Groups in contact

Meta‐representations, interobjectivity, and cultural incompatibilities

Bibliographic Data

ID8975559
AuthorsW Wagner (0000-0001-8272-0551, Institute of Psychology University of Tartu Tartu Estonia, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume51
Issue1
Pages2-24
Publication date2020-09-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jtsb.12259
OpenAlexW3089100165
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited61

This analysis departs from social identity being part and parcel of the system of social representations a group holds. Additionally, social identity is seen as being affectively laden with religious or other deeply ingrained ideological beliefs. These systems delimit the space of norms and behaviours where people socially construct the objects defining the local world as an objectively given. The local objectifications differ between groups and cultures and pose a problem for interaction and communication between members of different groups. Inter‐group discrepancies must be bridged by establishing a shared representational space and interobjective understanding. This understanding can be reached if both interactants mutually develop meta‐representations that allow them to grossly anticipate what to expect from the other and to orient their actions accordingly. But there is a catch in establishing interobjectivity: even if the interactants manage to overcome semantic and cognitive barriers, their interaction and open‐minded communication will be blocked if the two objectivities are ethically or affectively incommensurable. I illustrate this process by suggesting that native Europeans will feel blocked to establish interobjective acceptance for example with proponents of a slave holder culture whose values are incommensurable with European ideas of human equality. Accepting a slave holder's worldview would threaten the European's identity. A similar process seems to govern devout conservative Muslims living in 'gated communities' and enclaves in European cities who try to maintain their identity by avoiding regular contact with the non‐Muslim majority. Such contact would threaten their identity if their worldview and sharia rules were measured by the standards of human rights. Native Europeans on the other hand, will feel their own cultural objectivity to be incompatible with traditional Islam that does not equally observe human rights. The implications of such processes are discussed in terms of migrants' integration, multiculturalism, and socio‐political psychology

Aesthetics · Construct (python library · Cultural identity · Epistemology · Identity (music · Ideology · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Social space · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Community Health and Development · Computer Science · Cultural Differences and Values · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity

Tools

Open DOI