Becoming Intercultural Vol. 8 : An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation

by Young Yun Kim

• ISBN13: 9780803944886
• ISBN10: 0803944888
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-29
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc

Summary

This book looks at the movements of immigrants and refugees and the challenges they face as they cross cultural boundaries and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. It focuses on the psychological dynamic underpinning of their adaptation process, how their internal conditions change over time, the role of their ethnic and personal backgrounds, and of the conditions of the host environment affecting the process. Addressing these and related issues, the author presents a comprehensive theory, or a "big picture," of the cross-cultural adaptation phenomenon.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	ix
Preface	xi
Part I. The Background
Introduction	3	(8)
Common Experiences of Crossing Cultures	4	(6)
Theorizing About Cross-Cultural Adaptation	10	(1)
Existing Approaches to Cross-Cultural Adaptation	11	(18)
Macro-Level and Micro-Level Perspectives	12	(3)
Long-Term and Short-Term Adaptation	15	(2)
Adaptation as Problem and Adaptation as Learning/Growth	17	(4)
Varying Theoretical Accounts and Empirical Assessments	21	(2)
Divergent Value Premises: Assimilationism and Pluralism	23	(3)
Toward Integration	26	(3)
Part II. The Theory
Organizing Principles	29	(16)
The Domain and Boundary Conditions	30	(5)
Assumptions: Strangers as Open Systems	35	(3)
Mechanics of Theorizing	38	(4)
Empirical Grounding	42	(3)
The Process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation	45	(26)
Cultural Adaptation	46	(3)
Cross-Cultural Adaptation	49	(5)
The Stress-Adaptation-Growth Dynamic: A Process Model	54	(7)
Three Facets of Intercultural Transformation	61	(7)
Axioms	68	(3)
The Structure of Cross-Cultural Adaptation	71	(26)
Personal Communication: Host Communication Competence	72	(2)
Social Communication	74	(4)
Environment	78	(4)
Predisposition	82	(3)
Linking Dimensions and Factors: A Structural Model	85	(3)
Assumptions, Axioms, and Theorems	88	(9)
Part III. Elaboration of the Theory
Personal Communication	97	(24)
Host Communication Competence	98	(2)
Cognitive Components	100	(8)
Affective Components	108	(6)
Operational Components	114	(3)
Linking Cognitive, Affective, and Operational Components	117	(4)
Social Communication	121	(26)
Host Social Communication	122	(12)
Ethnic Social Communication	134	(8)
Linking Factors of Host and Ethnic Social Communication	142	(5)
Environment	147	(18)
Host Receptivity	148	(4)
Host Conformity Pressure	152	(3)
Ethnic Group Strength	155	(5)
Linking Factors of Communication and Environment	160	(5)
Predisposition	165	(18)
Preparedness for Change	166	(2)
Ethnic Proximity	168	(4)
Adaptive Personality	172	(8)
Linking Factors of Communication and Predisposition	180	(3)
Intercultural Transformation	183	(20)
Functional Fitness	185	(2)
Psychological Health	187	(3)
Intercultural Identity	190	(4)
Emergence of Intercultural Personhood	194	(9)
Part IV. The Theory and the Reality
Research Considerations	203	(18)
The Theory: Principal Features	204	(4)
Theory-Research Correspondence	208	(5)
Toward Methodological Integration	213	(8)
Practical Insights	221	(16)
Understanding Adaptation Potential	222	(1)
Host Environment as Partner	223	(2)
Willingness to Be Changed	225	(2)
Managing Stress	227	(2)
Focusing on Communicative Engagement	229	(2)
Cultivating Adaptive Personality	231	(1)
Forging a Path of Intercultural Personhood	232	(5)
Notes	237	(6)
References	243	(52)
Index	295	(26)
About the Author	321