Year 3 Essay 2: Social Psychology - Cultural Conflict

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Grade awarded A

Starting with the 1970’s the western world changed under the influence of neoliberalism that led to new waves of migration and globalisation (Delgado & Marquez 2013). As a result, people from different cultural backgrounds, such as religion, ethnicity and nationality, experienced intercultural encounters, living together in a certain geographical space (Glaveanu & Jovchelovitch 2017). The concept of culture incorporates physical elements, ways of thinking, habits, attitudes, myths and values shared by a certain group (Moodley & Curling 2006). More broadly, the term of intercultural encounters can be applied to people who belong to different groups, determined by the meaningful identity the members of the group share. One prevalent idea is that social conflict arises in ‘any relationship and any social interaction between individuals and groups’ (De Dreu, 2007). The aim of the essay is to discuss whether the conflict is inevitable for the intercultural encounters by looking at the cause of different types of conflict as well as identifying instances where conflict is missing or when the meeting between intercultural encounters can have positive results.

In social psychology there are different approaches in the study of the concept of culture, such as multiculturalism and assimilation. There is not one unitary idea regarding what is the source of conflict between different groups and how it can be solved. Even the way the culture of different groups was studied was very different across time and sometimes the research led to very different results. In multiculturalism, the source of conflict between people of different groups is conditioned by the recognition/negation of their identity by the society in which they live. Tariq Modood, a Professor of Sociology from the University of Bristol, considers that some identities are very important for members of certain groups. For example, when asked to describe themselves, one of the very first things Muslim people would say is that they are Muslims (University, 2017, a). Multiculturalism emphasises that it is essential that social identities are recognised (Phoenix, 2017, p. 192). According to the perspective of multiculturalism, the conflict does not arise because of the differences between people, but rather because the differences are not recognised. Therefore, multiculturalism becomes a political idea, taking a normative approach through trying to influence the laws and policies to accept the diversity of practices of the ethnic minorities.For example, Professor Tariq Modood (2017, a) offers the example when the law had to be changed in UK to allow the Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. Because of their religion, the Sikhs cannot cut their hair, and this constitutes an impediment in wearing a helmet. Tariq Modood emphasises that to be treated equally is not the same thing as to be fair. Sometimes, the law has to enable and empower people even if this means allowing Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. Different countries have different approaches to dealing with cultural diversity.

A concept that opposes multiculturalism is the one of assimilation, that consists of supporting and encouraging individuals of different ethnicities to adopt the customs and traditions of the mainstream society (2017, a). In doing so, the society does not accept the needs of the minority. For example, an article in the Guardian: “Pork or nothing: how schools’ dinners are dividing France (2017, p. 206) illustrates how a change in the menu in the French school to include mostly pork meals does not leave much choice for the Muslim children. The two examples in policy in UK and France illustrate the fact that conflict between intercultural encounters emerges only when the needs of the minorities are not recognised. An in-group-outgroup thinking underlines the principle of assimilation. In this context, in the French society, the Muslims are seen as an outgroup. Treating members of a minority group badly is morally wrong. Though, the conflict between intercultural encounters is not necessarily inevitable. The research suggests that there are two strategies that can be put into place: ‘recategorisation’, ‘decategorisation and personalisation’ (Hadarics & Kende, 2018). Through ‘recategorisation’ the Muslim children can be seen not through their ethnic identity, but as students in a certain institution, and through ‘personalisation’ the French policy makers can neglect the group membership and they can emphasise individual well-being.

A different theoretical approach in the study of the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds is offered by the ‘living multicultures’ project led by Sarah Neal, of the University of Surrey. The aim of this research was to study the ‘convivial’ everyday interactions of people from urban areas in order to show that people of different ethnicity and cultural background do mix with each other. The study (Neal, Bennett, Cochrane, & Mohan 2013) used a range of qualitative methods: interviews, focus groups, and the researchers addressed questions about people’s lives, their personal histories and the places they live in and how they relate to those places (The Open University, 2017, b). In order to find out how geography has an influence on people’s attitudes and behaviours towards individuals of different ethnicity, three different geographical areas in the UK were selected: Hackney, Milton Keynes and Oadby. These three places are different in terms of experience with multiculturalism and wealth. Hackney is characterised by ‘super-diversity’, where the white British people are ‘in a minority’, Milton Keynes is ‘fairly affluent’ and it has recent experience with multiculturalism and Oadby in Leicestershire has multigenerational migrants who experienced upward mobility. The findings of the ‘living multicultures’ project was that despite some cases when individuals expressed racism, people of different ethnicity and culture mix with each other and ‘sometimes there is celebration of difference’ (The Open University, 2017, b). The research led by Sarah Neal shows that conflict is not necessarily an important aspect in the intercultural encounters. People have also an identity linked to the place where they belong, in Oadby individuals were more concerned with their middle-class status rather than their ethnic identity. People form meaningful relationships if they work together, despite their cultural differences, as there is the case of the writing group in Hackney. 2018) Also, in Hackney, people had ‘multicultural competences and skills’ and they were capable of reflecting about different cultures. (The Open University, 2017, b). This finding is supported by research that shows that members from groups that are culturally heterogeneous have higher cultural intelligence than member of homogenous groups (Fang, Schei, & Selart 2018). The ‘living multicultures’ project offers a different perspective from multiculturalism as it is not concerned to study the differences between people from different backgrounds, but rather, to bring to light the subjective meaning individuals attribute to living in a multicultural society.

Another theoretical perspective that explores the conflict between the intercultural encounters is the sociocultural approach. As a result of globalisation, in the UK people come in contact with different cultures that can ‘challenge’ the ‘natural, permanent and inevitable’ nature of our own cultural beliefs and practices’ (Asch, 1987, p. 7, cited in Andreouli & Sammut 2017, p. 154). The ‘collective representations’ (Durkheim, 1989, cited in Andreouli & Sammut 2017, p. 154) become social representations, as people stop taking for granted their knowledge about the world they live in. The concept of ‘collective representations’ is based on tradition, when a long-established way of thinking or doing things is not questioned. Though, nowadays people come in contact with others from different cultural backgrounds and they use ‘social representations’ (Moscovici, 1984, cited in Andreouli & Sammut 2017, p. 159) to make sense of the world they live in. Social representations are characterised by a ‘plurality’ of views about the world. While sometimes this is a source of conflict, other times it can be beneficial. For example, people in UK find out that the life expectancy of the Spanish people is higher, and they attribute this to the Mediterranean diet. Adopting a different diet can be seen as a change from the traditional British meal but this does not mean that there is necessarily a conflict.Cognitive poliphasia is the process when members of one group borrow ideas and beliefs from a different group (Jovchelovitch, & Priego-Hernandez, 2015). For example, in the treatment of diabetes, people in Ghana use different practices, scientific and religious ones in the same time. (Jovchelovitch, & Priego-Hernandez, 2015, p. 169) and it allows different representations to coexist.

The essay illustrated that while conflict is a part of the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds, sometimes the conflict can be changed. Multiculturalism is offered as a solution for conflict in the acceptance of the identity of minorities. The acceptance does not always need to ensure equality, but it needs to ensure fairness, as members of different religions have distinctive needs. The assimilation approach provides equality for the members of different group, but it might not represent the right of certain minorities. The ‘living multicultures’ research suggests that in their everyday life people perceive the ethnic and cultural differences as ordinary. Finally, the sociocultural approach emphasises that people nowadays have different social representations about the world that are not traditional and fixed. While this can sometimes be a source of conflict, meeting other cultures can create optimisation.

1526 words