List of Abbreviations
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Acculturation
2.1.1 Theories of acculturation
Several theorists have proposed different forms, stages and nature of the process of acculturation and its outcomes. The major issues concerning these theories are the direction of acculturative change, dimensions of the acculturation process and outcomes of acculturation. Based on their views on these issues, two main schools of thought emerged.
The first school of thought is best conceptualized by Gordon (1964), who stated the outcome of cultural contact is assimilation, that is, over time the migrant individuals or groups will adopt practices of the host society and resemble more and more to the host society. Gordon (1964) suggested the following seven progressive stages to cultural assimilation: cultural or behavioral assimilation, structural assimilation, marital assimilation, attitudinal reciprocal assimilation, behavioral reciprocal assimilation, civic assimilation and identificational assimilation. The last stage of identificational assimilation involves the migrant group or individual adopting the practices and identifying with the host society fully. Thus, the outcome of acculturation is developing a self- image that is defined by identification with the host culture.
This view was supported by other theorists (for example, Gans, 1973; Sandberg, 1973) who considered acculturation as synonymous to assimilation which is a unidimensional process where only the migrant group experience change and the outcome comprises of
the migrant group shedding their own culture of origin and adopting the host culture fully.
Contrary to the assimilation theory of Gordon (1964), another school of thought introduced the concept of segmented assimilation (Alba & Nee, 1997; Zhou, 1997).
According to this view, acculturation outcome is not always the linear assimilation of migrant group into the host society and culture. Apart from linear assimilation, other acculturation outcomes like moving towards one’s original culture and rejecting the host culture are also possible. This view is best represented by J.W. Berry’s theory (Berry, 1980; 1992; 2005) that considered acculturation to be a multidimensional process where both the cultural groups in contact experience some changes.
Berry (2005) defined acculturation as “a process of cultural and psychological changes that involve various forms of mutual accommodation, leading to some longer-term psychological and sociocultural adaptations between both the groups” (p. 699).
Acculturation is a continuous process and even after the initial cultural contact, acculturation follows till different cultures coexist. To foster living together, both migrant and host group involve in some reciprocal accommodations which result in the development of long term adaptations like learning each other’s language, celebrating different festivals, respecting rituals and so on; that facilitate living in situations of cultural contact.
The preferable outcome of acculturation is successful adaptation which generally refers to “changes that take place in individuals or groups in response to environmental demands” (Berry, 1997; p.13). Adaptations can be at psychological and sociocultural levels (Ward, 1996; Ward & Rana-Deuba, 1999). Psychological adaptation involves psychological and physical wellbeing (Berry, 2005), clear sense of personal and cultural identity and satisfaction in the context of cultural contact (Berry, 1997). Sociocultural
adaptation refers to the ability of migrant individuals to manage daily life issues in a different cultural society (Berry, 1997).
Usually, adaptations occur as a result of changes in the individual’s behavioral repertoire to be effective in a distinct cultural context. The extent of change in behavioral repertoire is represented in terms of four acculturation attitudes or strategies (Berry, Kim, Power, Young, & Bujaki, 1989; Berry, 1997). These strategies from the point of view of the migrant group reflect their preference to maintain their own culture and identity; and the preference for having contact with and participating in host culture (Berry, 1980). The acculturation strategies from the perspective of the non-dominant (Berry, 2005) or the migrant group are:
Integration: This strategy reflects an interest in maintaining one’s own cultural heritage, as well as, being in contact and participating in the host societal culture.
Assimilation: Individuals do not wish to maintain their original cultural identity
and seek to become a part of the host culture shedding their own original culture.
Separation: Individuals wish to maintain their own culture and avoid any
interaction with the host culture.
Marginalization: There is no interest in maintaining one’s heritage culture, also
no interest in the host culture or seeking interaction with it.
In some situations, adaptations take place rather easily, but acculturation often produces stress for the migrant groups (Berry & Annis, 1974). Acculturative stress refers to
“psychocultural stress due to cultural differences found between a host culture and an incoming culture marked by reduction in the physical and mental health status of groups undergoing acculturation” (Nwadiora & McAdoo, 1996, p. 477). High acculturative
stress was related to negative outcomes like anxiety, depression, poor psychological functioning (Crockett et al., 2007).
Berry’s theory also recognized the importance of the dominant power of the host group in influencing the way in which acculturation would take place (Berry, 1980). Often, the migrant groups form a minority community in the host society, and hence, the host or the dominant groups’ attitudes enforce certain forms of acculturation on the migrant group (Berry, 2005). Acculturative attitudes from the perspective of the dominant groups are:
Multiculturalism: The host group is open and inclusive in its orientation towards cultural diversity which allows the migrant group to integrate.
Melting Pot: The host group pursues only their own culture and seeks the migrant
group to shed their original culture and assimilate into the host group’s culture.
Segregation: The host group pursues their own culture and keeps the migrant group
segregated away from it.
Exclusion: The host group imposes marginalization on the migrant group.
According to Berry’s theory, the various acculturation strategies have vastly different outcomes for both the host and migrant group. In terms of cultural adjustment, individuals pursuing the integration strategy reported the highest level of adjustment and those pursuing marginalization strategy reported the lowest adjustment (Berry &
Sam, 1997; Berry 2005). Evidence suggested a concurrent trend in terms of the stress outcome; that is, pursuit of integration acculturation strategy was related to least stress, marginalization strategy related to highest stress, and in between were the assimilation and separation strategies (Berry, 1997).
According to Berry’s multidimensional model, acculturation results in certain changes that are visible (in terms of language, rituals) or invisible (in terms of values, assumptions). It is a well-integrated model that considers both the host and migrant society’s attitudes towards acculturation and changes at both individual and group or cultural level. Thus, keeping up with most recent studies in the field of acculturation (Castro, 2003), the current research also utilized Berry’s multidimensional approach to evaluate acculturation.