ACCULTURATION ESSAY (A SUMMARY OF ACCULTURATION)

• ­­UNIVERSITY OF CARABOBO
• SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
• DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES
• READING AND TEXT PRODUCTION
• ASSIGNMENT: CAUSE AND EFFECT
• STUDENTS’ NAMES: BECERRIT, E. TROSELL, ORLANDO.
• SECTION: 71
• VERSION: 2
• DATE: 10^TH FEBRUARY 2015

ACCULTURATION

Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups… under this definition, acculturation is to be distinguished from culture change, of which it is but one aspect, and assimilation, which is at times a phase of acculturation (Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits cited in Berry, 2005). Consequently, it is possible to say that this represents people´s everyday life. Furthermore, Acculturation leads to adaptation to a new society and to culture stress amongst its denizens.

Acculturated people means not only being adapted into the new society, but also being immersed into a multifaceted adaptation process. That systematic issue involves two adaptational criteria. The first one, It is psychological adaptation. This one carries environmental factors like social support, which means the help for a person to be adjusted. Another one is life events, which are coaxed with constant performance and current affairs and behavioural shift, which are all the actions given by social interaction that permit individuals to establish ties and uphold each other as equal members of a civilisation. The second one is the sociocultural adaptation. This carries environmental variables; for example, education adjustment, which is reflected on the possibilities that the individual has got to accomplish with cultural instruction. Another one is cultural knowledge, which is termed as the information acquired by the person to survive into a new society. Finally, positive intergroup, this phrase is sought after by beings to build that knowledge through cooperative cultural learning.

Regarding acculturation stress, this can vary from positive to negative in balance; in addition, It is essential to mention that this stress has got positive equilibria. One of those equilibria is new opportunities, this means that the person is able to develop itself by its own possibilities. Another kind of equilibrium is assimilation, this means getting used to doing what It is shown in that particular culture and then, Integration appears as the last important one to determine way of living. On the whole, the stress caused by the acculturation process can lead to positive or negative changes into the lifestyle of immigrants.

To summarise, acculturation is the process in which individuals from a different place pass when they move to another one which is not theirs; for this reason, it is found that those human beings that experiment such a new life, these ones suffer an adaptational practice within a psychological and sociocultural view. Concerning acculturation, it is stated that people undergo culture stress amongst them; consequently, positive and negative features occur in everyday life.

Berry, J. (2005) Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural  Relations, 29, 709, 697-712.