Assimilation, Cultural and Structural

When a member of an ethnic minority group acquires the behavior patterns, lifestyles, values, and language of the mainstream culture, he or she has become culturally assimilated. Cultural assimilation is the process by which an individual or group acquires the cultural characteristics of a different ethnic or cultural group. Because the dominant racial, cultural, ethnic, or religious group controls most of the social, economic, and political institutions within a society, members of ethnic minority groups must acquire its cultural characteristics in order to experience social class mobility and structural inclusion in society.

Assimilation often occurs when a minority group voluntarily acquires the behavior patterns and lifestyles of the dominant group in order to attain social-class and economic mobility. In the history of most nations that were ...