6. Acculturation issues: factors, stages

Acculturation was discussed in the beginning of the 20th century by American cultural anthropologists R.Redfield, R.Linton and M.Herskovits. At the first stage, they considered acculturation to be the exchange of cultural features that results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact.

Gradually, scholars refused to see acculturation as a group phenomenon and started to treat it on the level of individual psychology. According to the new interpretation, acculturation has come to be viewed as changes in value systems, behaviour and an individual's social patterns.

Main forms of acculturation: assimilation, separation, marginalization and integration.

Assimilation is a type of acculturation when an individual accepts values and norms of a new culture rejecting all his/her values and norms.

Separation is rejection of a new culture with preserving one's cultural identity. If it is the case, representatives of a non-dominant group prefer certain isolation from a dominant culture. If representatives of a dominant culture themselves insist on such isolation, then it is called segregation.

Marginalization means loss of one's cultural identity, on the one hand, and absence of identification from the majority, on the other hand. This occurs as a result of inability to maintain one's identity (due to some external reasons) and absence of interest in gaining a new identity (possibly, due to discrimination or segregation on the part of a dominant culture).

Integration presupposes identification both with a new and with an old cultures.

Acculturation is based on communication. Any communication has three interrelated aspects – cognitive, affective and behavioral.

Acculturation presupposes first of all the most fundamental changes in cognitive structures, i.e. modifications in the person's worldview. The more developed is one's cognitive system, the more ability to understand other cultures one shows. In order to have fruitful relations with people of other cultures, one should share their feelings, i.e. one should perceive a culture on the affective level. The decisive factor in adaptation is acquisition of skills and knowledge how to act in everyday situations.

Complete adaptation means that all the three aspects of communication take place simultaneously, in co-ordination and balance.

One of the possible models of acculturation entails four stages:

•Tourist. The early stage, in which the new culture is almost totally inaccessible. The spoken language might be termed "phrasebookese". People draw extensively on the first language strategies and resources.

•Survivor. The stage of functional language and functional understanding of the culture.

•Immigrant. It is the stage reached by most literate people who spend an extended period of time working and living in a foreign country.

•Citizen. The stage that is almost at the level of the native speaker. We would expect this person to have both pronunciation and gestures very similar to those of natives.

The notion of culture shock was introduced by an American scholar Kalervo Oberg. The anthropologist notices that entering a new culture is accompanied by a number of unpleasant feelings. The main cause of culture shock is cultural differences.

Stages of acculturation.

The first stage is the period of excitement and euphoria over the newness of the surroundings. This stage is called "honeymoon". The majority of people going abroad are full of optimism and hope. Still, this period does not last long.

The second stage (disintegration stage) – acculturation stress – emerges as the individual feels the intrusion of more and more cultural differences into his/her own image of self and security. At this stage the individual relies on and seeks out the support of his/her fellow countrymen in the second culture.

The third stage (reintegration stage) is critical, as acculturation stress reaches its peak. It may lead to somatic and psychic disorders. A part of migrants give in and return home. The fourth stage (autonomy stage) is one of gradual, and at first tentative recovery: some problems of acculturation are solved while other problems continue for some time. The person begins to accept the differences in thinking and feeling that surround him/her. The fifth stage (interdependence stage) is near or complete recovery, either assimilation or integration, acceptance of the new culture and self-confidence in the "new" person that has developed in this culture. The process of adaptation may last from several months up to four or five years.

Acculturation stress factors

How much pronounced and lasting acculturation stress is depends on many factors. Two groups – internal (individual) and external (group).

The first set of factors(internal): sex, age, motivation, life experience, and personal qualities. The external factors of acculturation stress are cultural distance, cultural peculiarities, immigration policy of a state, etc.

Acculturation stress is a complex and painful state. But it shows that one undergoes personal development, breaks stereotypes, which requires a lot of physical and psychological resources.