Abstract
This article is a partial report about quantitative research on the role of the Negative Existential Position in Authoritarian Personality formation (reported on elsewhere) and acculturation features among immigrants with authoritarian backgrounds in a democratic milieu (Germany). Data were collected among respondents of different backgrounds: immigrants in Germany from Turkey, the former Soviet Union and Western countries, and native Germans as a quasi-control group (N=1318), with each subsample encompassing at least 200 respondents. Various statistical analyses were performed in order to validate the empirical outcomes (from correlation analysis to structural equation modelling). The hypothesis that a Negative Existential Position is more articulated among individuals who were exposed to an authoritarian socialization was confirmed. The hypothesis that a Negative Existential Position serves as a predictor for the so called Acculturation Dysfunction was confirmed as well. The conceptual analogy between Existential Positions and Styles of Acculturation was examined and the hypothesis that four possible styles of acculturation (Berry et al., 1987, Berry & Kim, 1988; Berry et al., 1989) are correlated with correspondent Existential Position found support.
Highlights
In recent years acculturation has become one of the most widely researched areas worldwide
This research was a first of its kind, where the acculturation features were approached and explored using the Transactional Analysis paradigm and the concept of Existential Position
One of the notorious distinctive characteristics of individuals with authoritarian backgrounds is their tendency to divide people into ‘ingroups’ and ‘out-groups’, to perceive the world as a dangerous, unfriendly place, and to fight with ‘outgroups’; this is of exceptional significance in the context of acculturation and the multicultural globalizing world as it is
Summary
In recent years acculturation has become one of the most widely researched areas worldwide. European countries nowadays are dependent on migrants and will undoubtedly continue to need immigration (Eurostat, 2006). The overall goal of the research was to investigate problems of acculturation among young immigrants (1835 year old) from ex-Soviet countries and Turkey to Germany as a host society. The acculturation features of ex-Soviet immigrants to Germany were compared to acculturation features among immigrants from Turkey, in order to find common and non-common characteristics of the acculturation strategies among ex-Soviet and Turkish immigrants. To gather more information on it and to be able to compare acculturation features of immigrants with authoritarian backgrounds with the acculturation features of immigrants and sojourners without authoritarian backgrounds, a group of respondents from Western countries was surveyed
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