“The Things that Make Me Different Are the Things that Make Me Me”: Cultural Identity and Ethnicity and Their Impact on Youth Workers’ Job Perception

Abstract

The study examines the association between ethnic-cultural identity and role perception among youth workers (YW) who work with at-risk adolescents in Israel of three minority groups—Arabs, immigrants from the CIS, and immigrants from Ethiopia. The four acculturation strategies—assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization, manifest in an individual’s identity and emphasize the preservation of culture and the willingness to adapt components of the majority culture. Minority-group YWs working with adolescents of their ethnic group are expected to be agents of change, directing the adolescents to act by the rules and customs of the majority society. This expectation baffles YWs since they are torn between universal professional values and minority group norms. Their belongingness to the ethnic groups hinders neutral, non-aligned action, and they struggle to identify with the message they are expected to deliver to their clients on behalf of their employers. The research hypothesis assumed that minority-group YWs would experience more significant role conflict than their majority-group peers since their job does not include intercultural mediation. However, the findings are counter-intuitive, as they indicated that role conflict is not associated with the YW’s origin or group’s values but with the work climate within the YW group. This conclusion suggests the importance of organizational culture and its effect on the role-conflict experience. The paper also explores the findings regarding acculturation strategies and the three minority groups, presenting essential components of each group’s conflicting role.