Journeys of Ethno-Cultural Continuity: Comparing the Long-Term Acculturation of Jews with Maori and Chinese

Abstract

This thesis sought to establish a new field of research in cross-cultural psychology: Long-term acculturation. In Chapter one, ethno-cultural continuity was introduced as a group-oriented acculturation goal for diaspora and indigenous peoples, and the impact of the ethno-cultural group and the larger society on ethno-cultural continuity was recognised. In Chapter two, cultural transmission was considered as the central mechanism for ethno-cultural continuity, with endogamy playing a key role in ensuring coherent enculturation. As such, individual behaviour in terms of marital choice can also shape the future of the ethno-cultural group. Thus far, research on factors such as perceived similarity, attraction and social network approval that predict ethnic endogamy and its prelude, selective dating, has been interpreted as a manifestation of ethnocentrism. In contrast, a predictive model was posited wherein a greater ideological impetus underlies both endogamy and selective dating - that of individual concerns for collective continuity. Furthermore, it was suggested that such concerns were shaped by individual awareness of social representations of ethnic history. In Chapter three, the continuity of diaspora Jewry was compared to indigenous Maori and diaspora Chinese in order to understand how shared and unique collective experiences in the past and present shape the current acculturation of individuals. Hypotheses on the intensity of endogamy intentions, incidence of selective dating behaviour, and the importance and function of individual concerns for ethno-cultural continuity and awareness of ethnic history were drawn from ethnographic material on the long-term acculturation of these three ethno-cultural groups. The constructs of Motivation for Ethno-cultural Continuity (MEC) and measures of individual awareness of social representations of ethnic history were conceptualised in Chapter four based on qualitative analysis of three focus group discussions with Jewish (n=8), Maori (n=5) and Chinese (n=5) New Zealanders. In Chapter five, quantitative measures of MEC, subjects of remembrance (WHO), ethno-historical consciousness (WHAT), and vicarious experience of ethnic history (HOW) were developed and validated against measures of Collective Self-Esteem, Perceived Collective Continuity, Perceived Group Entitativity and Assimilation in a pilot study with 152 Jews from Sydney, Australia. Two quantitative studies were subsequently conducted to test the predictive model of endogamy: A cross-cultural study in Chapter six compared New Zealand Jews (n=106), Maori (n=103), and Chinese (n=102); a cross-national study in Chapter seven compared Jewish continuity in New Zealand (n=106), Australia (n=108), Canada (n=160) and the United States (n=107). The conclusions drawn in Chapter eight highlight that vitality affects continuity across ethno-cultural groups such that MEC is more important and functionally predictive of endogamy intentions only for 'small peoples'; and within ethno-cultural groups endogamy intentions and selective dating is thwarted in small communities. For the Jewish and Maori samples, MEC fully mediated the relation between ethno-cultural identity and intentions for endogamy and was a consistent and stronger predictor than similarity, attraction, and social network approval. For the Chinese sample, attraction and approval were the only significant predictors. Furthermore, individual awareness of social representations of ethnic history mediated the relation between ethno-cultural identity and MEC such that identity predicted ethno-historical consciousness (WHAT), that predicted a vicarious experience of ethnic history (HOW), that in turn predicted MEC. Overall the results demonstrate that in the field of long-term acculturation it is important to examine psychological variables such as MEC and individual awareness of social representations of ethnic history that provide internal momentum for the continuity of ethno-cultural groups.