Acculturation and bicultural integration in organizations

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina G Barker

This study examined acculturation and bicultural integration in organizational settings, with particular attention to the factors that influence individuals’ acculturation processes; the challenges and opportunities they face; the ways in which they integrate home- and host-culture features; and the conditions that facilitate third-culture building with host-culture members. A qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with Americans living in Sweden, Swedes living in the United States, and Swedish-American biculturals having grown up with ties to both countries was used to gain an in-depth understanding of the processes of acculturation in organizational contexts. Results emerging from a grounded theory analysis identify assimilation as the predominant acculturation approach for reasons of cultural preference. Culture-specific features are integrated in limited ways and third-culture building takes place in contexts where home-culture connections exist. Bicultural individuals integrate their two cultures by alternating between them as well as blending them. Theoretical implications are discussed.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah A. Ibrahim ◽  
Cass Dykeman

In this article, the authors identify the cultural and spiritual assessments needed to conduct counseling with Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants to the United States. Assessment processes are outlined that include cultural identity (which subsumes several variables); worldview; spiritual assessment along with acculturation level and migration concerns; impact of languages spoken; social, occupational, and educational status of the client in host culture and in home culture (if the client is an immigrant); and family composition and social supports.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-86
Author(s):  
Victor Savicki

International educators have accepted the “contact hypothesis,” the premise that more student contact with a foreign culture is better. The current study examines this premise in more detail especially in regard to the “third culture” of American student peer cohorts, and the impact of continued electronic contact with student’s home culture.  In general, study abroad students spend approximately twice as much time in contact with each other than they do with individuals from the host culture.  Higher percentages of contact with other American student peers is related to lower readiness for study abroad, worse affective and behavioral outcomes, and different acculturative strategies. However, higher percentages of contact with the host culture is not necessarily related to better outcomes. Higher host culture contact is, however, related to better readiness, more functional coping strategies, and more active encounters with the host culture.  Electronic contact with the home culture is not negatively related to study abroad outcomes, and may support a more effective appraisal of the study abroad environment.  Higher percentages of contact with other American student peers by itself may not be the mechanism for difficulties that some students encounter; rather it may be a symptom of anxiety, negative expectations, and an imbalance of challenge over support.  Implications for program design are discussed.


Journalism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Ali ◽  
Damian Radcliffe ◽  
Thomas R Schmidt ◽  
Rosalind Donald

This article addresses the knowledge gap regarding small market newspapers in the United States. We address a deceptively simple research question: what is the state of small market newspapers in the United States as seen through the eyes of practitioners and industry experts? Based on in-depth interviews with experts and practitioners, we argue for a more nuanced vocabulary to describe newspapers and local news. Grouping all newspapers into a monolithic industry – as general sector analyses often do – suggests a homogeneous experience. That is not the case. Smaller publications face their own challenges and opportunities, and they define success and innovation on their own terms. This reality needs to be better understood.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-195
Author(s):  
Yi (Leaf) Zhang

The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition (Quick, 2010) is specifically written for third culture kids (TCKs) who will begin their journey into university life. TCKs are defined as those who grew up in places outside of their home or passport cultures and have no sense of belonging in neither the home culture nor host culture. These students usually find their sense of belonging in the third culture, which is the community of people who share the experience of living outside their passport cultures. This book also aims to prepare parents of TCKs to better understand their children’s challenges thus assisting them with a smoother transition to college.


Author(s):  
Hannah L. Walker

Springing from decades of abuse by law enforcement and an excessive criminal justice system, members of over-policed communities lead the current movement for civil rights in the United States. Activated by injustice, individuals protested police brutality in Ferguson, campaigned to end stop-and-frisk in New York City, and advocated for restorative justice in Washington, D.C. Yet, scholars focused on the negative impact of punitive policy on material resources, and trust in government did not predict these pockets of resistance, arguing instead that marginalizing and demeaning policy teaches individuals to acquiesce and withdraw. Mobilized by Injustice excavates conditions under which, despite otherwise negative outcomes, negative criminal justice experiences catalyze political action. This book argues that when understood as resulting from a system that targets people based on race, class, or other group identifiers, contact can politically mobilize. Negative experiences with democratic institutions predicated on equality under the law, when connected to a larger, group-based struggle, can provoke action from anger. Evidence from several surveys and in-depth interviews reveals that mobilization as result of negative criminal justice experiences is broad, crosses racial boundaries, and extends to the loved ones of custodial citizens. When over half of Blacks and Latinos and a plurality of Whites know someone with personal contact, the mobilizing effect of a sense of injustice promises to have important consequences for American politics.


