How to Be an Alien: Cross-Cultural Transition of Russian-Speaking Youth in Israeli High Schools

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Niznik

This study focuses on adolescents who immigrated to Israel between 2000 and 2002. The aim of the survey on which the article is based was to investigate the determinants of cross-cultural transition, focusing on family problems, identity crises, educational achievements, and language behavior. Since the beginning of the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union, the Israeli educational system has not managed to reorient itself to accommodate the newcomers. Among the main reasons are differences in the Russian and Israeli educational systems and the changing character of the immigration itself. Despite existing problems, the younger generation of these recent immigrants wants to be integrated into Israeli society. It is the task of the formal education system to provide them with support and guide them on a path toward successful adjustment.

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1579-1599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigal Segev ◽  
Ayalla Ruvio ◽  
Aviv Shoham ◽  
Dalia Velan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of acculturation on immigrant consumers’ loyalty. The authors posit that the acculturation orientation of immigrants determines their consumer loyalty to both ethnic and mainstream brands and stores. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of Hispanic consumers in the USA and consumers from the former Soviet Union in Israel, this study tests a model in which two acculturation continua, original culture maintenance and host culture adaptation, serve as antecedents for immigrants’ consumer loyalty. Findings – Acculturation determines the extent of immigrants’ consumer loyalty. Both acculturation continua are associated with distinct loyalty patterns that are similar across the two immigrant groups. Research limitations/implications – Despite sampling limitations, the paper demonstrates that immigrants’ acculturation orientation influences their loyalty to ethnic and mainstream brands and stores. Shared by ethnic consumers in two culturally diverse markets, this relationship transcends geographic boundaries. Practical implications – The results provide insights for marketers with respect to the development of segmentation and positioning strategies and tactical implementations that address the preferences of ethnic consumers. Social implications – This paper highlights the importance of understanding the unique needs of ethnic consumers and addressing them. Successful integration of immigrant consumers into the marketplace can also help in their integration into the host society at large. Originality/value – Findings shed light on the commonalities and differences among immigrant groups in different national settings. The paper highlights the role of cultural transition as a key experience that affects immigrants regardless of specific environmental or situational circumstances.


Author(s):  
Yulia Taylor ◽  
André M. Everett ◽  
Fiona Edgar

Ensuring that immigrant professionals experience cross-cultural adjustment positively is beneficial for both employers and host countries, as well as the immigrants themselves, yet has proven problematic in practice. This study utilises a series of longitudinal interviews to examine the personal narratives of three strategically selected sets of recently arrived professionals from the British Isles, China, and the former Soviet Union who are employed in New Zealand. Immersive research, employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), followed the participants over 1 year of their life, illuminating their struggles, wins, and contradictions, endeavouring to develop a deep understanding of what it feels like to be an immigrant professional in a new, often culturally unusual country. This study reports the discovery of divergent sets of characteristics influencing the cross-cultural adjustment perceptions of interview+ees from different ethnic groups within the same host country. It finds that ‘one size does not fit all’.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Lavee ◽  
Ludmila Krivosh

This research aims to identify factors associated with marital instability among Jewish and mixed (Jewish and non-Jewish) couples following immigration from the former Soviet Union. Based on the Strangeness Theory and the Model of Acculturation, we predicted that non-Jewish immigrants would be less well adjusted personally and socially to Israeli society than Jewish immigrants and that endogamous Jewish couples would have better interpersonal congruence than mixed couples in terms of personal and social adjustment. The sample included 92 Jewish couples and 92 ethnically-mixed couples, of which 82 couples (40 Jewish, 42 mixed) divorced or separated after immigration and 102 couples (52 Jewish, 50 ethnically mixed) remained married. Significant differences were found between Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants in personal adjustment, and between endogamous and ethnically-mixed couples in the congruence between spouses in their personal and social adjustment. Marital instability was best explained by interpersonal disparity in cultural identity and in adjustment to life in Israel. The findings expand the knowledge on marital outcomes of immigration, in general, and immigration of mixed marriages, in particular.


1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Strelau

This paper presents Pavlov's contribution to the development of biological-oriented personality theories. Taking a short description of Pavlov's typology of central nervous system (CNS) properties as a point of departure, it shows how, and to what extent, this typology influenced further research in the former Soviet Union as well as in the West. Of special significance for the development of biologically oriented personality dimensions was the conditioned reflex paradigm introduced by Pavlov for studying individual differences in dogs. This paradigm was used by Russian psychologists in research on types of nervous systems conducted in different animal species as well as for assessing temperament in children and adults. Also, personality psychologists in the West, such as Eysenck, Spence, and Gray, incorporated the CR paradigm into their theories. Among the basic properties of excitation and inhibition on which Pavlov's typology was based, strength of excitation and the basic indicator of this property, protective inhibition, gained the highest popularity in arousaloriented personality theories. Many studies have been conducted in which the Pavlovian constructs of CNS properties have been related to different personality dimensions. In current research the behavioral expressions of the Pavlovian constructs of strength of excitation, strength of inhibition, and mobility of nervous processes as measured by the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS) have been related to over a dozen of personality dimensions, mostly referring to temperament.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (140) ◽  
pp. 407-422
Author(s):  
Julia Bernstein

Based on an ethnographical study the article presents the problems of Soviet migrants with capitalistic every day life. The reaction of the migrants and the role of their imagination of capitalism, which was formed by different sources in the former Soviet Union, is investigated.


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