The four essential forms of acculturation
Portraits of Native Americans
from the Cherokee, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Comanche, Iroquois, and Muscogee
tribes in European attire. Photos date from 1868 to 1924.
Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change
that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the
prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which
an individual adopts, acquires and adjusts to a new cultural
environment.
Individuals of a differing culture try to incorporate themselves into
the new more prevalent culture by participating in aspects of the more
prevalent culture, such as their traditions, but still hold onto their
original cultural values and traditions. The effects of acculturation
can be seen at multiple levels in both the devotee of the prevailing
culture and those who are assimilating into the culture.
At this group level, acculturation often results in changes to
culture, religious practices, health care, and other social
institutions. There are also significant ramifications on the food,
clothing, and language of those becoming introduced to the overarching
culture.
At the individual level, the process of acculturation refers to
the socialization process by which foreign-born individuals blend the
values, customs, norms, cultural attitudes, and behaviors of the
overarching host culture. This process has been linked to changes in
daily behaviour, as well as numerous changes in psychological and physical well-being. As enculturation is used to describe the process of first-culture learning, acculturation can be thought of as second-culture learning.
Under normal circumstances that are seen commonly in today's
society, the process of acculturation normally occurs over a large span
of time throughout a few generations. Physical force can be seen in some
instances of acculturation, which can cause it to occur more rapidly,
but it is not a main component of the process. More commonly, the
process occurs through social pressure or constant exposure to the more
prevalent host culture.
Scholars in different disciplines have developed more than 100 different theories of acculturation, but the concept of acculturation has only been studied scientifically since 1918. As it has been approached at different times from the fields of psychology, anthropology, and sociology,
numerous theories and definitions have emerged to describe elements of
the acculturative process. Despite definitions and evidence that
acculturation entails a two-way process of change, research and theory
have primarily focused on the adjustments and adaptations made by
minorities such as immigrants, refugees, and indigenous people
in response to their contact with the dominant majority. Contemporary
research has primarily focused on different strategies of acculturation,
how variations in acculturation affect individuals, and interventions
to make this process easier.
Historical approaches
The history of Western civilization, and in particular the histories of Europe and the United States, are largely defined by patterns of acculturation.
One of the most notable forms of acculturation is imperialism,
the most common progenitor of direct cultural change. Although these
cultural changes may seem simple, the combined results are both robust
and complex, impacting both groups and individuals from the original
culture and the host culture.
The first psychological theory of acculturation was proposed in W.I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's 1918 study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America.
From studying Polish immigrants in Chicago, they illustrated three
forms of acculturation corresponding to three personality types:
Bohemian (adopting the host culture and abandoning their culture of
origin), Philistine (failing to adopt the host culture but preserving
their culture of origin), and creative-type (able to adapt to the host
culture while preserving their culture of origin). In 1936, Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits provided the first widely used definition of acculturation as:
Those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups...under this definition acculturation is to be distinguished from...assimilation, which is at times a phase of acculturation.
Long before efforts toward racial and cultural integration in the United States arose, the common process was assimilation. In 1954, Milton Gordon's book Assimilation in American Life
outlined seven stages of the assimilative process, setting the stage
for literature on this topic. Later, Young Yun Kim authored a
reiteration of Gordon's work, but argued cross-cultural adaptation as a
multi-staged process. Kim's theory focused on the unitary nature of
psychological and social processes and the reciprocal functional
personal environment interdependence.
Although this view was the earliest to fuse micro-psychological and
macro-social factors into an integrated theory, it is clearly focused on
assimilation rather than racial or ethnic integration. In Kim's
approach, assimilation is unilinear and the sojourner must conform to
the majority group culture in order to be "communicatively competent."
According to Gudykunst and Kim (2003) the "cross-cultural adaptation process involves a continuous interplay
of deculturation and acculturation that brings about change in strangers
in the direction of assimilation, the highest degree of adaptation
theoretically conceivable." This view has been heavily criticized,
since the biological science definition of adaptation refers to the random mutation of new forms of life, not the convergence of a monoculture (Kramer, 2003).