Author(s):  
Kirsten D. Orwig

Convective storms affect countries worldwide, with billions in losses and dozens of fatalities every year. They are now the key insured loss driver in the United States, even after considering the losses sustained by tropical cyclones in 2017. Since 2008, total insured losses from convective storms have exceeded $10 billion per year. Additionally, these losses continue to increase year over year. Key loss drivers include increased population, buildings, vehicles, and property values. However, other loss drivers relate to construction materials and practices, as well as building code adoption and enforcement. The increasing loss trends pose a number of challenges for the insurance industry and broader society. These challenges are discussed, and some recommendations are presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8148
Author(s):  
Ciska Ulug ◽  
Lummina Horlings ◽  
Elen-Maarja Trell

Ecovillages are collective projects that attempt to integrate sustainability principles into daily community life, while also striving to be demonstration projects for mainstream society. As spaces of experimentation, they can provide valuable insights into sustainability transformations. Through shared values and interpersonal connections, ecovillages possess collective identities, which provide a platform for enacting their ideals. However, many ecovillage residents question how to best enhance their role as models, resource centers, and pieces of a greater movement toward sustainability transformations, while simultaneously preserving their unique community and identity. In relation to the above, this paper addresses the questions: What can collective identity in ecovillage communities teach us about the objective and subjective dimensions of sustainability transformations? Furthermore, how can the perspective of collective identity highlight challenges for ecovillages for initiating sustainability transformations? Sustainability transformations encompass objective (behaviors) and subjective (values) dimensions; however, the interactions between these spheres deserve more scholarly attention. Using ethnographic data and in-depth interviews from three ecovillages in the United States, this paper reveals the value in collective identity for underscoring belonging and interpersonal relationships in sustainability transformations. Furthermore, the collective identity perspective exposes paradoxes and frictions between ecovillages and the societal structures and systems they are embedded within.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 542-542
Author(s):  
Angelica Yeh ◽  
Marie Mayen-Cho

Abstract Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the United States have limited access to dementia care information that is linguistically and culturally appropriate. Alzheimer’s Los Angeles created “Faces of Caregiving”, a video project available with English/Japanese subtitles, documenting in-depth interviews with 7 Japanese/Japanese-American familial care partners of individuals living with dementia. It touched on the personal yet universal aspects of each journey embedded in a particular family context. The 5 video profiles were subsequently shown at 3 community sites to attendees comprised of mostly older-adult APIs. Among 85 attendee responses, approximately 90% stated they were more likely to seek out information on and support for Alzheimer’s disease, felt more open to talking about the disease, and were more likely to advocate and raise awareness for the disease. This program could be replicated for other API communities, allowing individuals to learn more effectively from a peer-to-peer experience in a culturally familiar setting. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Aging Among Asians Interest Group.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4023
Author(s):  
Silvia Marcu

Using the case study of Romanians in Spain, this article highlights how the COVID-19 crisis presents both challenges and opportunities when it comes to human mobility and sustainability. Drawing on in-depth interviews with mobile people during the period of lockdown and circulation restrictions, and in accordance with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the paper advances and contributes to the relevance of sustainability and its impact on people’s mobility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I argue that even in the midst of the crisis, sustainable ways may be found to promote and protect human mobility. The paper raises the way sustainability acts as a driver, gains relevance and influence, and contributes to the creation of new models of resilient mobility in times of crisis. The conclusions defend the respect for the SDGs regarding human mobility and emphasise the role of people on the move as sustainable actors learning to overcome distance and the barriers to their mobility during the pandemic.


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