THE AUSTRALIAN IMAGE of FRANCE and the FRENCH an Investigation Conducted in the Sydney Metropolitan Area Submitted for the Degre
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THE AUSTRALIAN IMAGE OF FRANCE AND THE FRENCH An investigation conducted in the Sydney Metropolitan Area Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in the School of French University of New South Wales By: Vera Sauran June 1971 UNIVERSITY OF N.S .w. 30351 -3. MAY 72 i LIBRARY -ii- ABSTRACT This thesis is an investigation of the Australian images of and attitudes towards France and the French. The field survey work upon which it is based was carried out in the S3^dney Metropolitan Area in 1968 and comprised six hundred structured inter views, designed to quantify the insights derived from intensive interviews with a smaller sample. The work falls within the frame of ethnic imagery. It introduces social values into the analysis, with the assumption that ethnic perceptions and attitudes are, partly, a function of the social norms held by the perceiving group. It is this •emphasis on social values which differentiates the present study from most interethnic imagery studies in Australia and overseas. For methodological reasons, the investiga tion used two other nationalities and polities as terms of comparison with the French and France. Al- -iii- though its primary interest lies in the French, the analysis thus covers also the images Australians have of the Germans and Germany and the Italians and Italy. Because the classical techniques for the investigation of ethnic images and attitudes did not fully suit the triple objective of the study - to describe the images per se, to measure the corresponding affective orientations of the perceiving group towards the foreign groups, to reveal the cultural values em bedded in the judgment of the foreign groups - a rel atively new and untried Fishbein-type scale was used. Experimentation with.this scale thus became an additional issue in this project. The survey showed that the French, as a group, are generally more liked by Australians than either the Italians or the Germans. The latter, however, are the most admired of the three. Greater admiration for the Germans was pre dicted from Australian social values elicited in the survey. Whereas 'puritan’ qualities of hard work, drive, self-control, etc. associated with the Germans are highly rated, none of the outstanding character- -iv- istics believed to be ’typical’ of the French enjoy strong regard or respect. The relative lack of admiration for the French v/as reinforced by a certain animosity Australians felt for France, the polity, at the time of the survey. The Fishbein scale proved a practical tool in establishing the evaluative judgments attached to ethnic images and in quantifying the strength of beliefs forming these images. The comparison between the Fishbein scale of attitude and other scales suggests that the former is a better indicator of feelings of admiration than of liking when there is a degree of independence between the two dimensions. -v- G-rateful acknowledgement is made of the financial assistance extended by the Faculty of Arts of the University of New South Wales, the Social Research Council of Australia and ’The Australian’ newspaper. The author is also greatly indebted to Dr. N. Solntseff, who was responsible for the computer programme. ~vi- TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................... vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................... 1 CHAPTER II THE INVESTIGATION - ISSUES AND SCOPE .. 8 1. Psycho-dynamic vs cognitive systems.... 8 2. The image concept .................. 11 3. The field survey approach ........... 17 4. The ecological and socio-culturai approach 19 5. The question of saliency of France and the French in Australian minds ...... 22 6. The Germans and Italians as terms of comparison ...................... 26 7. The time factor and the French image .. 27 8. How unique is the Australian image of the French? ............... 30 9. Summary of research questions ..... 31 CHAPTER III. REVIEW OF RESEARCH AND WRITINGS RELATING TO ETHNIC IMAGE AND ATTITUDE INVESTIGATIONS ....................... 33 1. Conceptual distinction between image and attitude ............ 35 2. Attitude or attitudes .............. 37 3. Operational definition of attitudes and beliefs ................. 39 4. Relationships between sociological variables and beliefs and attitudes ... 43 5. Relationship between contact with foreign groups and attitudes ......... 46 -vii- 6. Cultural factors in inter-group beliefs and attitudes ................ 48 7. Interaction between the images of foreign people and the images of their countries ...................... 51 8. 'True’ beliefs and attitudes and interviewing techniques .............. 52 9. Classical attitudes scales and the need for a different approach ........ 