“Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up for Your Rights!” The Jamaicanization of Youth Across 11 Countries Through Reggae Music?

Abstract

We investigated whether Reggae preferences are associated with similar values across cultures compared with its culture of origin-Jamaica. Remote acculturation predicts that Reggae listeners across countries will share similar cultural values with Reggae listeners in Jamaica regardless of their cultural or geographical distance from the Caribbean island. We analyzed the correlations between preferences for Reggae music and Schwartz's 10 value types in university student samples from Jamaica and 11 other societies in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia (total N = 2,561). In Jamaica, preferences for Reggae music were most strongly correlated with

Remote Acculturation 101: A Primer on Research, Implications, and Illustrations from Classrooms Around the World

“…However, technically, immigrants can also experience RA and may even be predisposed toward it, given that they are more open to experience than are non-migrants (Tabor et al, 2015). For example, consider the proliferation of K-Pop (i.e., Korean pop music) worldwide, where a Jamaican immigrant in the United States could experience RA to Korean cultural elements through immersion in K-Pop (see Ferguson, Boer et al, 2016 for music as a vehicle of RA). Given that rates of international migration and technological connectivity are both expanding exponentially, the timing is perfect to research immigrant RA (Juang & Syed, 2019).…”

“…Individuals from groups having no historical, colonial, or other geopolitical connection to the remote culture provide the clearest case of RA such as youth in Germany remotely acculturating to Jamaican culture (Ferguson, Boer, et al, 2016). However, individuals from groups with a distant historical connection to a now remote culture can also be considered to experience RA, albeit a potentially weaker form, given that some features of the remote culture (e.g., language) may already be embedded in the local culture.…”

Body sway predicts romantic interest in speed dating

“…Numerous social psychology studies show that music preferences are often associated with attraction, closeness and relationship satisfaction (e.g. Boer et al, 2011;Rentfrow, 2012;Ferguson et al, 2016), but how background music directly influences people's romantic interest during face-to-face interactions is largely unexplored. Our findings show that groovy background music promotes romantic interest during speed dating, warranting future investigations on this topic.…”

Behavioral and Academic Adjustment of Remotely Acculturating Adolescents in Urban Jamaica

“…Ferguson et al. () studied RA toward Jamaican cultural values through listening to Jamaican reggae music among emerging adults across 11 countries in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. They found that the love of reggae among non‐Jamaican youth was positively correlated with valuing openness to change, which is a value strongly held by Jamaicans, as well as (in half the countries sampled) higher levels of benevolence and self‐transcendence (Ferguson et al., ).…”

“…orientation have higher smoking susceptibility (Lorenzo‐Blanco, Arillo‐Santillán, Unger, & Thrasher, ). On the other hand, Malawian adolescents who are more strongly affiliated with U.K. and U.S. culture than their local Malawian culture report greater autonomy support from their parents (K. T. Ferguson, Y. L. Ferguson, & G. F. Ferguson, ), and emerging adults across 11 countries remotely acculturating to Jamaican culture espouse stronger values of openness to change and benevolence (Ferguson &, Boer ).…”