Abstract: People usually perceive immigrants from different national origins as similar to each other, and thus as belonging to a limited number of ethnic out-groups (Linville & Fischer, 1993; Park & Judd, 1990). In this study we examine how host nationals (i.e., Italians) categorize immigrants and how prejudice and perceived acculturation strategies influence this process. In our research, photographs of male faces of members of 16 immigrant groups were shown to the participants (N=305). They were asked to identify the national origin of each person on the photographs. In line with the expected over-inclusion into more numerous and more devalued out-groups, the researchers found that (a) participants who perceived Albanians or Moroccans to be the most numerous, were most likely to categorize immigrants as belonging to these groups; and (b) this over-inclusion effect was most pronounced when participants were prejudiced toward these groups and when they perceived them as wanting to maintain their cultures of origin.
Abstract: The study examines the relationship between immigrantsâ adaptation, acculturation strategies and self-monitoring. One-hundred-and-sixty-two Polish immigrants (mean age = 31.3 years, sd = 7.28) living in Rome participated in the study. The majority of the participants (66.0%) were females. A Questionnaire containing scales for assessing Sociocultural adaptation, Psychological adaptation, Attitudes towards social relationships with Italians and Poles, and Self-monitoring was administered. Using adaptation indices as criteria in moderated multiple regression analyses, we found, main effects of self-monitoring and of Assimilation and Integration strategies, and interactive effects of self-monitoring and Assimilation or Integration strategy. Self-monitoring was positively related both to sociocultural and psychological adaptation in all the regressions. Assimilation and Integration strategies in most of cases were also positively related to both types of adaptation. Such main effects, however, were qualified by the interactive effects. As far as sociocultural adaptation is concerned, simple slope analysis showed that: a) the positive effect of choosing Assimilation is much stronger for high self-monitor immigrants than for low self-monitor ones; b) the effect of choosing Integration is positive for low self-monitor immigrants, but negative for high self-monitor ones. As far as psychological adaptation is concerned, simple slope analysis shows that: a) the effect of choosing Assimilation is negative for high self-monitor immigrants and positive for low self-monitor ones; b) the positive effect of choosing Integration is stronger for high self-monitor immigrants than for low self-monitor ones. The implications of the findings for intercultural training programs are discussed.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine host group members' towards immigrants' acculturation strategy preferences and the relationship between these attitudes and the level of prejudice towards immigrants. A questionnaire containing different prejudice scales was administered to 160 Italian participants living in Rome. In addition respondents were presented with vignettes depicting different acculturation strategies: Assimilation, Integration, Separation, or Marginalization. Respondents received a vignette each describing only one acculturation strategy. Results showed that prejudice towards immigrants affected the evaluation of acculturation strategies. The more prejudice the respondent was, the more negative was his or her attitude towards Separation and Marginalization and the more positive was his or her attitude towards Assimilation.
Abstract: Using structural equation modeling, this study examines the influences of motivational factors (Need for Cognitive Closure â NCC â and Decisiveness), coping strategies and acculturation strategies on levels of acculturative stress. Two groups of immigrants in Rome (Croatians n = 156 and Poles n = 179) completed a questionnaire that included scales for the various factors. Although our initial hypothesized model was not confirmed, a modified model showed that the motivational factors of NCC and Decisiveness indirectly influence acculturative stress. The modified model with good fit indices indicated that the relationship between NCC and Decisiveness are mediated by coping strategies and acculturation strategies. Specifically, NCC is associated positively with avoidance coping, which in turn is negatively associated with the host group relationships and positively with the original culture maintenance. The last two dimensions predicted lower levels of acculturative stress. Decisiveness was positively associated with the problem-oriented coping and, negatively, with emotional and avoidance coping.
Abstract: Research on party attitudes towards European integration has concentrated
on the relationship between party ideology and positions related to European
integration as an economic and/or political process, ignoring the representational
aspect of party discourse. This study aims to contribute towards
filling this gap by examining how Italian parties represent the European
Union, the nation(-state) and the relationship between the two in their
electoral platforms and parliamentary debates.We shall therefore analyse
critically how parties use specific representations of Europe, the EU and the
nation to frame and support their ideologies and positions and how they
shape these representations in different ways depending on the challenge
they are confronted with.We shall also look beyond presumed clear-cut relationships
between party ideology and party attitudes towards European integration,
exploring the complexities and ambiguities of party discourse and highlighting
how specific EU or nation representations are used as legitimisation
strategies by parties in combination to their left- or right-wing ideology.
