Cultural dissonance explained

In sociology and cultural studies, cultural dissonance is a sense of discord, disharmony, confusion, or conflict experienced by people in the midst of change in their cultural environment. The changes are often unexpected, unexplained or not understandable due to various types of cultural dynamics.^[1]

Studies into cultural dissonance take on a wide socio-cultural scope of analysis that inquire into economics, politics, values, learning styles, cultural factors, such as language, tradition, ethnicity, cultural heritage, cultural history, educational formats, classroom design, and even socio-cultural issues such as ethnocentrism, racism and their respective historical legacies in the cultures.

Research

Research topics in cultural dissonance tend to be interdisciplinary drawing from a wide range of disciplines and applying the findings to equally diverse fields and industries.

Education

Winifred L. Macdonald concluded in her thesis that, "... shared markers of language and ethnicity were not sufficient to ensure that the cultural differences in education systems were not experienced by the families." Macdonald also observed that cultural dissonance is sometimes said to inhibit socio-cultural adaptation.

Susan Black, an education research consultant, wrote an article in the American School Board Journal of the National School Board Association that summarized some of the actions recommended by some researchers in education-related cultural dissonance. The recommendations for educators included:

Recognize ethnocentrism
Know and understand the student's cultural heritage
Understand social, economic and political issues and values in different cultures
Adopt the attitude that students—all students—can learn
Create genuinely caring classrooms where all students are appreciated and accepted.

Other general findings include:

Geneva Gay (University of Washington in Seattle, Washington), proposed that differences can erupt into cultural clashes
Researchers at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory notes that many anecdotal case studies show how culturally responsive practices improve students' behavior and achievement.^[2]

Second-generation immigrants

In their book Children of Immigration, Carola and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco discuss dissonance as it relates to Latinos in the United States.^[3] Suarez Orozco found that second-generation Hispanics face more acute forms of cultural dissonance than their first generation parents. They also noticed that second-generation individuals also face "special difficulties" that lead to "three general patterns of adjustment"

attempts to synthesize two cultural traditions
passing as a member of the dominant group
developing of defensive identity such as gang membership

Refugees of war

Suárez-Orozco also compared the experience of exiles from Cuba being reunited with family members with the "...alienated refugees from war-torn Central America..." as they worked through their own adjustment issues, and concluded that Central Americans had to deal with more cultural dissonance than their Cuban counterparts.

Law enforcement

Larry A. Gould wrote a paper for Northern Arizona University:

In sports

Tracy Taylor wrote a paper for the Journal of Sport and Social Issues. In it she wrote:

Cultural dissonance in popular culture

Side 2 of the Firesign Theatre's 1968 album, Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him, features a humorous 18-minute radio drama of a traveler experiencing cultural dissonance on his arrival in a foreign country. For example, the traveler struggles to communicate his wish to send a telegram, only to be informed that yes, his telegram has been sent, at considerable cost, and that he will be receiving it in about an hour.

Notes and References

Macdonald . Winifred Lilian . April 1998 . English speaking migrant children in educational and cultural transition . PhD . Curtin University of Technology . 20.500.11937/1322 . free .
Black, Susan. American School Board Journal; Jan 2006, Vol. 193 Issue 1, p34-36, 3p
Carola and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, "Children of Immigration", Harvard University Press, 2001