In contradistinction from Gudykunst and Kim's version of adaptive
evolution, Eric M. Kramer developed his theory of Cultural Fusion
(2011, 2010, 2000a, 1997a, 2000a, 2011, 2012)
maintaining clear, conceptual distinctions between assimilation,
adaptation, and integration. According to Kramer, assimilation involves
conformity to a pre-existing form. Kramer's (2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2003,
2009, 2011) theory of Cultural Fusion, which is based on systems theory
and hermeneutics,
argues that it is impossible for a person to unlearn themselves and
that by definition, "growth" is not a zero sum process that requires the
disillusion of one form for another to come into being but rather a
process of learning new languages and cultural repertoires (ways of
thinking, cooking, playing, working worshiping, and so forth). In other
words, Kramer argues that one need not unlearn a language in order to
learn a new one, nor does one have to unlearn who one is in order to
learn new ways of dancing, cooking, talking and so forth. Unlike
Gudykunst and Kim (2003), Kramer argues that this blending of language
and culture results in cognitive complexity, or the ability to switch
between cultural repertoires. To put Kramer's ideas simply, learning is
growth rather than unlearning.
Conceptual models
Theory of Dimensional Accrual and Dissociation
Although
numerous models of acculturation exist, the most complete models take
into consideration the changes occurring at the group and individual
levels of both interacting groups.
To understand acculturation at the group level, one must first look at
the nature of both cultures before coming into contact with one another.
A useful approach is Eric Kramer's theory of Dimensional Accrual and Dissociation (DAD). Two fundamental premises in Kramer's DAD theory are the concepts of hermeneutics
and semiotics, which infer that identity, meaning, communication, and
learning all depend on differences or variance. According to this view,
total assimilation would result in a monoculture void of personal
identity, meaning, and communication. Kramer's DAD theory also utilizes concepts from several scholars, most notably Jean Gebser and Lewis Mumford, to synthesize explanations of widely observed cultural expressions and differences.
Kramer's theory identifies three communication styles (idolic, symbolic, or signalic ) in order to explain cultural differences.
It is important to note that in this theory, no single mode of
communication is inherently superior, and no final solution to
intercultural conflict is suggested. Instead, Kramer puts forth three
integrated theories: the theory Dimensional Accrual and Dissociation,
the Cultural Fusion Theory and the Cultural Churning Theory.
For instance, according to Kramer's DAD theory, a statue of a god in an idolic community literally is god, and stealing it is a highly punishable offense. For example, many people in India believe that statues of the god Ganesh – to take such a statue/god from its temple is more than theft, it is blasphemy. Idolic reality involves strong emotional identification, where a holy relic does not simply symbolize the sacred, it is sacred. By contrast, a Christian crucifix follows a symbolic nature, where it represents a symbol of God. Lastly, the signalic modality is far less emotional and increasingly dissociated.
Kramer refers to changes in each culture due to acculturation as co-evolution. Kramer also addresses what he calls the qualities of out vectors which address the nature in which the former and new cultures make contact.
Kramer uses the phrase "interaction potential" to refer to differences
in individual or group acculturative processes. For example, the process
of acculturation is markedly different if one is entering the host as
an immigrant or as a refugee. Moreover, this idea encapsulates the
importance of how receptive a host culture is to the newcomer, how easy
is it for the newcomer to interact with and get to know the host, and
how this interaction affects both the newcomer and the host.
Fourfold models
The
fourfold model is a bilinear model that categorizes acculturation
strategies along two dimensions. The first dimension concerns the
retention or rejection of an individual's minority or native culture
(i.e. "Is it considered to be of value to maintain one's identity and
characteristics?"), whereas the second dimension concerns the adoption
or rejection of the dominant group or host culture. ("Is it considered
to be of value to maintain relationships with the larger society?") From
this, four acculturation strategies emerge.
- Assimilation occurs when individuals adopt the cultural norms of a dominant or host culture, over their original culture. Sometimes it is forced by governments.
- Separation occurs when individuals reject the dominant or host culture in favor of preserving their culture of origin. Separation is often facilitated by immigration to ethnic enclaves.
