Ethno-Cultural Identity and Self-Esteem: A Reapplication of Self-Attitude Formation Theories

Abstract

Traditional application of self-attitude formation theories to members of ethnocultural minority groups has postulated that they will internalize the dominant social group's negative evaluations of them and thus suffer from low self-esteem. Therefore, members of ethnocultural minority groups have been said to be in need of interventions designed to increase their self-esteem through enhancement of their ethnic identity. However, empirical findings fail to support the proposition that ethnocultural minority group members in general suffer from low self-esteem. It is suggested that these empirical findings are entirely consistent with self-attitude formation theories and that those theories actually predict that only a specific subset of ethnocultural minority group members will tend to internalize negative evaluations from out-groups. That subset consists of those ethnocultural minority group members who are immersed in a dissonant ethnocultural context. Conclusions are drawn about the appropriate role which interventions designed to enhance ethnic identity may reasonably be expected to fulfill in the struggle to ameliorate the effects of ethnic prejudice and racism.