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Today l'd like to continue from last week's lecture by looking at what helps people integrate successfully into a new culture. Whereas the reasons for migration are fairly easy to identify, the factors behind being able to adapt to the new culture and create a new life are more complex. Let's start with an overview of the issues as shown on this diagram. Starting on the left of the diagram there are two lists of factors; internal and external. It's important to notice that the internal factors, in other words, those based on an individual's personality, are divided into positive factors - trusting others and acknowledging that people are different, and negative - being afraid and being sUspicious of people. Note that discrimination is not listed separately, but comes under the larger category of fear. Now, what you should also notice is that the external factors are not labelled in this way. It's much more difficult to evaluate the effects of external factors or know whether they actually are external or not. The influence of family relationships, climate. beliefs and values, and the ability to communicate in the language of the new culture have wide ranging effects which are difficult to measure and can distort any findings.
Now focus on the centre of the diagram and you'll see this phrase: 'Coping strategies'. This is important because studies have shown that people who integrate well into a new culture are those who make positive choices and adopt coping strategies such as observing people and taking time to listen and ask questions in order to diminish the effects of culture shock. What we have observed is that people who demonstrate positive coping strategies, such as observing, listening, and questioning end up understanding the host culture better and integrating more quickly and successfully. However, those who choose to be critical of the differences, and therefore react negatively to the host culture, are likely to have increased feelings of alienation. This alienation can be reversed and turn into acceptance if a person has some positive experiences, but it usually deteriorates quickly into isolation.
