Journeys of Ethno-Cultural Continuity
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JOURNEYS OF ETHNO-CULTURAL CONTINUITY: COMPARING THE LONG-TERM ACCULTURATION OF JEWS WITH MĀORI AND CHINESE MICHELLE AMIE GEZENTSVEY A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Victoria University of Wellington Wellington, New Zealand 2008 Vine relief above the entrance of the Old-New Synagogue, Prague (the oldest functioning synagogue in Europe, 1270 CE) iii iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors, Colleen Ward and James Liu for all your guidance and support over the last four and a half years; for being my PhD ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, for taking turns playing good cop/bad cop and for giving me the freedom to be creative while trying to reign me in! I am very grateful to John Berry for his assistance in the conceptual development of my model in Wellington; Fabio Sani for sharing his measure of PCC and brainstorming with me in Aix-en Provence, Richard Lalonde for giving me access to his fantastic literature in Toronto, John Hattie for his assistance with SEM in Spetses, Fons van de Vijver for his advice on quantitative analysis in Groningen, and Hal Levine for his qualitative perspectives in Wellington. Thank you Ann Weatherall, Paul Jose, and Marc Wilson for help with qualitative and quantitative analyses, Paul Callister for his research on ethnic intermarriage in New Zealand, and Ewan Jonasen at Statistics New Zealand. Thanks to the cross-cultural lab students and staff, the administrative team in the School of Psychology and Faculty of Science: Ngaire Lavery, Nicola Panapa, Jebi Jayapalan, James Millington, Michael France, Doug Drysdale, Doug Flux and Keith Willet, to Timothy Vaughan- Sanders for proof-reading and Pablo Sektman for organising the videoconference. I am very grateful to those who assisted with data collection by providing contacts and emailing my surveys: Janine Gaddie, Deborah Levy, Jo Scher, Rael Cohen and Rachel Bolstad (New Zealand Jewish sample); Eva Robey, Elyse Chiert, Yair Miller, Josh Levin, Deon Kamien and Yaron Daffan, (Australian Jewish samples); Lisa Isen Baumal, Stephanie Krasman and Talia Klein (Canadian Jewish sample); David Newman and David Hollander (American Jewish sample); Te Ripowai Higgins, Hollie Smith, Mary Waru, Nepia Stewart, June Tam, Avril Martin and Greg Henderson (Māori sample); Kirsten Wong, Justine Kohing, Steven Young, Kelvin Chu and Shijun Li (Chinese sample). v Thank you to Marc Wilson (Victoria University of Wellington), Elsie Ho (University of Waikato) and Gabriel Horenczyk (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) for examining my thesis! Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents Desirée and Yury who encouraged me to study hard and study what I love, as well as my grandfather Samuil, my sisters and brothers-in-law Lara, Nathan, Yael and Storm for their moral support ~ nosostros nos queremos mucho! Thank you Shoshana for your companionship on my Jewish journey of spiritual growth; and mon amour Benoît, you are a blessing for my present and my future. This thesis is dedicated to my family – those who have already journeyed, those who are on their journey and those whose journeys are yet to begin. ברוך אל ההודאות Blessed be G-d to whom thanksgiving is due This doctoral research has been supported by: TEC Bright Future Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship (2004-6) Todd Foundation Award for Excellence (2004) Freemasons Postgraduate Scholarship (2004) New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Award (2007) Jacob Joseph Scholarship (2007) Victoria University of Wellington PhD Completion Scholarship (2007) BRCCS Doctoral Scholarship (2007) Thank you ~Thank you ~Thank you!!! vi 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 Māori 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 vii (n=8), Māori (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), Māori (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 Māori 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. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... v Abstract ............................................................................................................................................vii Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables................................................................................................................................ xvi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. xvii Chapter 1: Long-term Acculturation and Ethno-cultural Continuity ............................19 The Value of Cultural Diversity and the Psychology of Culture Contact.......................... 19 The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity.............................................................. 19 Understanding culture contact: Definitions of acculturation at the group and individual levels ...................................................................................................................... 20 Varieties of acculturating groups......................................................................................... 21 Current Approaches to Acculturation Research.................................................................... 22 Examining the individual and collective experience of acculturation............................ 22 Three conceptual frameworks......................................................................................... 22 Five methodological approaches..................................................................................... 26 Impact of the larger