Alfred Schutz’s ‘Stranger’, the theory of sociocultural models, and mechanisms of acculturation

Abstract

In this article, the author addresses the mechanisms of the acculturation of people who move across different cultural communities (immigrants, refugees, sojourners, international students, etc.). It starts by analyzing Alfred Schutz’s essay ‘Stranger’ and then connects it to the theory of sociocultural models (TSCM) (Chirkov, 2020a). Schutz’s treatise provides background and a conceptual map for articulating the mechanisms of acculturation. The TSCM elaborates on these concepts and hypotheses and justifies the proposed understanding of the psychological and sociocultural basis of acculturation. The primary idea of this approach to acculturation is that migrants experience a clash and tension between two sets of sociocultural models: from their home communities and from their host communities. Newcomers must understand the sources of this tension; in turn, they must reflect on it and then develop strategies for reconciling these two sets of models. During this process, their selves, rationality, reflective capacities, agency and intellectual autonomy become the primary means for their acculturation success.

The positive impact of bicultural identity on emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement: An exploratory analysis

“…Cultural identification studies emphasize that culture contains a plethora of encoded information that outsiders must evaluate and comprehend while actively participating in the construction of a new common culture (Chirkov, 2021). According to Chirkov (2021) and , accumulation disparities can cause conflicts between the immigrant's home and host cultural communities. When immigrants arrive in a new community, they bring with them certain cultural expectations.…”

“…When significant cultural differences exist, immigrants may experience psychological symptoms associated with accumulation stress. Failing to understand the underlying causes of such conditions can lead to deteriorating mental health, preventing URL: www.onlinesciencepublishing.com | July, 2023 successful adaptation and acculturation (Chirkov, 2021).…”

Does a Strong Bicultural Identity Matter for Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Engagement?

“…Although some models and a wide number of scales and qualitative approaches have been developed, there is no dominant method that is applied in most of the acculturation and cultural identity research [32]. Cultures contain an infinite amount of coded information that, on the one hand, must be interpreted and decoded by outsiders, while on the other hand, those outsiders actively co-construct the new joined culture [34]. Chirkov [34,35] argues that because of an acculturation gap, problems can evolve between the home and host cultural community.…”

“…Cultures contain an infinite amount of coded information that, on the one hand, must be interpreted and decoded by outsiders, while on the other hand, those outsiders actively co-construct the new joined culture [34]. Chirkov [34,35] argues that because of an acculturation gap, problems can evolve between the home and host cultural community. Immigrants enter new communities with certain expectations from their heritage culture.…”

“…If the [immigrant] does not understand the causes of such states, [their] mental health may deteriorate and prevent [them] from attaining successful adaptation and acculturation", ref. [34], p. 15. Migrant youth do not only find themselves between their home culture and school culture-they also have the responsibility of navigating between the two and functioning as mediators [36], which can be a challenging task due to authority and responsibility disparities.…”