Description:
Based on data from research on South American political exiles, this article pinpoints some of the difficulties of life adjustments in immigrant communities. We suggest recognizing the role played by stereotypes and interpersonal social perceptions in the adjustment processes of a transcultural shift. Without ignoring political and economic determinants, we seek to show the extent to which social psychological factors are an integral part of the social differenciation sequences (grouping, rejection and exclusion) at all levels of social life. Such processes are constantly present in latent and endemic forms but are differentially activated according to such factors as the origin of the immigrant groups and their particular historic context.
À partir de recherches sur les exilés politiques du Cône Sud d'Amérique Latine, cet article met l'accent sur les difficultés à vivre des communautés immigrées et suggère que l'on reconnaisse le poids des stéréotypes et des perceptions dans la dynamique de la transculturation : Sans écarter l'importance des déterminations politiques ou économiques, on cherche à montrer dans quelle mesure ces aspects psycho-sociaux sous-tendent des effets de clivage (appartenance, rejet, exclusion) qui traversent tout le corps social. Ces effets existent en permanence, sous forme latente et endémique, mais sont diversement accentués selon l'origine des groupes immigrés et selon les circonstances historiques.