Fiona a is h £t Jo Tomlinson

T rack 08
Lecturer: 
Today I'd like to continue from last w eek's lecture by looking at w hat helps people successfully integrate 
into a new culture. Whereas the reasons fo r m igration are nowadays fa irly easy to identify and largely 
related to em ploym ent opportunities o r p olitical instability, the factors behind being able to adapt to 
the new culture and create a new life are considerably more complex. Let's sta rt w ith an overview of 
the issues as shown on this diagram . S tarting on the left of the diagram there are two lists of factors: 
interna l and external. It's im portant to notice th at the interna l factors, in other w ords those based on an 
individual's personality, are divided into positive factors - trustin g others and acknowledging that people 
are different, and negative - being afraid and being suspicious of people. You m ight th in k that the lis t of 
negative factors would include d iscrim ination, but it doesn’t because discrim ination comes under the 
large r category of fear. Now, w hat you should also notice is th at the external factors are not labelled in 
this way. It’s much more d iffic u lt to know how to m easure the affects of external factors and w he th er 
they actually are external or not. The influence of fam ily relationships, clim ate, beliefs and values, 
and the ability to com m unicate in the language of the new culture have wide ranging effects which are 
d iffic u lt to measure and can d istort any research.
Now focus on the centre of the diagram , and you’ll see this phrase: 'Coping strategies'. This is 
im portant because studies have shown that people who integrate w e ll into a new culture, and that is 
any
cu lture by the way, are those who have eradicated any negativity, and made positive choices, and 
adopted coping strategies such as observing people, and taking tim e to listen and ask Questions in order