the Netherlands has substantially changed in response to various national and international events, such as the terrorist attacks on New York (2001), Madrid (2004), and London (2005), and the assassinations of popular politician Fortuyn (2002) and controversial movie director Van Gogh (2004). We compared survey data on Dutch majority attitudes in 1999 ( n = 333), 2001 ( n = 1,266), 2004 ( n = 246), 2005 ( n = 170), 2006 ( n = 306), and 2007 ( n = 464). Contrary to popular belief, we found little evidence for enduring attitude changes over the nine-year period. Implications for studies of multiculturalism and for policy-makers are discussed.
Le succès du multiculturalisme en tant qu'idéologie pour appréhender les différences culturelles dépend du soutien dont il bénéficie de la part de la majorité de la population. On a dit que l'approbation du multiculturalisme s'était profondément altérée aux Pays-Bas à la suite de divers évènements nationaux et internationaux, telles que les attaques terroristes sur New York (2001), Madrid (2004) et Londres (2005), et les assassinats du politicien populaire Fortuyn (2002) et du metteur en scène controversé Van Gogh (2004). On a comparé des données d'enquête sur les attitudes majoritaires chez les Néerlandais en 1999 ( n = 333), 2001 ( n = 1,266), 2004 ( n = 246), 2005 ( n = 170), 2006 ( n = 306) et 2007 ( n = 464). A l'encontre de la croyance populaire, un changement d'attitudes durable est loin d'être évident sur cette période de neuf ans. On discute des conséquences pour les études sur le multiculturalisme et les projets politiques.     

Cultural Intelligence and International Leadership Potential: The Importance of Contact for Members of the Majority

Integrating distinctiveness theory and contact theory, we develop a conceptual model proposing that prior intercultural contact has mediated effects on international leadership potential via cultural intelligence—but that these effects are stronger for majorities. Results of two samples of working adults, using both self‐report (n= 441, Study 1) and matched employee‐observer (n= 181, Study 2) data provide strong support for the model. Cultural intelligence mediates the effects of prior intercultural contact on international leadership potential. Further, moderated mediation analyses demonstrate that cultural intelligence mediates the relationship between prior intercultural contact and international leadership potential for majorities, but not for minorities. The current study offers contributions to theory and practice in at least two ways. First, the proposed model is theoretically important because it provides a more complete picture of predictors of international leadership potential and it reconciles prior inconsistent findings by showing the mediating role of cultural intelligence and moderating role of minority status. Second, the study adds to the increasing evidence suggesting that prior intercultural contact and cultural intelligence are meaningful criteria for developing international leaders. More important, results show that prior intercultural contact is especially important for majorities.     

Ethnic In-Group Favoritism Among Minority and Majority Groups: Testing the Self-Esteem Hypothesis Among Preadolescents

The self-esteem hypothesis in intergroup relations, as proposed by social identity theory (SIT), states that successful intergroup discrimination enhances momentary collective self-esteem. This hypothesis is a source of continuing controversy. Furthermore, although SIT is increasingly used to account for children's group attitudes, few studies have examined the hypothesis among children. In addition, the hypothesis's generality makes it important to study among children from different ethnic groups. The present study, conducted among Dutch and Turkish preadolescents, examined momentary collective self-feelings as a consequence of ethnic group evaluations. The results tended to support the self-esteem hypothesis. In-group favoritism was found to have a self-enhancing effect among participants high in ethnic identification. This result was found for ethnic majority (Dutch) and minority (Turkish) participants.     

Qualitative Assessment of Vaccination Hesitancy Among Members of the Apostolic Church of Zimbabwe: A Case Study

