A Comparative Study of Collective Self-Esteem and Perception of Racism among Cambodian Immigrants and French Quebecois

Abstract

Collective self-esteem represents a potentially useful construct for understanding intergroup relations in multiethnic societies, but current literature reflects a gap in cross-cultural comparisons of this concept. This study was designed to compare expression of collective self-esteem and its relation to perception of self and others across two distinct cultural groups. Collective self-esteem, personal self-esteem and perception of racism were measured in two groups of 114 Cambodian immigrants and 94 Francophone Quebecois, each composed of adolescents and their parents. The magnitude of collective self-esteem, as well as its relation with personal self-esteem and perception of racism differed across groups. Further analyses highlighted cultural factors in the function and impact of collective self-esteem, while suggesting that cultural characteristics may change rapidly when groups experience considerable modifications in their social identity because of intergenerational shifts and because of minority-majority tensions.