- Integration occurs when individuals are able to adopt the cultural norms of the dominant or host culture while maintaining their culture of origin. Integration leads to, and is often synonymous with biculturalism.
- Marginalization occurs when individuals reject both their culture of origin and the dominant host culture.
Studies suggest that individuals' respective acculturation strategy can differ between their private and public life spheres. For instance, an individual may reject the values and norms of the dominant culture in his private life (separation), whereas he might adapt to the dominant culture in public parts of his life (i.e., integration or assimilation).
Predictors of acculturation strategies
The
fourfold models used to describe individual attitudes of immigrants
parallel models used to describe group expectations of the larger
society and how groups should acculturate. In a melting pot society, in which a harmonious and homogenous culture is promoted, assimilation is the endorsed acculturation strategy. In segregationist
societies, in which humans are separated into racial, ethnic and/or
religious groups in daily life, a separation acculturation strategy is
endorsed. In a multiculturalist
society, in which multiple cultures are accepted and appreciated,
individuals are encouraged to adopt an integrationist approach to
acculturation. In societies where cultural exclusion is promoted,
individuals often adopt marginalization strategies of acculturation.
Attitudes towards acculturation, and thus the range of
acculturation strategies available, have not been consistent over time.
For example, for most of American history, policies and attitudes have
been based around established ethnic hierarchies with an expectation of
one-way assimilation for predominantly White European immigrants. Although the notion of cultural pluralism has existed since the early 20th century, the recognition and promotion of multiculturalism
did not become prominent in America until the 1980s. Separatism can
still be seen today in autonomous religious communities such as the Amish and the Hutterites.
Immediate environment also impacts the availability, advantage, and
selection of different acculturation strategies. As individuals
immigrate to unequal segments of society, immigrants to areas lower on
economic and ethnic hierarchies may encounter limited social mobility
and membership to a disadvantaged community.
It can be explained by the theory of Segmented Assimilation, which is
used to describe the situation when immigrants individuals or groups
assimilate to the culture of different segments of the society of the
host country. The outcome of whether entering the upper class, middle
class, or lower class is largely determined by the socioeconomic status
of the last generation.
On a broad scale study, involving immigrants in 13
immigration-receiving countries, the experience of discrimination was
positively related to the maintenance of the immigrants' ethnic culture.
In other words, immigrants that maintain their cultural practices and
values are more likely to be discriminated against than those whom
abandon their culture.
Most individuals show variation in both their ideal and chosen
acculturation strategies across different domains of their lives. For
example, among immigrants, it is often easier and more desired to
acculturate to their host society's attitudes towards politics and
government, than it is to acculturate to new attitudes about religion,
principles, values, and customs.
Acculturative stress
The
large flux of migrants around the world has sparked scholarly interest
in acculturation, and how it can specifically affect health by altering
levels of stress, access to health resources, and attitudes towards
health. The effects of acculturation on physical health is thought to be a major factor in the immigrant paradox, which argues that first generation immigrants tend to have better health outcomes than non-immigrants.
Although this term has been popularized, most of the academic
literature supports the opposite conclusion, or that immigrants have
poorer health outcomes than their host culture counterparts.
One prominent explanation for the negative health behaviors and outcomes (e.g. substance use, low birth weight) associated with the acculturation process is the acculturative stress theory. Acculturative stress refers to the stress response of immigrants in response to their experiences of acculturation.
Stressors can include but are not limited to the pressures of learning a
new language, maintaining one's native language, balancing differing
cultural values, and brokering between native and host differences in
acceptable social behaviors. Acculturative stress can manifest in many
ways, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and other forms of mental and physical maladaptation.
Stress caused by acculturation has been heavily documented in
phenomenological research on the acculturation of a large variety of
immigrants.
This research has shown that acculturation is a "fatiguing experience
requiring a constant stream of bodily energy," and is both an
"individual and familial endeavor" involving "enduring loneliness caused
by seemingly insurmountable language barriers".
