- Author: Myriam Grajales-Hall
A recent study presents new findings on how the rise in ethnic diversity is leading to shifts in traditional views of racial and cultural identity roles.
The study, conducted by Cheskin Added Value and The Futures Company, shows that increased levels of cultural openness provide greater opportunity for marketers to reach general market audiences with ethnically-focused strategies.
Roberto Suro, a well-established journalist and the founder of the Pew Hispanic Center, commented that there is a great deal of variation in the ways people cross boundaries. There are differences in the extent to which they do it and in their comfort level.
The study presents a typology of cultural openness in five stages. At one end are people who are distrustful of people or influences that emerge from outside of their own group. At the other end are those who cross cultures with such ease they are hardly aware that boundaries exist. In between there are three categories that start with a passive acknowledgment of intercultural influences as a good thing and move to an active pursuit of experiences and situations that cross boundaries.
Some of the key findings include:
- 80 percent of the population agrees that one of the best things about America is the cultural diversity you find.
- 83 percent of African Americans, 77 percent Hispanics, and 64 percent Non-Hispanic Whites, appreciate the growing influence of other cultures on many of the products we use.
- 82 percent African Americans, 77 percent Hispanics, 69 percent Non-Hispanic Whites agree with this statement: “I have learned many new things from people whose race or ethnicity differs from my own.”
- 47 percent of African Americans, 30 percent Hispanics, and 32 percent White Non-Hispanics have someone in their extended family that is from a different race or ethnicity.
- 27 percent African Americans, 37 percent of Hispanics, and 23 percent of Non-Hispanic Whites see themselves as a citizen of the world more so than as a citizen of the United States.
Source: Cheskin Added Value/The Futures Company, “The Influence of Ethnic Identity on Consumer Behaviour,” January 11, 2011, http://www.cheskin.com/view_news.php?id=71