Immigrants, Acculturation of

Acculturative Strategies

Based on where in a change trajectory the migrant is on this crossing between host culture and the culture of origin, the migrant is likely to exhibit preference for one of the four strategies of acculturation: (1) assimilation, when individuals prefer to identify themselves through and interact almost exclusively with the culture of the new context; (2) separation, when individuals show no desire to interact with the new culture, but rather prefer to maintain cultural patterns they held prior to migration; (3) integration, when individuals opt for continued nurturance of their cultures of origin but also seek interactions with their new cultures; and (4) marginalization, when there is no interest in either maintaining one's own culture or taking on the culture of the host (Berry, 1997; Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995).

An individual's ability to adapt to the new culture does not necessarily imply that the person has to give up cultural values and norms characteristic of his or her culture of origin, nor does it imply that the goodness of fit between the individual characteristics and demands of the host culture has been fully attained. Rather, as is the case with individuals who choose to use an acculturative strategy of integration, the ability to adapt to the new culture reflects one's ability to attain an adaptive positive outcome within a larger ecology, where two sets of cultural norms and values exist at the same point in historical time, with each set of norms and values placing varying degrees of demands on the individual.

Acculturative Strategies as a Reflection of Goodness of Fit

While different groups of migrants may have some acculturation characteristics in common, there are still variations between the groups and, especially, within groups.

The extent to which an individual shows a preference for one acculturation strategy over another is not only the function of individual choice but also the function of the freedom of choice provided to the migrant by the host culture and the function of the level to which members of the host culture are accepting of the choice that the migrant has made (Berry, 1997). In other words, characteristics of the migrant (e.g., choice of acculturation strategy) and characteristics of the migrant's new environment (e.g., support for the freedom of choice) both contribute to the degree of goodness of fit between the acculturating individual and his or her new cultural setting. Acculturation strategies such as assimilation and integration reflect [Page 574]increased goodness of fit between the acculturating person and his or her new context, whereas an increase in strategies such as separation and marginalization points to a lack of fit between the acculturating individual and the context (Berry, 1997).

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