Acculturation
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However, anthropologist Franz Boas (1888, pp. 631-632) argued that all people acculturate, not just "savages" and minorities: "It is not too much to say that there is no people whose customs have developed uninfluenced by foreign culture, that has not borrowed arts and ideas which it has developed in its own way", giving the example that "the steel harpoon used by American and Scotch whalers is a slightly modified imitation of the Eskimo harpoon".
Subsequently, anthropologists Redfield, Linton and Herskovits (1936, p.149) developed the oft quoted definition:
"Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups".
Despite definitions and evidence that acculturation entails two-way processes of change, research and theory have continued with a focus on the adjustments and changes experienced by aboriginal peoples, immigrants, sojourners, and other minorities in response to their contact with the dominant majority.
Thus, acculturation can be conceived to be the processes of cultural learning imposed upon minorities by the fact of being minorities. If enculturation is first-culture learning, then acculturation is second-culture learning. This has often been conceived to be a unidimensional, zero-sum cultural conflict in which the minority's culture is displaced by the dominant group's culture in a process of assimilation.
The traditional definition sometimes differentiates between acculturation by an individual (transculturation) and that by a group - usually very large (acculturation).
Additionally, "acculturation" has been used by Matusevich as a term describing the paradigm shift public schools must undergo in order to successfully integrate emerging technologies in a meaningful way into classrooms (Matusevich, 1995). The old and the new additional definitions have a boundary that blurs in modern multicultural societies, where a child of an immigrant family might be encouraged to acculturate both the dominant also well as the ancestral culture, either of which may be considered "foreign", but in fact, they are both integral parts of the child's development.
Beginning perhaps with Child (1943) and Lewin (1948), acculturation began to be conceived as the strategic reaction of the minority to continuous contact with the dominant group. See Rudmin's 2003 tabulation of acculturation theories.[1]Thus, there are several options the minority can choose, each with different motivations and different consequences. These options include assimilation to the majority culture, a defensive assertion of the minority culture, a bicultural blending of the two cultures, a bicultural alternation between cultures depending on contexts, or a diminishment of both cultures. Following Berry's (1980; 2003) terminology, four major options or strategies are now commonly called assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization.
Acculturative stress refers to the psychological, somatic, and social difficulties that may accompany acculturation processes. This was first noted by Redfield, Linton and Herskovits (1936, p. 152), calling it "psychic conflict" that may arise from conflicting cultural norms. Born (1970) and Berry (1980) have theorized that acculturative stress is a fundamental psychological force in acculturative processes. Ausbel (1960) first measured "acculturative stress", and many have since claimed that it is a significant problem for many minority people (e.g., Berry, Kim, Minde & Mok, 1983 [2]; Burnam, Hough, Karno, Escobar & Telles, 1987; Hovey, 2000). However, many studies have found no evidence that acculturation is distressful (e.g., Inkeles, 1969[3]; Rudmin, 2006[4]). In fact, in a study of 55 samples in 13 nations, Sam, Vedder, Ward and Horenczyk (2006, pp. 127-130) found that immigrant adolescents had better mental health than their non-immigrant classmates.
Group foreign-origin acculturation
Massive intake of another culture's traits is the most classical and narrow definition of "acculturation". Such acculturation may be adequately adapted into another's, modernizing and advancing it through the inflow of technology or the enrichment of literature. For example,
- The Chinese written language (Hanzi) was taken, with various degrees of modification by places that previously have no written records: Japan (as Kanji), Korea (as Hanja), and Vietnam (as Chữ-nôm). In addition, Chinese vocabulary had also been taken throughout the history. They have therefore developed a linguistic affinity in several, though not nearly all, aspects -- called the CJKV language family in computer science.
But sometimes, the acculturation has irreversible impact of damaging the recipient culture, as in the cases of:
- Many indigenous peoples, such as First Nations of Canada, Native Americans of the USA, Taiwanese aborigines, and Australian Aborigines -- have mostly lost their traditional culture (most evidently language) and replaced by that of the dominant new culture.
Such later detrimental case is related to assimilation.
The term has most often described Westernization Natives having adopted to Western cultures.
pidgin is a mixed language that has developed to help communication between members of different cultures in contact. This usually occurs in situations of trade or colonialism. Pidgin English is a simplified form of English. It blends English grammar with that of a native language. This was first used in Chinese ports and similar pidgins have developed in Papua New Guinea and West Africa.
In situations of continuous contact, cultures have exchanged and blended foods, recipes, music, dances, clothing, tools, and technologies.
