The Proximal Zone of Intercultural Development (PZID)
Résumé
This article presents results from a comparative analysis of intercultural experiences between French and Singaporean participants. A set of questions was proposed online in order to identify temporalities of an intercultural experience (early and late interculturation) as well as the level of this experience (intrapsychic, intersubjective and intergroup interculturation). Our sample consists of 246 participants (144 in France and 102 in Singapore). France and Singapore were chosen as research fields because of their difference in terms of cultural difference management: a universalist cultural model for France and a pluralist cultural model for Singapore.
A quantitative analysis allows us to identify singular differences between the French and Singaporean participants. After 18 years old, our participants’ responses showed no difference between French and Singaporean participants with respect to intersubjective and intergroup interculturation. The quantitative analysis indicates that the only significant difference that remains between French and Singaporean samples after 18 years old is at the intrapsychic interculturation level.
Our results lead us towards the period of life between 6 and 12 years old that would appear significant in the integration of plural cultural affiliations. Our analysis indicates that intergroup interculturation seems to allow a greater integration of the interculturation process at the intrapsychic level, and it is indeed as such that we think of a proximal zone of intercultural development (PZID)