The original meaning of acculturation refers to the process of cultural change that takes place as a result of contact between cultural groups. Such contact and change occur for many reasons (e.g., colonization and migration); it continues after initial contact in culturally diverse societies, where ethnocultural communities maintain features of their heritage cultures over generations; and it takes place in all groups in contact. Three other concepts flow from this first one. First, psychological acculturation refers to personal changes in individuals who are participants in a culture-contact situation, where their culture has been changed; they are influenced both directly by the external (usually dominant) culture and by their own changing culture of which the individual is a member. Second, the concept of acculturation strategies ...

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