acculturation

(especially in CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY) a process in which contacts between different cultural groups lead to the acquisition of new cultural patterns by one, or perhaps both groups, with the adoption of all or parts of the other's culture.
any transmission of culture between groups, including transfer between generations (although in this instance the terms ENCULTURATION and SOCIALIZATION are more usual).

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Acculturation

the process of mutual influence of cultures; the total or partial acceptance by one people of the culture of another, usually more developed, people.

The term acculturation first received scholarly usage in the USA in the 1930’s in connection with a study of the contemporary culture of the American Indians. Later, American ethnographers also studied the acculturation of the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, using the term to conceal the enforced assimilation of oppressed peoples.

After the war the problem of acculturation occupied a prominent position in the works of scholars in India and Latin America—that is, in countries where national consolidation involved a population made up of groups with diverse origins and various levels of cultural and historical development.

The study of the processes of acculturation demands a historical approach to the culture of the peoples being studied. In Soviet literature the term acculturation has not been given an independent meaning, but the processes it designates have been successfully studied by Soviet ethnographers as processes of assimilation and rapprochement of peoples.

REFERENCE

Bakhta, V. M. “Problema akkul’turatsii v sovremennoi etnograficheskoi literature SShA.” In the anthology Sovremennaia amerikanskaia etnografiia. Moscow, 1963. (With bibliography.)

V. M. BAKHTA

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References in periodicals archive

Berry's (1997) bidimensional model identifies four acculturation strategies: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization.

The Effects of Perceived Islamophobia on Group Identification and Acculturation Attitudes

Research suggests that acculturation influences one's career aspirations and career outcome expectations (Reynolds & Constantine, 2007) and vocational identity (Shih & Brown, 2000), but not career beliefs (Mahadevan, 2010).

Acculturation and Career Development of International and Domestic College Students

Furthermore, English language media use has long been regarded as an important contributing factor in the acculturation process (Subervi-Velez, 1986).

Shifting Demographics: Understanding How Ethnically Diverse Networks Influence Latinos' Political Uses of Social Media and Offline Political Engagement

Acculturation refers to changes in cultural attitudes, values and behaviors as an outcome of continuous, first-hand contact between members of two distinct cultural groups (Social Science Research Council, 1954).

Acculturation Strategies of Asian-Americans

"The most widely researched...approach to acculturation has been John Berry's acculturation framework," (10) which has shown that two critical issues are debated before the acculturation process begins: Do we want to preserve our cultural heritage, and how willing are we to interact with this new culture?

Human Intelligence Trainees and the Struggle to Acculturate

Participants had an average SL-ASIA score of 2.18 (SD = 0.54), indicating an average of low acculturation to the American culture in the study sample.

The Relationship between Acculturation and Experimental Pain Sensitivity in Asian Americans with Knee Osteoarthritis

Does the Puerto Rican physical health literature reproduce the main criticisms of the culture of poverty and the critiques of the acculturation literature?

Contextualizing the Relationship between Culture and Puerto Rican Health: Towards a Place-Based Framework of Minority Health Disparities

This project, using quantitative methods, investigated whether the level of acculturation and level of stigma affect Hmong women's attitudes toward and willingness to seek counseling services.

Does Acculturation and Stigma Affect Hmong Women's Attitudes Toward and Willingness to Seek Counseling Services?

However, to the best of our knowledge, no one has examined early study abroad Korean students returning from the United States and their adaptation problems, health, and leisure during their acculturation in Korea.

Acculturation and leisure benefits in Korean students returning from the United States