...and even then I could see people saying "no," to the last one, if, say, language struggles in new country are such that they've given up, and see that as meaning they're not "really" becoming part of their new culture -- when in fact, in all the other ways that count, maybe they are.
Yeah, and also the people who immigrate, but who are automatically subsumed into the acculturated whole (despite maybe wanting to preserve their heritage) because their look and language are part of the dominant culture. So that might be a "no" too, but that doesn't imply that they didn't acculturate.
The problem with self-assessment type questions is that in a lot of ways, people aren't literal enough, are often too literal, and are almost always way too hard on themselves while at the same time more likely than not are also going to see themselves as an exception to any rule.
Yeah. There's no way ever to take something as nebulous as discrimination, and turn it into a question that no one is ever going to misinterpret. Nor is there a way, as an outsider, of judging effectively whether anyone has suffered 'legitimate discrimination' without the subject talking about their experiences. (Hypothetically, if my mother complained about being discriminated against because she's white, that would be one thing. But if she complained about being discriminated against as an immigrant, that's another, even if an observer wouldn't have any way of telling just through a casual meeting that she's not from around here)
no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 07:58 pm (UTC)Yeah, and also the people who immigrate, but who are automatically subsumed into the acculturated whole (despite maybe wanting to preserve their heritage) because their look and language are part of the dominant culture. So that might be a "no" too, but that doesn't imply that they didn't acculturate.
The problem with self-assessment type questions is that in a lot of ways, people aren't literal enough, are often too literal, and are almost always way too hard on themselves while at the same time more likely than not are also going to see themselves as an exception to any rule.
Yeah. There's no way ever to take something as nebulous as discrimination, and turn it into a question that no one is ever going to misinterpret. Nor is there a way, as an outsider, of judging effectively whether anyone has suffered 'legitimate discrimination' without the subject talking about their experiences. (Hypothetically, if my mother complained about being discriminated against because she's white, that would be one thing. But if she complained about being discriminated against as an immigrant, that's another, even if an observer wouldn't have any way of telling just through a casual meeting that she's not from around here)