Vaccine hesitancy or lack of confidence in vaccines is considered a threat to the success of vaccination programs. The rise and spread of measles outbreaks in southern Africa in 2009–2010 were linked to objections among Apostolic Church members, estimated at about 3.5 million in Zimbabwe as of 2014. To inform planning of interventions for a measles–rubella vaccination campaign, we conducted an assessment of the factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy using data from various stakeholders. Among nine districts in three regions of Zimbabwe, we collected data on religious attitudes toward, and perceptions of, vaccines through focus group discussions with health workers serving Apostolic communities and members of the National Expanded Programme on Immunization; semi-structured interviews with religious leaders; and open-ended questions in structured interviews with Apostolic parents/caregivers. Poor knowledge of vaccines, lack of understanding and appreciation of the effectiveness of vaccinations, religious teachings that emphasize prayers over the use of medicine, lack of privacy in a religiously controlled community, and low levels of education were found to be the main factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy among key community members and leaders. Accepting vaccination in public is a risk of sanctions. Poor knowledge of vaccines is a major factor of hesitancy which is reinforced by religious teachings on the power of prayers as alternatives. Because parents/caregivers perceive vaccines as dangerous for their children and believe they can cause death or disease, members of the Apostolic Church have more confidence in alternative methods such as use of holy water and prayers to treat diseases. Under these circumstances, it is important to debunk the myths about the power of holy water on the one hand and disseminate positive information of the efficacy of vaccines on the other hand in order to reduce hesitancy. Education about vaccines and vaccination in conjunction with government intervention, for example, through the use of social distancing policies can provide a framework for reducing hesitancy and increasing demand for vaccination.     

Cultural and Gender Differences in Gender-Role Beliefs, Sharing Household Task and Child-Care Responsibilities, and Well-Being Among Immigrants and Majority Members in The Netherlands

The nature and size of culture and gender differences in gender-role beliefs, sharing behavior, and well-being were examined in five cultural groups in The Netherlands (1,104 Dutch mainstreamers, 249 Turkish-, 200 Moroccan-, 126 Surinamese-, and 94 Antillean–Dutch). Acculturative changes in gender-role beliefs and sharing behavior in the immigrant groups were also addressed. It was shown that more egalitarian gender-role beliefs and more sharing were associated with more well-being in all culture and gender groups. Cultural differences were larger for gender-role beliefs than for sharing behavior. Age, educational level, and employment accounted for half of the cultural differences in gender-role beliefs and well-being, but not in household-task and child-care behavior. First-generation immigrants reported more traditional gender-role beliefs than did second-generation immigrants.     

The Silent Majority: Understanding and Increasing Majority Group Responses to Discrimination

Although strong norms exist against discrimination, majority group members are surprisingly unlikely to respond assertively to discrimination when they witness it. A number of factors contribute to majority group members' nonresponse, including lack of intergroup contact, motivation not to see discrimination, unsupportive social norms, and the sense that only members of affected groups are entitled to respond to discrimination. This paper reviews the published evidence supporting this pattern and presents a model of targeted social referencing, whereby majority group members look to, and are uniquely influenced by, the opinions of minority group members in the domain of discrimination. This article reviews the causes and implications of targeted social referencing and proposes interventions aimed at increasing majority group responses to discrimination.     

The Challenges of Multiculturalism

Although the term multiculturalism is often understood on the public level as an ideology or as a social programme (to be ‘for’ or ‘against’), I argue in this paper that the term should also be understood to refer to the complex range of issues associated with cultural and religious diversity in society, and the social management of the challenges and opportunities such diversity offers. Understood in this sense, multiculturalism is not an optional extra, it is not something that a society can choose to have or avoid. For any country without closed borders then multiculturalism is a fact of today—it is present within the society. What is important are the social and political responses to the cultural and religious diversity that results from transnational flows and settlement of people. This introduction to the collection of papers highlights the need to understand multiculturalism as a process which is always contextual, and the role that state management of difference in the successful development of diversity plays.     

The Moralism of Multiculturalism

abstract Moralism is a frequent charge in politics, and especially in relation to the ‘politics of recognition’. In this essay, I identify three types of moralism — undue abstraction, unjustified moralism and impotent moralism — and then discuss each in relation to recent debates over multiculturalism in liberal political theory. Each of these forms of moralism has featured in interesting ways in recent criticisms of the political theory and public policy of multiculturalism. By ‘multiculturalism’ I mean, broadly speaking, the pursuit of group‐differentiated public policies that move beyond the protection of basic individual civil and political rights. Here the charge is not so much that moral judgments have no application in relation to the treatment of cultural and associational minorities, but that the moral claims of defenders of multiculturalism are: (a) appealed to without any sense of the practical realities on the ground (the undue abstraction charge); (b) asserted as if they were self‐evidently true (the unjustified moralism charge); which often results in (c) a stifling of reasoned criticism of the orthodoxy surrounding multiculturalism (thus engendering impotent moralism). I assess these charges in the course of defending the democratic character of the most plausible forms of multicultural accommodation in liberal democratic societies.     

