1009IBA Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Acculturation, Trans-Cultural Diffusion, Culture Shock
4 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
L10. Culture Changes: Immigration and Acculturation
Lecture Outline and Main Points
• How might we conceptualise the cultural diversity and identity construal resulting from
immigration?
o Implications and potential misunderstandings
• What factors influence culture shock, acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation?
• Explain the dialectic of homogenisation and fragmentation of cultures
• Describe contributors of cultural diffusion, convergence and hybridity
Migration and Cultural Diversity
• Immigration is a major contributor to cultural diversity
• A bi-polar movement of skilled immigrants is changing the historical pattern of unskilled
labourers displaced from their home countries
• All immigrants face the same task of moving between their ethnic group and the mainstream
cultural group
• Globalisation:
o Redefines peoples' movements in contemporary societies; and marks new parameters
for interpreting immigration
• Migration involves both emigration and immigration
• Migratory phenomena
o E.g. Labour migration, refugees and permanent settlement affect most countries
Identity Reconstruction for Immigrants
• The melting pot ideal (Zubrzycki, 1997):
o To ameliorate the difference between 'us' and 'them' in the hope that 'we' become more
like 'them', and 'they' see us as less alien and more like 'we'
• The salad bowl ideal:
o That a multitude of ethnic cultures can coexist within a given environment, retaining
their original heritage while functioning in the mainstream culture
Immigration, Fear and Anxiety
• The perception of threat plays an important role in prejudice toward outgroups and
immigrants
o Realistic threat:
• Threat to economic and political power and well-being of ingroup
o Symbolic threat:
• Differences in values, attitudes and beliefs
o Negative stereotypes:
• A basis for negative expectations
o Intergroup anxiety:
• Fear of being personally embarrassed, rejected or ridiculed in intergroup
interactions
Acculturation (Berry, 1986)
• A process of various changes that different cultural groups are involved in after being in
contact over a period of time
• Model of acculturation identifies 4 orientations:
1. Integration (positive/positive)
2. Assimilation (negative/positive)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Implications and potential misunderstandings: what factors influence culture shock, acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation, explain the dialectic of homogenisation and fragmentation of cultures, describe contributors of cultural diffusion, convergence and hybridity. Labour migration, refugees and permanent settlement affect most countries. Fear of being personally embarrassed, rejected or ridiculed in intergroup interactions. Acculturation (berry, 1986: a process of various changes that different cultural groups are involved in after being in contact over a period of time, model of acculturation identifies 4 orientations: Integration (positive/positive: assimilation (negative/positive, separation (positive/negative, marginalisation (negative/negative) Culture shock: refers to disorientation and anxiety of entering new culture, adler"s u-curved model, honeymoon stage, excitement of being somewhere new and different, disintegration. Frustration and stress at differences: reorientation, adjustment to new culture, adaptation, becoming more comfortable by engaging the culture, biculturalism, can cope comfortably in both home and new cultures.
