Academic Critique: Intergenerational Conflict in Arab Families: Salient Issues and Sale
In Rasmi and Daly article “Intergenerational Conflict in Arab Families: Salient Issues and scale development” (2015) the two authors explore various types of conflicts that affect most Arab families. Sarah Rasmi is a professor at the American University in Dubai, UAE. Over the past years, she has been involved in culture conflict research focusing on the neglected Arab world by other researchers. Together with her co-author Timothy Daly, who is a professor at the United Arab Emirates University, they have published various articles about Intergenerational Conflicts, Conflict Management and Perceived Parental Rejection and Adjustment. In my opinion, the clear definition and statistical evidence coupled with proper article arrangement, the use of an academic tone and personal engagements to the topic and emotional appeal to the readers through experience from teenagers in the study make the article very effective as a study resource.
Rasmi and Daly article (2015) explores the intergenerational conflict in Arab families. It acknowledges that the cultural conflicts are synonymous to every culture. They argue that having culture related conflicts is expected where two or more generations are involved. However, they argue that frequent and violent cultural conflict is destructive to families and if not controlled can lead to a family break-up. Some of the sources of conflict argued by the authors include interdependence among family members which the children may not be comfortable with as each want to be on their own like their counterparts in other states who attain independence at an early age compared to the Arab culture which champions for family interdependence until one ties the knot. Other sources of conflict among children and parents include academic achievements. In most families, children are either forced to pursue a certain academic major or find themselves in the family trap of pursuing a course that is presumed as worthy and prestigious to the family as it will better their societal status.
Rasmi and Daly provide very clear definition of terms throughout the paper and employ statistical evidence to corroborate their findings to ensure that everything is understandable and authentic to their readers thus making it logically effective. Moreover, the authors had a well-laid structure of their work starting with an abstract, definition, Literature review, preliminary investigation and findings, discussion and conclusion. To begin with definitions, they began their work by defining a crucial aspect such as intergenerational conflict “a disagreement that occurs between parents and their children” (p.1). This definition ensures that the readers have a clear understanding of the type of conflict and the perception it should hold throughout their reading the article. This is because it is the main point of discussion hence making it clear is very crucial for properly understanding the contents and arguments in their works. Their arguments are further supported by quotes from various authors who have demonstrated vast knowledge on intergenerational conflicts. For example, “Arab culture is honor-based, emphasizing reputation and maintaining the status quo” (Uskul, Oyerman, and Schwartz, 2010, p.2). The quotes reinforce their claims making their work more professionally appealing to the readers with the expertise they handled their research and various reasoning they put across in support of their findings. In addition, their use of statistical evidence to corroborate their findings are logically appealing. In the article, “data on demographic information” (p.4), “factor analysis of Arab family conflict inventory” (p.8) are used to provide evidence of their research. The use of statistical data enhances the believability of their findings and presents a good research platform for other researchers to advance similar or close arguments in the near future. The data also summarizes some of their findings which the audience can easily comb through to establish their assumptive positions based on how they interpreted the data. In their work, they used statistical data on. However, there exist a few logical fallacies resulting from their work which despite using an effective technique to show their prowess, it makes their process rather less successful. This includes hasty generalization. “The similarities between Arab, Asia, and Latino families are more apparent, but meaningful cross-cultural differences still exist” (p.2). The authors quickly make a generalization about existing similarities among three cultures without examining how each culture is distinct from one another as well as some of the similar elements in the cultures.
Furthermore, the use of an academic tone and proper conduction of research through proper sample population selection make their arguments very effective and credit worthy. Their work comprised of a careful selection of words such as “participants, procedures, preliminary investigations, population size and Convergent and predictive validity” (p.7). In my opinion, through the use of professional format and appropriate grammar, the authors further build their ethos which easily earn them quick approvals from various audiences interested in their work. In addition, they have employed their knowledge from previous researches that they have conducted, “They conducted a study examining conflict in Arab working as a team of three (Rasmi, Daly, and Chang, 2014)” (p.1). Their expertise on the topic as influenced by their previous research work appeals to ethos making their piece of work effective for study and attractive to many audiences across the globe interested in unmasking different sources of intergenerational conflicts between children and their families. The authors have also carefully selected their study through focus groups, “We conducted focus groups to refine the initial item list and identify additional conflict issues. Participants were Arab (Egyptian, Emirati, and Lebanese) adolescents and emerging adults who 4Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology were living in the UAE and recruited from undergraduate psychology courses and snowball sampling in exchange for a small box of gourmet chocolates. More than half (n= 38) of the 68 conflict issues identified in this study were unique. At the end of the focus group, participants were asked to indicate which of the 131 conflict items generated in the preliminary investigation were relevant for Arab families.” (Pg.3-4) In my opinion, through using proper samples, the authors ensure their readers that the contents of their findings are on point.
Additionally, Rasmi and Daly When designing their research finding were able to appeal emotionally to the audience through presenting real life examples of sources of conflicts as narrated by the Arab teenagers hence very effective. In one example, we are told of how teenagers are forced to do things the way their parents see them. “The idea of “you should be an engineer” or “you should study medicine” “To parents that’s the kind of successful majors because in places like Egypt, if you are a business student, people look at you like it’s not that you choose to study business, it's that you could not get high grades enough to take you to another school.” (p.5) I find this to be rather effective because it provides the readers with an insightful experience that many children find themselves at loggerheads with their families. The authors incorporated detailed replies by the participants interviewed; highlighting some of the difficult decisions the children are forced to make to safeguard the interest of their families so as to make their parents happy while compromising their future aspirations. This makes the technique more successful because such narrations invoke emotions as they illuminate some of the unfavorable decisions a child is a force to make only to satisfy the egos of their parents who are apparently in a supremacy wars with other neighboring families.
Conclusion
In summary, I would use Rasmi and Daly article in my research because they have extensively convinced me and other readers I believe that there exist intergenerational conflicts in Arab families. Despite the existence of a logically fallacies, the authors have successfully overcome that through using various supportive strategies to back their arguments. The clear definition and statistical evidence coupled with proper article arrangement make it almost impossible to lose track of their arguments. Furthermore, their use of an academic tone and personal engagements to the topic and emotional appeal to the readers through experience from teenagers in the study make the article very effective as a study resource. In addition, I totally agree with the authors on their stand that the main reason for most conflicts in Arab household is due to family honor, “. . .. I want to do many things [and my parents say], “No, you can’t because your uncle, your auntie is going to talk about it.” Parents focus so much on the idea that they have to impress their friends and relatives through the deeds of their sons and daughters.
Reference
Rasmi, S., & Daly, T. M. (2015). Intergenerational Conflict in Arab Families: Salient Issues and Scale Development. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(1), 42-53.
Rasmi, S., Daly, T. M., & Chuang, S. S. (2014). Intergenerational Conflict Management in Immigrant Arab Canadian Families. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(7), 1124-1144.
