A significant portion of our lives is played out within groups such as friends, family, colleagues and compatriots. These groups offer a sense of identity, and group membership appears to be necessary for us to function as people. However, belonging to a group also has a direct effect on your view of people who are not members of the group. One specific example of the problems this may cause can be found in the current debate on how people in the Netherlands should live alongside one another. Since the great influx of immigrants at the beginning of the 1960s and 1970s, Dutch society has ever more become a ‘multicultural society’. We cannot ignore the fact that people display great behavioural differences from one another, which stem from their national origin, and that these differences are tenacious. Cultural diversity can therefore become a source of intercultural tensions.
 
This course will focus on intercultural relationships between groups within our society, as seen from psychological perspectives on society and culture, In addition, we will analyze the social and cognitive consequences of group membership. The lectures are complemented by two or three discussion sessions to help you to apply these theoretical perspectives to actual cases from practice and the media.
 
The course addresses the following topics:

• The public debate surrounding the integration of immigrants in the Netherlands
• The function of group membership
• Social-cognitive effects of group membership on the individual
• Psychological dimensions of multiculturalism
• Acculturation and integration
• Cultural and implicit prejudices
• The improvement of relations between groups.

 
Examination
Written examination, open ended questions (100%).