56 CHAPTER IV THE SURVEY DESIGN ..................... 65 1. The stages of the enquiry ............ 65 2. The sampling procedures .............. 66 3. Interviewing methods and techniques ... 70 4. Detailed findings .................... 78 CHAPTER V PERCEPTIONS BETRAYING THE PERCEIVER: AUSTRALIAN BEHAVIOUR AND VALUES ....... 80 1. The interviewing situation and respondent behaviour ................. 81 2. The Australian self-image ............ 89 3. Australian values underlying beliefs about foreign people and foreign countries ............................. 109 CHAPTER VI THE FRENCH AND FRANCE THROUGH AUSTRALIAN EYES ...................... 128 1. The frame of reference of the image ... 128 2. Dimensional simplicity ............... 130 3. Image content: the French ........... 134 4. France, the country ... 173 5. Relation between demographic variables and beliefs ................ 190 6. The relationship between degree of liking and degree of admiration and the image of France and the French .... 202 vixx CHAPTER VII THE GERMANS AND THE ITALIANS IN RELATION TO THE FRENCH 1 Italian and German performance as migrants .......................................................................... 204 2 Image content: the Italians .................... 211 3 Image content: Italy .......................................... 227 4 Image content: the Germans .......................... 232 5 Image content: Germany ..................................... 252 CHAPTER VIII THE STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS AND THEIR MEASUREMENT OF ATTITUDES ‘ " 264 1 Section 1: the self-rating scales ... 266 2 Section 2: The F&shbein scales .................. 290 3 Comparison between the two self-rating scales, the Fishbein scales and the in- depth interviews ..................................................... 305 CHAPTER IX FRANCE AND THE FRENCH THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHER NATIONALITIES * “ 313 .1 ■ ■ CHAPTER X CONCLUSIONS ' 321 I. INTRODUCTION Katz and Braly's pioneer study of racial stereo- types captured the interest of social psychologists and stimulated a plethora of replications and novel approaches in the field of ethnic imagery. For over three decades theoretical as well as applied investi gations have probed into the elusive individual and group representations, feelings and verbal descriptions attached to ethnic groups. The spectrum of interests which motivated the investigators has extended over a broad range of intellectual curiosities and practical aims. A better understanding of the judgmental processes involved in the foreign student's perceptions of his host country (Selltiz, 1955); the reduction of inter- 1. D. Katz and W.D. Braly, 'Racial Stereotypes of 100 College Students', Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1950, 30, 175-193. 2. C. Selltiz, Judgmental Process in Inter-ethnic Perception. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ann Arbor, Michigan University, 1961. -2- group prejudice and tensions (U.N.E.S.C.0., 1953 and •X 1960);^ providing business executives with a marketing tool (a ’Reader’s Digest’ study of the Common Market countries' images of one another);^- these are three illustrations of the many aims which have prompted the psychologist, the sociologist and the economist to look into people’s minds and extract the pictures they contain of groups foreign to their own. Lately, historians, and what the French call ’les litteraires ’ , have joined the social scientists and started a new branch of investigation. Under the name of 'imagology' French academics practice the art and science of extracting the image of a country embedded in a foreign writer's literary work or in the archives of a given period. For me, the question 'What images do Australians have of France and the French?’ arose, quite prosaically, from a series of personal experiences. We all know how some people exploit the physicians or psychiatrists they 3. W. Buchanan and C. Cantril, How Nations See Bach Other, University of Illinois Press, 1953. E. Reigrotski and N. Anderson, ’National Stereotypes and Foreign Contacts’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 1959, 23, 515-528. 4. 221,750,000 Consommateurs, Selection du Reader's Digest, Paris, 1953. -3- casually meet at parties to obtain free medical advice. In a somewhat similar way, Australians have quite fre quently attempted to consult me on their sexual problems - my being French, presumably seemed to my accidental patients sufficient qualification for expertise in these matters. Intrigued by such expectations about French women, I transformed my amused curiosity into an intellect ual query. How do Australians perceive France and the French? How are these images distributed within the population? Do age or education or other social variables affect the content of the images? Which affective tone accompanies certain