Towards a Paradigm to Study Psychological Ramifications of Globalization

Abstract

In this commentary on the special issue, it is argued that the studies presented illustrate three pivotal characteristics of a new, evolving paradigm to study the consequences of prolonged intercultural encounters, such as globalization. The first refers to the topics studied and involves the need to delineate more distal, universal, and more proximal, culture-specific elements in intercultural encounters in these topics. The second is the need to deal with variation in intensity and focus of intercultural contact, ranging from casual contact to immersion. The third involves the need to delineate the psychological mechanisms involved in intercultural contact (and their consequences). The studies in the special issue illustrate the importance of including contextual features in the study of globalization. Challenges of the evolving paradigm are described.

Mainstream acculturation in superdiverse settings: The beneficial role of intergroup contact with ‘other‐cultures’ individuals

“…Beyond these conceptual contributions, the present results also have social relevance. The 21st century has been marked by a politicization of immigration (a rise in the importance of immigration in political life; van der Brug et al, 2015;Xhardez & Paquet, 2021), often accompanied by divisive anti-immigrant and anti-diversity rhetoric. Showing that other-cultures contact is associated with mainstream acculturation offers an alternative perspective on this rhetoric.…”

“…To date, superdiversity has received little attention from psychologists (van de Vijver et al., 2015), although this is changing. Some cross‐cultural psychologists point out that superdiversity often renders the traditional heritage‐mainstream dichotomy characteristic of acculturation research obsolete (Doucerain et al., 2013) and that this traditional approach falls short of understanding recent forms of intercultural contact where migrants regularly interact with multiple cultures in their new society (Kashima & Loh, 2006; van de Vijver, 2019). In social psychology, Dixon and colleagues (2020) highlight the need to take into account the ‘complex relationality’ of intergroup processes involving more than two groups, challenging binary conceptions of intergroup relations as the default unit of analysis.…”

Manifesto for new directions in developmental science

“…A consequence of ongoing migration and globalization is that contemporary societies are increasingly diverse (van de Vijver, 2019). Yet, this diversity is still insufficiently accounted for in developmental science theories, methods, and models.…”