Social Representations of Multiculturalism: A Faceted Analysis

This paper reports a study that examines how Australians are responding to the policy of multiculturalism. The aim of the study was to define different social representations of the policy. Multiple scalogram analysis (MSA) yielded 3 facets of social representations of multiculturalism (active/passive, substantial/minimal, and threat/benefit). Using these facets, subjects were categorized into social representation groups. The results illustrate the methodological utility of using facet theory techniques to study social representations.     

Religion and Ethnicity Among New Immigrants: The Impact of Majority/Minority Status in Home and Host Countries

Research shows that religion continues to be an important identity marker for new immigrants in the United States. However, immigrant groups differ in the ways they integrate religious and ethnic identities and the emphasis they place on each. In this paper, we argue that majority or minority status of their religious affiliation in the home and host countries is an important, but overlooked, factor in understanding strategies concerning religious and ethnic identities. By comparing two Chinese congregations, a Chinese Buddhist temple and a Chinese Christian church in Houston, Texas, we analyze what happens when an immigrant group moves from majority status in the home country to minority status in the United States (Chinese Buddhists) and when a minority group (Chinese Christians in China) become part of the Christian majority in the United States. We conclude by arguing the importance of going beyond U.S. borders and taking into account factors in their home countries in attempts to understand patterns of adaptation of the new immigrants.     

Stigma by Association Among Family Members of People with a Mental Illness: A Qualitative Analysis

People with mental illness are not the sole recipients of stigmatisation; their immediate family members may be subjected to stigma by association. Through semi‐structured interviews, we investigated experiences of stigma by association among 23 immediate family members of people with mental illness. Participants reported experiencing stigma by association from community members, mental health professionals, and civil servants. Familial relationship, co‐residence, and the gender of participants appeared to play a role in their stigma experiences; parents and spouses reported different manifestations of stigma by association than siblings and children, participants who lived together with their family member with mental illness reported increased experiences of stigma by association, and in contrast to male participants, female participants reported others thinking they are overprotective and as such perpetuated, maintained, or sustained their family members' mental illness. The relevance of these factors points to the need for tailored education and emotional support provision to family members of people with mental illness. Moreover, in‐service training for mental health professionals should include the development of relevant social skills that enable the recognition of familial relationships and roles, and family members' fears, concerns, and problems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treatment Adherence Among War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Concept Analysis

Aim: This study was made to analyze the concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer posttraumatic stress disorder.

Methods: This concept analysis was done using Walker and Avant’s concept analysis model. Online English and Persian databases were searched using keywords such as “posttraumatic stress disorder,” “mental disorder,” “compliance,” and “adherence.” Finally, 11 eligible documents were included in the analysis. The retrieved articles were perused word-by-word, line-by-line, and paragraph-by-paragraph in order to arrive at an in-depth understanding about their contents. Then, the obtained excerpts from the articles, which were relevant to the study subject matter, were coded. The codes were then grouped into the antecedents, consequences, and attributes of the concept.

Findings: In total, 122 primary codes, 19 subcategories, 8 main categories, and 4 main themes were extracted. The main antecedents of the treatment adherence concept are patients’ personal health background and the attributes of posttraumatic stress disorder and its treatments while its main outcome is the changes in the quality of life. Moreover, the main attribute of adherent veterans is that they take responsibility for their own health and subsequently attempt to plan for health promotion.

Conclusion: The concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer from PTSD is a complex and relative concept which depends on patients’ personal health background as well as the attributes of the afflicting disorder and its treatments. The concept is manifested by patient’s attempts to plan for receiving or parting with treatments and can result in changes in health-related quality of life.