One important distinction when it comes to risk for acculturative
stress is degree of willingness, or migration status, which can differ
greatly if one enters a country as a voluntary immigrant, refugee,
asylum seeker, or sojourner. According to several studies, voluntary migrants experience roughly 50% less acculturative stress than refugees, making this an important distinction. According to Schwartz (2010), there are four main categories of migrants:
- Voluntary immigrants: those that leave their country of origin to find employment, economic opportunity, advanced education, marriage, or to reunite with family members that have already immigrated.
- Refugees: those who have been involuntarily displaced by persecution, war, or natural disasters.
- Asylum seekers: those who willingly leave their native country to flee persecution or violence.
- Sojourners: those who relocate to a new country on a time-limited basis and for a specific purpose. It is important to note that this group fully intends to return to their native country.
This type of entry distinction is important, but acculturative stress
can also vary significantly within and between ethnic groups. Much of
the scholarly work on this topic has focused on Asian and Latino/a
immigrants, however more research is needed on the effects of
acculturative stress on other ethnic immigrant groups. Among U.S. Latinos,
higher levels of adoption of the American host culture has been
associated with negative effects on health behaviors and outcomes, such
as increased risk for depression and discrimination, and increased risk
for low self-esteem.
However, some individuals also report "finding relief and protection in
relationships" and "feeling worse and then feeling better about oneself
with increased competencies" during the acculturative process. Again,
these differences can be attributed to the age of the immigrant, the
manner in which an immigrant exited their home country, and how the
immigrant is received by the both the original and host cultures.
Recent research has compared the acculturative processes of documented
Mexican-American immigrants and undocumented Mexican-American immigrants
and found significant differences in their experiences and levels of
acculturative stress.
Both groups of Mexican-American immigrants faced similar risks for
depression and discrimination from the host (Americans), but the
undocumented group of Mexican-American immigrants also faced
discrimination, hostility, and exclusion by their own ethnic group
(Mexicans) because of their unauthorized legal status. These studies
highlight the complexities of acculturative stress, the degree of
variability in health outcomes, and the need for specificity over
generalizations when discussing potential or actual health outcomes.
Researchers recently uncovered another layer of complications in
this field, where survey data has either combined several ethnic groups
together or has labeled an ethnic group incorrectly. When these
generalizations occur, nuances and subtleties about a person or group's
experience of acculturation or acculturative stress can be diluted or
lost. For example, much of the scholarly literature on this topic uses U.S. Census data. The Census correctly labels Arab-Americans as Caucasian or "White".
By doing so, this data set omits many factors about the Muslim
Arab-American migrant experience, including but not limited to
acculturation and acculturative stress. This is of particular importance
after the events of September 11, 2001,
since Muslim Arab-Americans have faced increased prejudice and
discrimination, leaving this religious ethnic community with an
increased risk of acculturative stress.
Research focusing on the adolescent Muslim Arab American experience of
acculturation has also found that youth who experience acculturative
stress during the identity formation process are at a higher risk for
low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.
Some researchers argue that education, social support,
hopefulness about employment opportunities, financial resources, family
cohesion, maintenance of traditional cultural values, and high socioeconomic status
(SES) serve as protections or mediators against acculturative stress.
Previous work shows that limited education, low SES, and underemployment
all increase acculturative stress.
Since this field of research is rapidly growing, more research is
needed to better understand how certain subgroups are differentially
impacted, how stereotypes and biases have influenced former research
questions about acculturative stress, and the ways in which
acculturative stress can be effectively mediated.
Other outcomes
Culture
When
individuals of a certain culture are exposed to another culture (host)
that is primarily more present in the area that they live, some aspects
of the host culture will likely be taken and blended within aspects of
the original culture of the individuals. In situations of continuous
contact, cultures have exchanged and blended foods, music, dances,
clothing, tools, and technologies. This kind of cultural exchange can be
related to selective acculturation that refers to the process of
maintaining cultural content by researching those individuals’ language
use, religious belief, and family norms. Cultural exchange can either occur naturally through extended contact, or more quickly though cultural appropriation or cultural imperialism.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of some specific elements
of one culture by members a different cultural group. It can include the
introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art,
religion, language, or behavior.
These elements are typically imported into the existing culture, and
may have wildly different meanings or lack the subtleties of their
original cultural context. Because of this, cultural appropriation for
monetary gain is typically viewed negatively, and has sometimes been
called "cultural theft".
Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting the culture or
language of one nation in another, usually occurring in situations in
which assimilation is the dominant strategy of acculturation. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude regarding cultural superiority.
Language
In
some instances, acculturation results in the adoption of another
country's language, which is then modified over time to become a new,
distinct, language. For example, Hanzi, the written language of Chinese language, has been adapted and modified by other nearby cultures, including: Japan (as kanji), Korea (as hanja), and Vietnam (as hán tự). Jews,
often living as ethnic minorities, developed distinct languages derived
from the common languages of the countries in which they lived (for
example, Yiddish from High German and Ladino from Old Spanish). Another common effect of acculturation on language is the formation of pidgin languages. Pidgin
is a mixed language that has developed to help communication between
members of different cultures in contact, usually occurring in
situations of trade or colonialism. For example, Pidgin English is a simplified form of English mixed with some of the language of another culture. Some pidgin languages can develop into creole languages, which are spoken as a first language.
Food
Food habits
and food consumption are affected by acculturation on different levels.
Research indicated that food habits are discreet and practiced
privately, and change occurs slowly. Consumption of new food items is
affected by the availability of native ingredients, convenience and
cost; therefore, an immediate change is likely to occur.
Aspects of food acculturation include the preparation, presentation and
consumption of food. Different cultures have different ways in which
they prepare, serve and eat their food. When exposed to another culture
for an extended period of time, individuals tend to take aspects of the
"host" culture's food customs and implement them with their own. In
cases such as these, acculturation is heavily influenced by general food
knowledge, or knowing the unique kinds of food different cultures
traditionally have, the media, and social interaction. It allows for
different cultures to be exposed to one another, causing some aspects to
intertwine and also become more acceptable to the individuals of each
of the respective cultures.
Controversies and debate
Definitions
Anthropologists make a semantic distinction between group and individual levels of acculturation. In such instances, the term transculturation
is used to define individual foreign-origin acculturation, and occurs
on a smaller scale with less visible impact. Scholars making this
distinction use the term "acculturation" only to address large-scale
cultural transactions. Acculturation, then, is the process by which
migrants gain new information and insight about the normals and values
of their culture and adapt their behaviors to the host culture.
Recommended models
Most
research seems to indicate that the integrationist model of
acculturation leads to the most favorable psychological outcomes and marginalization to the least favorable. An initial meta-analysis of the acculturation literature found these results to be unclear.
However, a more thorough meta-analysis of 40 studies showed that
integration was indeed found to have a "significant, weak, and positive
relationship with psychological and sociocultural adjustment".
A study was done by Berry (2006) that included 7,997 immigrant
adolescents from 13 countries found that immigrant boys tend to have
slightly better psychological adaptation than immigrant girls. Overall,
immigrants in the integration profile were found to be more well-adapted
than those in other profiles. Perceived discrimination was also
negatively linked to both psychological and sociocultural adaptation.
There are many factors that can explain the differences in these
findings, including how different the two interacting cultures are, and
degree of integration difficulty (bicultural identity integration).
These types of factors partially explain why general statements about
approaches to acculturation are not sufficient in predicting successful
adaptation. As research in this area has expanded, one study has
identified marginalization as being a maladaptive acculturation
strategy.
Typological approach
Several theorists have stated that the fourfold models of acculturation are too simplistic to have predictive validity.
Some common criticisms of such models include the fact that individuals
don't often fall neatly into any of the four categories, and that there
is very little evidence for the applied existence of the
marginalization acculturation strategy.
In addition, the bi-directionality of acculturation means that whenever
two groups are engaged in cultural exchange, there are 16 permutations
of acculturation strategies possible (e.g. an integrationist individual
within an assimilationist host culture).
According to the research, another critic of the fourfold of
acculturation is that the people are less likely to cultivate a
self-perception but either not assimilate other cultures or continuing
the heritage cultures. The interactive acculturation model
represents one proposed alternative to the typological approach by
attempting to explain the acculturation process within a framework of
state policies and the dynamic interplay of host community and immigrant
acculturation orientations.
