Cultural Divides

Cultural Divides

Author: Deborah Prentice

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 1999-06-24

Total Pages: 525

ISBN-13: 1610444574

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Thirty years of progress on civil rights and a new era of immigration to the United States have together created an unprecedented level of diversity in American schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods. But increased contact among individuals from different racial and ethnic groups has not put an end to misunderstanding and conflict. On the contrary, entrenched cultural differences raise vexing questions about the limits of American pluralism. Can a population of increasingly mixed origins learn to live and work together despite differing cultural backgrounds? Or, is social polarization by race and ethnicity inevitable? These are the dilemmas explored in Cultural Divides, a compendium of the latest research into the origins and nature of group conflict, undertaken by a distinguished group of social psychologists who have joined forces to examine the effects of culture on social life. Cultural Divides shows how new lines of investigation into intergroup conflict shape current thinking on such questions as: Why are people so strongly prone to attribute personal differences to group membership rather than to individual nature? Why are negative beliefs about other groups so resistent to change, even with increased contact? Is it possible to struggle toward equal status for all people and still maintain separate ethnic identities for culturally distinct groups? Cultural Divides offers new theories about how social identity comes to be rooted in groups: Some essays describe the value of group membership for enhancing individual self-esteem, while others focus on the belief in social hierarchies, or the perception that people of different skin colors and ethnic origins fall into immutably different categories. Among the phenomena explored are the varying degrees of commitment and identification felt by many black students toward their educational institutions, the reasons why social stigma affects the self-worth of some minority groups more than others, and the peculiar psychology of hate crime perpetrators. The way cultural boundaries can impair our ability to resolve disputes is a recurrent theme in the volume. An essay on American cultures of European, Asian, African, and Mexican origin examines core differences in how each traditionally views conflict and its proper methods of resolution. Another takes a hard look at the multiculturalist agenda and asks whether it can realistically succeed. Other contributors describe the effectiveness of social experiments aimed at increasing positive attitudes, cooperation, and conflict management skills in mixed group settings. Cultural Divides illuminates the beliefs and attitudes that people hold about themselves in relation to others, and how these social thought processes shape the formation of group identity and intergroup antagonism. In so doing, Cultural Divides points the way toward a new science of cultural contact and confronts issues of social change that increasingly affect all Americans.


Split

Split

Author: Mark D. Brewer

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0872892980

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Talk of politics in the United States today is abuzz with warring red and blue factions. The message is that Americans are split due to deeply-held beliefs—over abortion, gay marriage, stem-cell research, prayer in public schools. Is this cultural divide a myth, the product of elite partisans? Or is the split real? Yes, argue authors Mark Brewer and Jeffrey Stonecash—the cultural divisions are real. Yet they tell only half the story. Differences in income and economic opportunity also fuel division—a split along class lines. Cultural issues have not displaced class issues, as many believe. Split shows that both divisions coexist meaning that levels of taxation and the quality of healthcare matter just as much as the debate over the right to life versus the right to choose. The authors offer balanced, objective analysis, complete with a wealth of data-rich figures and tables, to explain the social trends underlying these class and cultural divides and then explore the response of the parties and voters. Offering solid empirical evidence, the authors show that how politicians, the media, and interest groups perceive citizen preferences—be they cultural or class based—determines whether or not the public gets what it wants. Simply put, each set of issues creates political conflict and debate that produce very different policies and laws. With a lively and highly readable narrative, students at every level will appreciate the brevity and punch of Split and come away with a more nuanced understanding of the divisions that drive the current American polity.


