An introduction to acculturation
This video is an explanation of what acculturation is by using Berry’s Model.
We live in a hyper connected world. With the dominance of capitalism, continents and countries are linked all together. This is how diversity and multiculturality appeared in mostly all occidental countries.
The field of cross cultural psychology got interested in the acculturation of people living in a foreign country. We are going to explain acculturation through Berry’s Model.
Berry’s model relies on two simple closed questions:
- “Is it considered to be of value to develop relationships with the larger society ?” which asks about to what extent someone socially feels comfortable into the majority cultural group. If the person answers “Yes”, it means that the person attaches importance to this culture, and wants to develop the bonds with it.
- “Is it considered to be of value to maintain one’s cultural heritage ?” which underlines to what extent people tend to remain close to the signs of their belonging to the minority cultural group. If the person answers “Yes”, it means that the person attaches importance to it’s cultural background and wants to preserve it.
We could think at first glance that those two questions are opposed, that if yes, we want to develop relationship with the larger society, we can’t at the same time maintain our cultural heritage. But it is very important to note that the two dimensions are decorrelated, which means that yes, it is also possible to create a bond with the new society functionning and at the same time keep the bond with the original culture. That is what Berry calls “integration”. We can link the “integration” process with the term “melting pot” refering to a mix of multiple cultures creating a new kind of culture. This is more or less what someone does when he integrates the two cultures.
Conversly, it is possible to not feel any bond to any of the two cultures, which is what Berry calls “marginalization”.
The two other categories are related to the importance attached to one culture, whether their home culture, which is called “Separation” or “Segregation”, or the larger society culture, which is called “Assimilation”.
Thanks to this model, we can understand the position of any individual living in a foreign country. In addition, a variety of factors can influence the process of acculturation. The person can struggle because of different personal difficulties. We can cite the choice or non-choice of the migration, the language level of the host country, the level of self-esteem, of autonomy or the social support. The person can also struggle because of different external or environmental difficulties, like racism, openness of the host country to promote communication, the access of contexts enabling cultural mixity, or institutional different types of segregation, like spatial segregation or social level segregation.
In the point of view of a psychologist, there is no judgment nor expectations of the position of any individual in the Berry’s Model. Everyone has a different way to cope with this kind of situations, and they try to reach the position that make them feel the more comfortable. However, the suffering of oneself matters and must be supported by, and we know that the “marginalization” position is highly risky for the mental health. Indeed, social identification is very important to reach social support.
Nevertheless, in a political point of view, the subject of acculturation is seen totally differently. For example, it is of interest to notice that far-right politics, most notably in France, might purposely misuse the Berry’s terms. They will rather use “integration” instead of “assimilation”. The possible reasons of this misuse could be to move the norm, initially in the “integration” position, into the “assimilation” position. They may find interests by making people accepting more easily the acculturation of immigrants by incorporating the larger society culture, here the “traditional French culture” which matters a lot for the far-right politicians, and cut the bond with their home culture.
The video at the top of the article is explaining in a clear way the process of acculturation and the Berry’s Model. Moreover, the podcast called “Interview with Prithvi about acculturation” is an interview based on the Berry’s Model, with an Indian person living in France. This small talk permits to have an insight of someone who is currently experiencing the acculturation process.
References
- Berry, J. (2000). Acculturation et identité, dans J. Costa-Lascoux, M.-A. Hily, G. Vermès, Pluralités des cultures et dynamiques identitaires, L’Harmattan, 83.
- Writer, S. (2020, 27th of March). What Is the Melting Pot Theory? Reference. https://www.reference.com/world-view/melting-pot-theory-7af2725e4c28b57
- Mourgue, M. (2021, 15th of November). À droite, les candidats s’attardent sur l’immigration. Le Figaro. https://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/a-droite-les-candidats-s-attardent-sur-l-immigration-20211114