Is the family “place” or “no-place”?
Systems-anthropological perspective in acculturation problems
of immigrational families analysis Cover Image

„Rodzina miejscem czy nie-miejscem”? Perspektywa systemowo-antropologiczna w analizie problemów akulturacyjnych rodzin emigracyjnych
Is the family “place” or “no-place”? Systems-anthropological perspective in acculturation problems of immigrational families analysis

Author(s): Wioletta Tuszyńska-Bogucka
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Education, Sociology, Social history
Published by: Zakład Historii Edukacji w Instytucie Pedagogiki Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Keywords: immigrant; immigrational families; acculturation strategies; family system approach

Summary/Abstract: Using an anthropological construct of relationships with a place to stay on the axisof “place – no place” by M. Auge and a systemic approach by S. Minuchin in the article basic dimensions were examined, significant for the effectiveness of the strategies of acculturation: patterns of family closeness and external contacts (which are a functionof borders of the family system) and the kind of relationship with the place of 60 immigrants (30 women and 30 men), compared with 30 women and men living permanently in Poland. The study uses Semantic Differential For Family Structure Diagnosis, constructedin accordance with the methodological principles for the construction of this type of method.The results indicate that immigrational families have tendencies to create closer internal relations, and even sometimes tangled internal relations (merger or triangulation)and clearly defined external contacts as not entirely safe, necessary or useful which distinguishes them from non-immigrant families. The country of current residence seemsnot to become for immigrants ‘place’ – because of their tendency to spend time only in the family environment and the low attachment to the place of the current residence. These facts point to the placement rather in the area of separation and relativism space, rather than the integration of the immigrant families, which is an example of in effective acculturation strategy.

  • Issue Year: XV/2017
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 19-38
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English, Polish