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Cross-Cultural Mediation


IMMIGRANTS, DISPUTES AND RESOLUTION

Canadian society is composed of people from many different cultural backgrounds. Its population represents a multitude of cultural and national groups. At the turn of the century, the Canadian population was made up largely of people represented by two major ethnic groups; the French and the British (Mackie, 1990: 1). New successful waves of immigrants from different countries have resulted in a more ethnically diverse country. According to Statistics Canada (1990:14), for the last two decades, more immigrants have immigrated to Canada from non-European countries, such as Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, than from European countries. Many of these new immigrants have come to Canada with their traditional values and their lifestyles.

The demographic change of the Canadian population has resulted in social and cultural conflicts between the recent immigrants and the majority of Canadians, primarily with Canadians of European background. These new immigrants tend to assimilate into the Canadian "mainstream" after three generations. The outcome of this process of assimilation has not been a homogenous society, but rather, a diverse society. However, there is widespread agreement among sociologists that immigrants can not easily assimilate and integrate into "mainstream" Canadian society (Hale, 1990: 423).

Sociological studies on the socialization of immigrants have revealed that immigrants can only assimilate quickly and effectively when immigrants come from social and a cultural background similar to that of majority of the society in which they intend to immigrate. For example, many Canadians have been part of Canadian society for more than 100 years, but still feel isolated and rejected by the majority of Canadians.

This feeling is shared by most immigrants whose background is neither French nor English. It is therefore, important to realize that there is always a potential conflict among Canadians and this potential conflict requires social mechanisms to deal with it. In reference to John Porter's study on Canadian society, Sylvia Hale argues that ethnically and racially mixed societies, such as Canada, are inherently unstable and prone to division and conflict. In his book entitled The Vertical Mosaic, John Porter pointed out that it is unrealistic to expect minority, ethnic groups to assimilate into Canadian society. In many cases, these differences have become sources of conflict (Porter, 1975: 67).

The intensity of the conflict is greater among low-income Canadians and recent immigrants, than among any other combination of groups. Recent research has shown people in the low-income bracket tend to resist the accommodation of new immigrants. On the other hand, immigrants see the dominant culture as a threat to their social identity. A well-documented study, conducted by William Robin, has revealed that negative perceptions that arises between two social groups often lead to violence and conflict (Williams, 1973: 255). In his studies on inter-group tension, Robin suggested three factors that contribute to the development of inter-group hostility between the immigrants and the mainstream society. These are as follows; firstly, a high level of frustration arising from poor housing, low income, distribution of family life and lack of community membership; secondly, the rapid differential chance income level of the two groups, (the non-immigrants who receive less income tend to express hostile attitudes towards members of immigrant groups); thirdly, massive immigration of a new group triggering hostility among locals, in part because the dominant group perceives the new group as a threat to their identity.

The immigrant population experiences a great deal of rejection from the dominant culture. Sociologists have argued that a social group that seeks to rise from a lower to higher cultural level, such as immigrants who seek to settle in a foreign community, meet with discrimination and prejudice because they are identified with their physical, or national, identities. These identities are looked upon by the dominant culture as inferior, mainly because these identities are so different from the identities of the dominant culture. In his interesting study on Race Relations, researcher Robert Park (1931: 104) has pointed out that members of a minority group in dominant culture suffer what he referred to as a "social inferiority" complex.

He writes:

... as a matter of fact, most cultural conflict and the racial conflict in which they find expression, whatever their ultimate sources and origin may be, are precipitated by the fact that some exceptional and otherwise amenable individual was snubbed and ill-treated, not because of his individual assets, but simply because he was identified with some racial and cultural minority regarded as inferior--all right in it's place, perhaps, but constituting in the eyes of the dominant people as an inferior caste

(Park, 1931: 106).

However, every society is made up of individual and group members who interact with each other. This interaction can come in many different forms - economic interaction, social interaction (such as marriage), etc. Each of the participants in this social interaction responds to the other in terms of his/her perception of others. In others words, our willingness to interact with others is influenced by our perception and cognition (Kriesberg, 1989: 15). The interaction between groups, whether it is positive or negative, contributes to development of discord between individuals and groups.The interaction between these different groups has led to social conflict that sometimes has escalated to violence. Interpersonal relationships within a culture or between cultures have been the main focus of an important school of sociologists known "Symbolic Interactionists". The scholars of this theory have written a great deal about the process of socialization. They are interested in showing that an individual's personality and thinking habits develop through social interaction. Charles Cooley (1978: 42), a leading scholar of this theory, argues it is a mistake to see the individual as limited by the demands and the rules of his/her social community. He argues that society is made up of many interdependent parts. Thus, this interdependence becomes a source of conflict. George Simmel (1904) pointed out that interaction is necessary for the survival of the society:

Society exists where a number of individuals enter into interaction. This interaction always arises on the basis of certain drives or for the sake of certain purposes. Erotic, religious, or merely associative impulses; and purposes of defense, attack, play, gain, aid, or institution-these and countless others cause man to live with other men to act for them, with them, against them, and thus to correlate his condition with theirs

(Kriesberg 1989: 49).

It has been argued that in any heterogeneous society (i.e. one with different cultural groups and sub-groups) there is likely to be conflict among its members. Interaction with different cultural groups usually leads to anxiety and apprehension, in part, because our perception of other groups is based on negative expectations. A number of sociological studies have indicated that anticipated interaction with a member of a different ethnic group leads to anxiety. In their classical study on inter-group anxiety among Asian-American and Hispanic-Americans, researchers Meltor Stephen and Cookie Stephen (1989:210:), have found that interaction between two different ethnic social groups or individuals often create negative stereotypes and group hostility.

In their study, Cookie Stephen and Melter Stephen proposed four types of negative consequences which occur when people interact with strangers. Firstly, we tend to fear negative consequences for our self-concept (i.e. we worry about feeling confused and/or incompetent and thus, are less willing to interact with others). Each participant in a social interaction responds to the other in terms of his/her perception and cognition of the others. Interaction with a stranger tends to create a great deal of anxiety between the interacting parties. Secondly, we fear the consequences of negative behaviour that may result from interacting with strangers. We tend to feel that others will exploit us, take advantage of us. Not only do we tend to fear the consequences of our/their behaviour, but we also fear that physical harm may be done to us. Thirdly, we fear that others may reject us on the basis of our physical appearance and thus stereotype us.(2) Fourthly, when interacting with strangers, we fear negative, behavioural consequences will be placed on us by our own group. Their research suggested that people tend to disassociate themselves from the "stranger" (members of other groups) in anticipation that the members of their in-group will disapprove of their action. According to in-group references, association with the out-group (others) constitutes breaking the norms of the in-group and this could eventually lead to community sanctions. This fear of others greatly influences our perception of conflict and how we perceive the behaviour of the others.

1. 1 Though Black Slaves came to Canada in the early part of the seventeen hundred, the community still feels that they are not accepted by the dominant culture. The same goes for the Chinese and Japanese communities in Canada.

2. 2 Though, the interaction between the in-group (one's group) and the out-group causes misperception and negative stereotyped, it is not sufficient enough to cause conflict. In Africa and the Middle East interaction between different groups often lead to bonding and closeness.