THE DETERMINING ROLE OF VALUE ORIENTATIONS AND SOCIO-CULTURAL DISTANCE IN THE INTERCULTURAL INTERACTION

Abstract

The present study investigates the problem of young people coping with the changing socio-cultural situation. The paper presents the results of the empirical study of the migrants’ values and acculturation attitudes, as well as their role in the intercultural interaction in a multicultural region ofUkraine,Odessa. The extent to which the study of acculturation strategies and adaptation to the new personality socio-cultural conditions in a modern society grows due to the expansion and intensification of international contacts. Despite the existence of numerous studies, this issue is still known not well enough.

The aim of this study was to reveal the features of interrelation between an individual’s socio-cultural distance and values, and to identify its impact on the acculturation process of the foreign students inOdessa.

The following tests were used to implement the study: S. Schwartz questionnaire on basic cultural values, E. Bogardus Social Distance Scale, and J. Berry Acculturation Strategies Questionnaire, which measures attitudes toward acculturation.

The study involved 195 respondents, university students,Odessa, aged 18 to 25 years. Of these, 117 people were students of Ukrainian nationality, and 78 were foreign students of Arab nationality.

The study confirmed the hypothesis that the social distance is an important aspect of intercultural adaptation, in particular, there is a correlation between the choice and range of adaptation strategies. For the Ukrainian students, their expectations of the foreigners’ assimilation leads to rapprochement with them. As to the group of Arabs, the choice of marginalization leads to their distancing from the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, and the choice of assimilation is accompanied by distancing from their own ethnic group.