Ethnic minority identity and group context: self‐descriptions, acculturation attitudes and group evaluations in an intra‐ and intergroup situation

Abstract

AbstractIn an experimental questionnaire study among Chinese participants living in the Netherlands, it was found that self‐descriptions, acculturation attitudes and ingroup evaluation were affected by the comparative group context. Following self‐categorization theory, different predictions were tested and supported. Self‐ratings on trait adjectives systematically differed between an intragroup (Chinese) and an intergroup (Chinese versus Dutch) context. Furthermore, ethnic self‐categorization turned out to be related to self‐descriptions in the intragroup context, whereas ethnic self‐esteem showed an effect on self‐descriptions in the intergroup context. Acculturation attitudes and ingroup favouritism were also affected by the comparative context. In the intergroup context, participants were more strongly in favour of heritage culture maintenance and reported higher ingroup favouritism than in the intragroup context. It is concluded that studies on ethnic minorities should consider the important and often neglected intragroup processes and comparisons in addition to the familiar minority–majority group comparisons. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.