Factors of inefficiency of social communication of forced migrants in the host society

Abstract

The article considers the factors of ineffective social communication between forced migrants and local population in the host society, such as the presence of bias and stereotypes in the relations between communicators; experienced collective trauma, which makes it difficult for forced migrants to create new social contacts, causes a “distrust syndrome” and the adoption of the role of a victim by migrants; the presence of objective differences in needs, which may be perceived differently by the parties of communication as a consequence of different personal experiences; the presence of sociocultural differences between representatives of the host community and forced migrants, which may be caused by the specifics of the local labor market and linguistic traditions. It is emphasized that these factors can affect the perception by forced migrants of several communication contexts, such as physical, social, emotional, thematic ones. It is indicated that in conditions of insufficient awareness of the subjects of communication about each other and about the subject of communication, inference becomes a significant factor in (non)understanding. By “inference” we mean the process of constructing certain knowledge and conclusions about a communication partner (and the subject of discussion) through the use of non-verbal, background channels of communication. Inference can be based both on logical conclusions and on contextual information, sociocultural knowledge, norms and principles of communicative influence. It is concluded that an important factor in successful interaction between migrants and the host community can be a wider involvement of the migrants in solving problems that exist both for themselves and the host community. This can contribute to a deeper understanding of the sociocultural context of life and the needs of each group by representatives of another group.