Social schemata for relations between the generations: The effect of cultural transition in South Africa

Four groups of 30 women from South Africa placed doll pairs to represent the 8 relationships obtained by pairing each of young wife and young husband with each of wife's mother, wife's father, husband's mother, and husband's father. The groups were: (1) whites, (2) Xhosa nurses, urban born, (3) urban born poorly educated Xhosas, and (4) traditionalist rural Xhosas. Interdoll distances were larger in the rural traditionalist group than in the other groups. The rural traditionalist group used very large distance for pairings involving the opposite-sex parent-in-law. All Xhosa groups tended to put the older generation figure in a more direct orientation than the younger. Results are discussed in terms of traditional Xhosa means of expressing respect through avoidance of proximity and eye-contact. © 1978, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.