The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity

The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity

Author: Veronica Benet-Martinez

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-08-01

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 0199796750

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Multiculturalism is a prevalent worldwide societal phenomenon. Aspects of our modern life, such as migration, economic globalization, multicultural policies, and cross-border travel and communication have made intercultural contacts inevitable. High numbers of multicultural individuals (23-43% of the population by some estimates) can be found in many nations where migration has been strong (e.g., Australia, U.S., Western Europe, Singapore) or where there is a history of colonization (e.g., Hong Kong). Many multicultural individuals are also ethnic and cultural minorities who are descendants of immigrants, majority individuals with extensive multicultural experiences, or people with culturally mixed families; all people for whom identification and/or involvement with multiple cultures is the norm. Despite the prevalence of multicultural identity and experiences, until the publication of this volume, there has not yet been a comprehensive review of scholarly research on the psychological underpinning of multiculturalism. The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity fills this void. It reviews cutting-edge empirical and theoretical work on the psychology of multicultural identities and experiences. As a whole, the volume addresses some important basic issues, such as measurement of multicultural identity, links between multilingualism and multiculturalism, the social psychology of multiculturalism and globalization, as well as applied issues such as multiculturalism in counseling, education, policy, marketing and organizational science, to mention a few. This handbook will be useful for students, researchers, and teachers in cultural, social, personality, developmental, acculturation, and ethnic psychology. It can also be used as a source book in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on identity and multiculturalism, and a reference for applied psychologists and researchers in the domains of education, management, and marketing.


Continental Divides

Continental Divides

Author: Rachel Adams

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0226005534

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North America is more a political and an economic invention than a place people call home. Nonetheless, the region shared by the United States and its closest neighbors, North America, is an intriguing frame for comparative American studies. Continental Divides is the first book to study the patterns of contact, exchange, conflict, and disavowal among cultures that span the borders of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Rachel Adams considers a broad range of literary, filmic, and visual texts that exemplify cultural traffic across North American borders. She investigates how our understanding of key themes, genres, and periods within U.S. cultural study is deepened, and in some cases transformed, when Canada and Mexico enter the picture. How, for example, does the work of the iconic American writer Jack Kerouac read differently when his Franco-American origins and Mexican travels are taken into account? Or how would our conception of American modernism be altered if Mexico were positioned as a center of artistic and political activity? In this engaging analysis, Adams charts the lengthy and often unrecognized traditions of neighborly exchange, both hostile and amicable, that have left an imprint on North America’s varied cultures.


The Two Cultures

The Two Cultures

Author: C. P. Snow

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-03-26

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1107606144

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The importance of science and technology and future of education and research are just some of the subjects discussed here.


American Nations

American Nations

Author: Colin Woodard

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-09-25

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0143122029

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• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who during presidential elections, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history.


Cross-cultural Differences in Perspectives on the Self

Cross-cultural Differences in Perspectives on the Self

Author: Virginia Murphy-Berman

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9780803213333

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Cross-Cultural Difference in Perspectives on the Self features the latest research in a dynamic area of inquiry and practice. Considered in these pages are cross-cultural differences in the idea of the person and in models of balancing obligations to the self, family, and community. ø Revisiting and questioning the concepts of self and self-worth, the authors investigate the extent to which factors traditionally associated with psychological effectiveness (intrinsic motivation; assuming personal responsibility for one?s actions; and feeling in control, unique, hopeful, and optimistic) are culturally bound. Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama consider cultural differences in models of psychological agency; Joan Miller critiques the meaning of the term agency, analyzing the extent to which many popular theories in psychology rest on rather narrow Western models of behavior and effective functioning; Steven Heine calls into question the presumed universality of some forms of cognitive processing; Sheena Iyengar and Sanford DeVoe apply a cross-cultural perspective to better understand intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the value of choice; Kuo-shu Yang questions the universality of the pervasive and popular ?theory of self-actualization? formulated by Abraham Maslow; and finally, Ype Poortinga reexamines not only the cultural boundaries of theory but also the very meaning of the concept of culture itself.


The Culture Map

The Culture Map

Author: Erin Meyer

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1610392590

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An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.


Managing Cultural Differences

Managing Cultural Differences

Author: Robert T. Moran

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-06-07

Total Pages: 613

ISBN-13: 1136385339

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This new edition of a business textbook bestseller has been completely updated to reflect the numerous global changes that have occurred since 1999: globalization, SARS, AIDS, the handover of Hong Kong, and so forth. In particular, the book presents a fuller discussion of global business today. Also, issues of terrorism and state security as they affect culture and business are discussed substantially. The structure and content of the book remains the same, with thorough updating of the plentiful region and country descriptions, demographic data, graphs and maps. This book differs from textbooks on International Management because it zeroes in on culture as the crucial dimension and educates students about the cultures around the world so they will be better prepared to work successfully for a multinational corporation or in a global context.