Multiculturalism and Diversity: the Social Psychological Point of View

1
Multiculturalism and Diversity the Social
Psychological Point of View

• Monika Kovács
• ELTE Budapest
• Center for Intercultural
• Psychology and Education

2
Main topics

• The multicultural person
• Meeting difference
• Stereotypes, prejudice and group conflicts
• How can we reduce intergroup bias?

3

• ism discrimination/privilege
• (ethnocentrism,
• anti-Semitism,
• sexism, heterosexism,
• ageism, classism, etc)
• stereotypes, prejudice,
• self-fulfilling prophecies

4
The multicultural person

• Today main concepts
• 1) culture, multicultural person, privelege
• 2) culture shock
• Are you a multicultural person?
• Why yes or why not?

5
Multiple and shifting identities

• Group or social category you belong to
• - with which you identify
• - with which you dont identify
• with wich you actively disidentify

6

• What kinds of factors influence level of
  identification with a group?
• What kinds of factors make a category or a group
  membership irrelevant (or shameful)?

7
Culture and Identity

• refers to patterns of ideas and practices
  associated with any significant grouping,
  including gender, religion, social class, nation
  of origin, region of birth, birth cohort, or
  occupation (Markus, 2008)
• the identity of individuals comes from the
  communities of which they are a part
  (Sampson,1989)

8
Social identity theory (Tajfel, 1970)

• of those aspects of an individuals self-image
  that derive from the social categories to which
  he/she perceived him/her/self as belonging
• Perceptual categorization the mere perception of
  belonging to two distinct groups is sufficient to
  trigger intergroup discrimination favoring the
  ingroup
• Social comparison social categorization provides
  a system of self reference (relational and
  comperative)
• Identity enhancement individuals strive to
  maintain or enhance their self-esteem
• In-group favoritism and discrimination against
  outgroups

9
The Dinamics of Un-equality

• not all communities that constitute ones
  unique multicultural self are equal in their
  position in a given society. They may differ
  dramatically in power (access to resources), in
  their size and history, and in the magnitude of
  their contribution to a persons experiences
  (Lott)

10
McIntosh white privilege

• Corollary aspect of racism (others disadvantage)
  which puts white people at an advantage
• unearned assests (the invisible weightless
  knapsack of special provisions, maps, passport,
  codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank
  checks)

11

• I can be sure that my children will be given
  curricular materials that testify to the
  existence of their race sic!
• I can be pretty sure that my childrens teachers
  and employers will tolerate them if they fit
  school and workplace norms my chief worries
  about them do not concern others attitudes
  toward their race sic!
• I can think over many options, social,
  political, imaginative or professional, without
  asking whether a person of my race sic! would
  be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do
• I can easily find academic courses and
  unstitutions which give attention only to people
  of my race sic!

12
Exploring privilege

• White skin
• I can be pretty sure that hiring decisions will
  be based on my skills and experience
• Male
• I can order a large meal at a restaurant
  without feeling self-conscious
• Heterosexual
• I can freely introduce my significant other to
  family or coworkers
• Able bodied
• I can ask for directions without being treated
  as though I am mentally impaired
• Middle class
• If I become ill, I can be confident that I will
  receive the medical treatment I need
• Other form

13

• Why are we relatively unaware of the privilege we
  receive?

14
McIntosh

• In proportion as my racial sic! group was
  being made confident, and oblivious, other groups
  were likely being made unconfident,
  uncomfortable, and alienated. () We usually
  think of privilege as being a favored state ()
  by birth or luck. Yet some of the conditions ()
  work systematically to over empower certain
  groups. Such privilege simpy confers dominance
  because of ones race sic! or sex

15

• To what extent is an understanding of privilege
  relevant to eliminating discrimination?

16
McIntosh

• We might () start by distinguishing between
  positive advantages, which we can work to spread,
  and negative types pf advantage, which unless
  rejected will always reinforce our present
  hierarchies

17
Frame switching (Hong, 2000)

• Shifts an individual may make in interpreting
  events or issues from within the frames of
  different, multiple cultural identities.
• An individual can ascribe different meanings,
  even contradictory ones, to the same event, but
  only one meaning will be dominant at a particular
  time and place.
• Lott it may also be possible for several
  meanings of relatively equal strength to be
  evoked, reflecting the influence of more than one
  cultural background that may be relevant to the
  situation.