Assimilation and Acculturation

During much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term assimilation was used to describe the process by which immigrants inevitably gave up their culture of origin for the sake of adopting the mainstream language and culture of their adopted country. However, by the late 20th century, the term acculturation was adopted by scholars to describe the more fundamental process of bidirectional change that occurs when two ethnocultural groups come into sustained contact with each other. From this latter perspective, assimilation is only one of the many acculturation strategies that immigrant and national minorities may adopt as they strive to adapt to mainstream society.

Such strategies have become more and more necessary as immigration, legal or illegal, has become increasingly common across the globe. Through immigration and the recognition of the rights of indigenous and national minorities, most 19th-century nation-states have been transformed from being more or less unicultural to being multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual states. Following the height of nation building in 19th-century Europe, the term host majority was ascribed to the “core founding members” of a nation who constituted the dominant ancestral community in control of the state.

Traditionally, host majorities expected immigrants to assimilate to the culture and values of the receiving society. Host majorities have found it easier to assimilate immigrants when their cultural differences were reduced to exotic manifestations such as ethnic restaurants, music, and dance. However, host societies have found it difficult to share jobs, housing, and welfare with immigrants, whom they often see as unentitled to compete for such limited resources and as contributing to the growing cultural and physical insecurity of the society. At stake is whether or not host communities [Page 31]wish to accept, nurture, assimilate, or reject the distinctiveness of immigrants as members of cultural communities. Ultimately, will dominant majority members allow immigrant minorities not only to maintain their distinctive culture and language, but also to transform the institutions, culture, and values of the host society?

This entry examines various models of acculturation and how strategies of acculturation may be linked to political views, socioeconomic characteristics, and personality traits.