Abstract: Three studies found support for the notion that immigrantsâ acculturation to the host culture is
interactively determined by their need for cognitive closure (A. W. Kruglanski & D. M. Webster, 1996)
and the reference group they forge on their arrival. If such reference group is fashioned by close social
relations with coethnics, the higher the immigrantsâ need for closure, the weaker their tendency to
assimilate to the new culture and the stronger their tendency to adhere to the culture of origin. By
contrast, if the reference entry group is fashioned by close relations with members of the host country,
the higher their need for closure, the stronger their tendency to adapt to the new culture and the weaker
their tendency to maintain the culture of origin. These findings obtained consistently across 3 immigrant
samples in Italy, 1 Croatian and 2 Polish, and across multiple different measures of acculturation.
Abstract: This paper examines how undocumented immigrants take advantage or react to the windows of opportunity opened to them by immigration policy design and implementation practices in the country of destination. The study concentrates on the case of Albanian and Polish immigrants in Italy. Looking into the policy provisions regarding entry, stay and immigrant employment in Italy as well as the practices of implementation adopted by the public administration, we study how immigrants prepare and execute their migration plans, how they find employment once in Italy and how they adapt their plans to the institutional and social environment of the host country as well as their own wishes and needs. We thus highlight the micro-level of the migration phenomenon and the dynamic relationship between policy design, implementation and immigrant strategies.
Abstract: This paper studies the adaptation and survival strategies that Albanian
immigrants develop from the beginning of their migration project through to their
establishment in the host country, Italy. We are particularly interested in how immigrants
make sense of the host countryâs social and institutional environment and the
related immigration policy measures and implementation practices, and their strategies
for coping with these. More specifically, the study examines how immigrants organise
their migration project upon departure from the country of origin and how they adapt
their plans and develop coping strategies in response to the social and institutional
environment of the country of destination. We also explore how they experience the daily
practices of immigration policy implementation in the Italian administration offices and
how they perceive âinstitutionalâ or âprivateâ attitudes of discrimination (the presence of
prejudice, discrimination and/or hostile treatment or, on the other hand, the presence of
flexible and personalised practices of policy implementation in favour of immigrants).
We thus show how immigrants act in a context of limitations and opportunities which
they actively integrate into their migration experience and their understanding of
themselves, their country of origin and the host country. The research is based on 30
interviews conducted with Albanian immigrants (22 men and eight women) between
September and December 2001 in the Florence area.
Abstract: The author validated Berryâs model of acculturation (Berry, 1990a, 1990b, 1991; Berry, Kim, Power, Young, & Bujaki, 1989) and examined the relation between acculturation attitudes and sociocultural and psychological adaptation among Croatian and Polish immigrants to Italy, 2 groups whose cultures are not very different from the Italian culture. Moreover, the author investigated the relation between the need for cognitive closure (NCC; Webster & Kruglanski, 1994) and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The participants completed a questionnaire including measures of sociocultural adaptation, psychological adaptation, social relationships, acculturation attitudes, and NCC. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed main effects of acculturation strategies for both forms of adaptation and a main effect of NCC for psychological adaptation. The Croatian and Polish immigrants differed in the level of sociocultural adaptation but not in the level of psychological adaptation.
Abstract: This study investigates the hypothesis that the process of coping may be motivated by an interaction of directional motivational factors represented by job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and by non-directional or epistemological motivational factors represented by the level of Need for Cognitive Closure. Need for Cognitive Closure is based on two general tendencies: the urgency tendency (âto seizeâ) and the permanency tendency (to freezeâ). More specifically, we predicted that if job satisfaction is low, the increased need for closure is related to the choice of problem-oriented coping strategies. Alternatively, we hypothesised with high job satisfaction that an increased need for closure is related to use of avoidance coping. Questionnaire pertaining to need for cognitive closure, to coping strategies and to a measure of job satisfaction were completed by a group of 146 Croatian immigrants living in Italy. Results of the analyses confirmed that when subjects were highly satisfied with their job, their primary concern was to preserve their position. So, here the high need for closure enhanced the tendency to freeze and induced the choice of avoidance coping strategies. On the other hand, our results confirmed that when persons are not satisfied with their job, high need for closure increases the desire for change and improvement. Immigrants increased the tendency to seize manifests itself in extensive and quickened information processing relative to the use of problem-oriented coping strategies.
Abstract: This chapter provides a conceptual framework for mapping cross-community work and projects that have been designed in more recent years to assist the process of reconciliation among young people in Northern Ireland (Belfast) and Croatia (Vukovar), and to analyze underlying sociopsychological assumptions of these interventions. The first part of the chapter briefly describes the historical background of conflicts in Northern Ireland and in Croatia (former Yugoslavia). It is followed by a description of some sociopsychological theories on the process of reconciliation among groups in post-conflict areas. In the last section, the nature of initiatives proposed to promote the reconciliation among youth in the cities of Belfast and Vukovar is examined through the prism of these sociopsychological theories.
