Essays on acculturation


It is easy to keep some people apart on the basis of their skin colour or other physical features. One can see what people have been, what they were and what they are turning into, and why. This is more or less true. Acculturation is a social process.

The aboriginals for instance in their use of language confine to their society describing relationships rather than judging or evaluate. The use of language enables the creation of visual images, distinction from outsiders thus maintaining societal solidarity and boundaries.

Measures for Acculturation Language, often the largest initial barrier that immigrants encounter, is the first step and most widely assessed cultural practice associated with acculturation.

Acculturation Essay


Thus, acculturation studies the influence of a dominant culture on the subordinate culture. Differences in physical appearance are often used as a means of discrimination. As a group process assimilation encompasses life in general.

In the religious field, assimilation may take place when an individual or a group of individuals of a particular religious background get converted into some other religious sect 6r group.


Education is another conducive factor for assimilation. Externally, a minority member who attempts to acculturate may encounter resistance and discrimination from the host society, which could exacerbate psychological distress.

Full participation in social, cultural and economic life is allowed. Such exchanges of cultural traits also have taken place between Aryans and Dravidians. This is perhaps the most common form of acculturation: The existence of hate in the Canadian society is one such scenario siring a lot of suffering in the country.

Instead, these theorists view acculturation as multifaceted, such that ethnic culture and host culture exist on different dimensions. The term assimilation is generally applied to explain the fusion of two distinct cultural groups.

Gordon and other assimilation theorists view acculturation as one-directional, meaning that members of an ethnic group adopt the culture of the majority group.

Acculturation and Adaptation Among Immigrants and Refugees

Acculturation can morph into adaptation, a long-term form of acculturation, given a stable environment. One is a bipolar model, guided by a unidimensional perspective toward acculturation, assuming that ethnic identity and acculturation are in opposition to each other.

However, contemporary theorists on acculturation challenge this assumption.

The components of material culture are all the creations objects of the human kind and mind, for example, cars, faucets, computers, trees, minerals just to mention but a few.

According to Linton, a very special aspect of acculturation is that it is always the impact of a dominant prestige-laden society which influences the backward people. Kroeber, in this respect, observes: The Whites also borrowed some of the cultural traits for instance, food items from the native Indians.

It is more or less reciprocal. Language contributes a great deal in the advancement of the material and both the non-material cultures. Assimilation is possible only when the groups and individuals are in continuous contact with others. The third major measure of acculturation is ethnic identity, which refers to how members of an ethnic group relate to their own group as a subgroup of the larger society.

The primary focus lies in the change occurring among minority group members, particularly immigrants, after adopting the cultural features of the majority group.

Language helps in the description of reality, share experiences, feelings, and knowledge with other people. Further, complete assimilation may not take place. Two views emerge predicting opposite outcomes of psychological well-being as a result of acculturation. One school of thought argues that the more acculturated a member from a minority group is, the more psychological distress he or she suffers.

Essay on Assimilation

Prejudice as a Barrier to Assimilation:Culture Essay People in our world all come from an ethnic background, whether if the ethnicity is White American, African American, American Indian, Asian, and Hispanics our experiences and perceptions represent the values and decisions that are made in our life.

Although acculturation was a neutral term in this context (that is, change might take place in either or both groups), in practice, acculturation tended to induce more changes in one of the groups than in the other (Berry, a; as cited in Berry, ) Berry () argued that in all plural societies, cultural groups and their individual.

Strong Essays words ( pages) Essay on Acculturation in the Novels of V.S. Naipaul - Emigration from South Asia has been a dominant behavioural pattern on the subcontinent for centuries. Acculturation remains a significant issue in a diverse society.

The characteristic features of Acculturation – Essay

It refers to the process of cultural exchanges as a result of continuous firsthand contact READ MORE HERE. Essay on Assimilation – Assimilation is one of the types of interaction. Published by Experts Share Your is the home of thousands of essays published by experts like you!

Publish your original essays now. It is normally preceded by another process called ‘acculturation’. Acculturation is a preliminary and necessary step.

Free acculturation papers, essays, and research papers. Intercultural Communication and Acculturation - Communication within one culture can often be difficult, convoluted and result in many misunderstanding, this process can be significantly exacerbated however when communicators are from different cultures.

Essays on acculturation
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