Ethnic Group Conflict - Research Paper Example

Ethnic Group Conflict Paper Number Introduction The aspect or degree of similarity and differences between Mexicans and Americans can best be valuated through the use of cultural conformity. Cultural conformity in turn refers to the means by which a culture makes people subscribe to its standards or norms. This is to the effect that people who are in collectivistic cultures are more responsive to social influence and conformity than those who are in individualistic cultures. There are differences and similarities between Mexicans and Americans in terms of cultural conformity, social perception and cognition and the resolution of conflict between themselves.

Discussions on the Concept of Conformity and How It Relates To Your Selected Ethnic Groups There are postulations that rural Mexican children are more compliant and passive, compared to their urban Anglo-American counterparts. Because of this, it was predicted that rural Mexican children were more predisposed to being field-dependent, and conforming to situations that traditionally used to measure these variables. The trait that discriminates field-dependent from field-independent individuals is the higher degree of passivity which signifies the absence of initiating activities and a readiness to submit to the forces of authority.

Field-dependent people impose less structure on ambiguous stimuli and are known not to be assertive on their points of views, interests and initiatives. To this effect, it may be concluded that Mexicans are more intuitive and observant in their dreams. Kagan (1974) postulates that the passivity and compliance of the Mexican children is aided by the fact that Mexicans see man as being subjugated to nature. This is in contrast to the Anglo-Americans who see man as having dominance over nature. So profound is aspect of passivity among rural Mexicans that it becomes characteristic of them and also becomes a factor that entrenches poverty among this group.

This followed studies that had been gathered from a typical Mexican village, Cuevas. Apart from the fact that the villagers in Cuevas were found to be submissive and passive, it was also found that children from Mexican villages are more submissive and less competitive than urban Anglo-American children, even when both parties were placed in potential conflict situations. Because of this, it is observed that Mexicans are more compliant, cooperative, reliant and obedient to the words of their parents and peers, compared to their white counterparts.

Explaining the Relationship between Social Perception and Social Cognition, and How These Concepts Apply To Your Selected Ethnic Groups Social perception refers to the part of perception which allows the understanding of other people in the social world. Conversely, it can be said that perception is essentially the interface which exists between the inner and outer worlds. Conceptual stimuli of the outer environment and social targets create signals that can be auditory, visual or both. These signals can be sensed, so that the perceiver can receive the signals and convert them into psychologically meaningful representations that give inner experience of the world meaning (Birman, 1998).

Knight (2010) points out that social cognition on the other hand refers to the encoding, retrieval and processing of details or information in the brain which are related to members of the same species [conspecifics]. This applies to both the Mexicans and Americans. Perception allows Mexicans to understand Americans, and vise versa, in social contexts such as schools, places of worship, social gatherings and recreational arrangements. From this perception, the signals can be sensed, so that the two ethnic groups can convert the signals into psychologically meaningful representations that give inner experience of the meaning of being a Mexican or an American.

Discussing the Social Perceptions That Will Need to Be Addressed In Order To Resolve the Conflict between Your Selected Ethnic According to Olivarri (2011), there are social perceptions that will have to be addressed to extirpate the conflict between the Mexicans and Americans. The notion that Mexicans are too sly to be trusted in businesses and deals for instance needs to be exhaustively addressed to ward off conflicts between Mexicans and Americans. Likewise, the notion that white Americans are a people who have been inordinately and unfairly favored by social systems and economic structures should be addressed conclusively, to end the conflicts that characterize relations between Mexican Americans and white Americans.

It is also important that it be taken to fact that even the research that establishes the perception that Mexicans living in Mexican villages such as Cuevas are more submissive, less competitive and passive, compared to Anglo-Americans must be addressed to avoid stereotyping. This is because the same is likely to compound the stereotyping of Mexicans living in villages as weaklings or sluggards, or both. In the same wavelength, the same is likely to accord Anglo-Americans unearned title of being diligent, competitive and having a entrepreneurial predisposition.

References Birman, D. (1998). “Biculturalism and Perceived Competence of Latino Immigrant Adolescents.” American Journal of Community Psychology, 26 (3), 335–354. Kagan, S. (1974). "Field Dependence and Conformity of Rural Mexican and Urban Anglo- American Children." Child Development, 45 (3), 765-71. Knight, G. P. (2010). “The Mexican American Cultural Values scales for Adolescents and Adults.” Journal of Early Adolescence, 30 (3): 444–481. Olivarri, R. J. (2011). Acting White: Marginalized.

University of Texas press.