Rodan Di Maria & Cristiano Inguglia
Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Palermo
Abstract
This contribution is aimed at addressing some relevant questions: (a) what kind of socio-psychological factors may support or inhibit the active citizenship of immigrant people living in Europe (b) how can European countries promote an active citizenship in this people? (c) what kind of interventions can be worked out?
In the last decades, the growth of migratory flows toward European countries represents one of the most relevant social changes, that involves different levels of destination countries’ social and political organization. Particularly at the social level, European countries are involved in some tasks: (a) the promotion of inclusive and active citizenship with respect to the immigrant people; (b) the prevention of prejudice and ethnic conflict, caused by the increasing of the occasions of multiethnic interactions. In this sense is needed more knowledge about the social, cultural and psychological factors affecting the quality of immigrant adaptation in order to plan effective policies and strategies for enhancing their integration in the new society.
In the psychosocial literature, some theoretical models provide an useful framework to better understand these topics.
1. The studies on ethnic identity and acculturation in immigrant people (Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind and Vedder, 2001), focused on the relation between ethnic identity, identification with the new society and the immigrant adaptation.
2. The studies on conflict resolution and management (Burton, 1990), which see the conflict as an occasion for the development of positive interrelationships and good communication channels between two or more conflicting groups.
By using this framework, we can draw some general conclusions useful to work out methodologies and strategies of
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