Social attitudes of Soviet immigrants to the United States.
Item
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Title
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Social attitudes of Soviet immigrants to the United States.
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Identifier
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AAI9510664
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identifier
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9510664
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Creator
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Goldenberg, Victor.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Leonard Saxe
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Date
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1994
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | Political Science, General
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Abstract
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One way to determine whether social attitudes are stable or malleable is to investigate how attitudes are affected when people emigrate to a new society whose norms are discrepant from those of their homeland. The purpose of the present research was to examine how Russian immigrants to the USA change their social attitudes, and what psychological and socio-demographic factors facilitate or hinder this change. A model of immigrants' attitude change was developed and tested.;Telephone interviews with 201 randomly selected first generation immigrants from Brooklyn, NY, and suburban New Jersey were conducted. Russians' attitudes toward women's equality, abortion, homosexuality, and blacks were compared with those documented in 1991 General Social Survey of American population. Immigrants' levels of assimilation, social conformity, intolerance of ambiguity, and authoritarianism were measured.;Russian immigrants gave more pro-abortion, anti-homosexual, and anti-black responses than Americans. They also were less supportive of women's equality. Differences in socialization seem to explain the findings better than a competing interpretation from a social tolerance perspective. The results suggested that Russians' pro-abortion position remained stable and did not change as a result of immigration. Their views on women's equality became slightly more moderate, as did their attitudes toward homosexuality. Russian immigrants' attitudes toward blacks appeared to change the most; from friendly or indifferent, to predominantly negative. High levels of assimilation and/or conformity facilitated Americanization of the attitudes. No impact of authoritarianism and intolerance of ambiguity was found. The strength of social attitudes brought from Russia appears to be a more powerful predictor of attitudinal change than the individual personality characteristics. Age was associated with less and education with more "tolerant" immigrants' social attitudes.;The present study highlights the limitations of the "persistence" and "life-long openness" models of attitude stability and change. In order to understand variability in attitudinal persistence, one needs to take into account both the history of attitude development and current environmental factors. Attitude derives strength from the past. Factors that operate "here and now" may undermine, modify, or support the attitude. An interaction between these two major forces determines an attitude destiny in a new social environment.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
