INTERGROUP RELATIONS IN PLURAL SOCIETIES

PSYC 338

How much do you agree or disagree that:

• It is a good thing for any society to be made up of people from different races religions and cultures.

• Immigrants should give up their original culture for the sake of adopting New Zealand culture.

• Immigrants should maintain their original culture as

long as they do not mix it with NZ culture.

• Immigrants should maintain their original culture while also adopting NZ culture.

LECTURE OUTLINE

• Overview and theoretical frameworks• Social Psychology• Cross-cultural Psychology

• Ethnocentrism• Stereotypes• Attributions• Similarity-attraction and cultural distance

• Threat• Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan)• Instrumental model of group conflict (Esses)

• Contact

LECTURE OUTLINE (cont)

• Model of Attitudes toward Immigrants in New Zealand• Multicultural Ideology• Acculturation Expectations • Multiculturalism and Biculturalism in New Zealand• Common Ingroup Identity• Conclusions

Table 29-1. Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies

GROUPSRESEARCHTRADITIONS

Dominant Ethno-culturalGroups

Non-dominant Ethno-cultural Groups

• Integrated ThreatTheory

• Instrumental Model ofGroup Confli ct

• Social IdentityTheory

Social Psychology:Intergroup Research

• Contact Hypothesis• Theory of Common In-group Identity

Cross-cultural Psychology:Acculturation Research

• InteractiveAcculturation Model

• Model ofAcculturationAttitudes

Ethnocentrism

• Stereotypes• Attributions• Similarity-attractiveness

01020304050607080

GreatBritain India Sth Africa China Samoa Somalia Australia

Countries

Favourability

Perceptions of Migrant Groups In New Zealand

THREAT THEORIES

• Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan)• Realistic threat• Symbolic threat• Intergroup Anxiety• Stereotypes

…. A flood of immigrants -many of whom will directly compete with Maori in terms of jobs, housing and access to health services.

There is a need to keep a tight lid on immigration if we are to avoid New Zealand’s identity, values and heritage being swamped.

Winston Peters, 2002

•Immigrants take jobs away from Nzers. 25%

• Immigrants bring diseases into NZ that not would not otherwise be here.

25%

REALISTIC THREAT % of agreement

N = 2020

THREAT THEORIES• Instrumental Model of Group Conflict (Esses)

• Resource stress• Salient Outgroup• Intergroup Competition

• Zero sum beliefs• Fear and anxiety

• Outcomes• Avoidance• Discrimination

•Allowing immigrant cultures to thrive means that NZ culture is weakened. 21%

• The more political power immigrants obtain, the more difficult it is for Nzers already living here. 28%

ZERO SUM BELIEFS % agreement

N = 2020

MAORI AND PAKEHA PERCEPTIONS OF THREAT (% of agreement)

Maori Pakeha

More jobs for immigrants means 61 29 fewer jobs for Nzers.

When immigrants promote their own values, it is at the expense of NZ values. 59 25Note: N = 500

CONTACT HYPOTHESIS

• More intergroup contact results in more positive intergroup perceptions and harmonious relations (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2000)

• Particularly under optimal conditions: voluntary, positive, equal status, cooperative, pleasant, intimate

MulticulturalIdeology

InterculturalContact

Attitudes towardImmigrants

PercievedIntergroup Threat

IntergroupAnxiety

SocialDominance

Attitudes tw.Diversity

Anxiety 2Anxiety 1 Anxiety 3SocialContact

NeighbourhoodContact

RealisticThreat

SymbolicThreat

Zero-sumBeliefs

Attitude tw.Immigration

Attitude tw.Immigrants

-.71 .75

1

.81

1.50

1.76

1.73

1.46

1

-.85

-.37 .22

.76.88.83

-.93

.77 .68 .80

Gen att

An integrated model of attitudes toward immigrants in New Zealand (Ward & Masgoret, 2006)

MULTICULTURAL IDEOLOGY IN NEW ZEALAND

It is a good thing for any society to be made up of people from different races religions and cultures.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

NZ Oz Sw Sp Nl Fr Lx UK Dn Fn It Pt Ir Bl Ge Aus Gr

Countries

Percentage Agreement

DIVERSITY INDICES

Society of Settlement

% Immigrants

Actual Diversity Index

Policy diversity classification

Settler societies Australia 24.6 -.08 High Canada 18.9 1.42 High New Zealand 22.5 .04 High Former colonial societies France 10.6 -.51 Low Germany 9.0 -.85 Low Netherlands 9.9 -.78 Medium UK 6.8 -.21 Medium Recent receiving societies Finland 2.6 -.65 Low Norway 6.7 -.97 Low Portugal 2.3 -1.11 Medium Sweden 11.2 -.59 Medium

ACCULTURATION EXPECTATIONS

• Integration• Assimilation• Separation (Segregation)• Marginalization (Exclusion)

ACCULTURATION EXPECTATIONS: NATIONAL SAMPLE(% of agreement)

• Immigrants should give up their original culture for the sake of

adopting New Zealand culture. 21%

• Immigrants should maintain their original culture as long as they do not mix it with NZ culture.

28%• Immigrants should maintain their original culture while also

adopting NZ culture. 82%

ADOLESCENTS’ ACCULTURATION PREFERENCES AND EXPECTATIONS

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Pakeha Maori PI Chinese

Ethnic IdentityNational Identity

NATIONAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY

ACCULTURATION PREFERENCES AND EXPECTATIONS: MAORI AND NZE

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Integ. Separate Assimil. Exclusion

MaoriPakeha

MULTICULTURALISM AND BICULTURALISM

BICULTURALISM

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

More Same Less

NZEMaoriPacificChinese

MULTICULTURALISM

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

More Same Less

NZEMaoriPacificChinese

IMPLICATIONS OF MULTICULTURALISM

• Hyphenated, common ingroup identity• Better adaptation of culturally diverse

groups groups• Better intergroup relations

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

• NZers have a strong multicultural ideology

• Both migrants and members of the receiving community favor integration

• Biculturalism and multiculturalism are not seen as mutually exclusive

OUR CHALLENGE

TO ENSURE THAT• All ethnic groups in New Zealand feel secure

about their cultural identity and heritage• All ethnic groups are able to participate fully and

equally in New Zealand society• The status of Maori as partners in the Treaty of

Waitangi is protected as New Zealand evolves into a multicultural society

Additional ReferencesLynskey, M. T., Ward, C., & Fletcher, G. J. O. (1991). Stereotypes

and intergroup attributions in New Zealand. Psychology ad Developing Societies, 3 (1), 113-126.

Ward, C., & Lin, E.-Y. (2005). Immigration, acculturation and national identity in New Zealand. In J. Liu, T. McCreanor, T. McIntosh & T. Teaiwa (Eds). New Zealand identities: Departures and destinations. (pp.155-173). Wellington: Victoria University Press.