Intercultural Relations

Dr. K. A. Korb

University of Jos

3 June 2009

Multicultural Societies

Plural Society: Many different cultural groups reside together in a shared social and political framework

Maintain Cultural Identity

Yes No

Interact with other cultural groups

Yes Integration Assimilation

No Separation Marginalization

Multicultural Societies

Early policies in migrant-receiving countries focused on assimilation Assimilation does not work

Multiculturalism: Maintain cultural identity while interacting with members of other cultures

Multicultural Societies

Factors required for a multicultural society: Accept the value of a culturally diverse society Low levels of prejudice Positive mutual attitudes among cultural groups Sense of attachment to the larger society by all

groups

Intercultural Relations

Ethnic Stereotypes: Cognitive categories used to bring order to diversity Useful psychological tools in multicultural

societies Problems arise in overgeneralizations of ethnic

stereotypes and negative evaluations directed toward members of cultural groups

Inaccurate or negative evaluations of an individual based on group membership

Contact Hypothesis

Contact Hypothesis: Meaningful contact with members of an ethnic group reduces prejudicesA meta-analysis of research (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2000) examining the contact hypothesis found that contact with members of other cultural groups reduces prejudice across: Voluntary and involuntary contact Social contexts

Highest reduction in prejudice for work, lowest for tourism

Support for the Contact Hypothesis is strong and generalizes across contexts

Cultural Identity

Cultural Identity: Set of beliefs and attitudes about oneself in relation to their cultural group membership Highlighted when somebody comes in contact

with members of another cultural group

Acculturation

Behavioral Changes Culture Shedding: Loss of existing cultural

practices Culture Learning: Acquisition of new ways

of living

Two basic issues1. Continuity or loss of culture and behavior

2. Quality of contact between cultural groups

Culture and Education

One major purpose of education is to transmit important aspects of the culture to the next generation Whose culture is to be transmitted? What language is to be used? Whose values, knowledge, and beliefs should

be shared?

Revision

What is a multicultural society? What factors influence positive relationships between members of different cultures?

To think about for future class: Is the education system in Nigeria working? Why or

why not? What is the overall purpose of education? What changes in the Nigerian education system might

facilitate improvements in the society?