Acculturation
Books on Acculturation, Culture and Cultural Studies
Acculturation is the adoption of or adaptation to an alien culture. Acculturation is a process of cultural transformation initiated by contacts between different cultures.
Acculturation takes place as societies experience the transforming impact of international cultural contact. The global trend towards modern economic organization and developed market economies has been accompanied by a process of cultural transformation. In the modern world, there is great ease of international communication and interaction between cultures, but sociologists have generally focused attention on the global impact of the capitalist western world on other societies.
While each society experiences a unique process of cultural and economic transformation, there are some common trends that appear to be linked to the development of complex market economies, a wage employment system and urbanization.
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Individuals experience acculturation when their social roles and socialization are shaped by norms and values that are largely foreign to their native culture. Educational and occupational experiences are the primary agents of the individual's acculturation process. Some sociologists use the term to refer simply to the process of learning and absorbing a culture, making it synonymous with socialization, but ‘enculturation’ is a more appropriate word for that meaning.
Acculturalization, Acculturational - Acculturation
Acculturate, Acculturize - cause to undergo acculturation
Acculturative - involving or producing acculturation
"Black Elk Speaks" and "Bread Givers": Acculturation - Discusses two forms of acculturation that appear in "Black Elk Speaks" translated by John Neihardt. These conditions are then compared to similar realities presented in "Bread Givers" by Anzia Yezierska.
Books on Acculturation
Immigrant
Youth in Cultural Transition: Acculturation, Identity, and Adaptation Across National
Contexts
An international team of psychologists - acculturation, identity, and development - data
from over 7,000 immigrant youth from diverse cultural backgrounds living in 13 countries
of settlement.
Four patterns are followed by youth during their acculturation:
• an integration pattern, in which youth identify with both cultures;
• an ethnic pattern, in which youth are oriented to their own group;
• a national pattern, in which youth look to the national society; and
• a diffuse pattern, in which youth are uncertain about how to live interculturally.
Acculturation:
Advances in Theory, Measurement, and Applied Research (Decade of Behavior)
The
Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology
Good book for those who are interested in the topic of acculturation. Overview of
theories, concepts and methods.
Acculturation
and Psychological Adaptation (Contributions in Psychology)
Addresses the psychological impact of interethnic contact and acculturation in Latin
American settings. Focusses on the effects of acculturation on self-esteem among
adolescents. An account of relevant theoretical and empirical literature on interethnic
contact and acculturation. Research on acculturation to North American and European
settings. This book shows that psychological changes occur in all groups involved in the
contact, reinforcing the idea that acculturation is a special case of mutual influence.
Acculturation
and Heritage Language Maintenance: Cultural and Educational Experiences of Chinese
Americans
Focuses on the cultural and educational experiences of Chinese Americans. Focuses on the
acculturation process and its impact on the ethnic identity and language maintenance among
Chinese American families. Timely subject in light of the demographic shifts in the U.S.
that reveal the arrival of large number of Chinese immigrant families. Relevant,
insightful data on the Chinese American immigrant experience.
Bibliography:
J.A. Cobas, H. Balcazar, M.B. Benin, V.M.Keith, and Yinong Chong. "Acculturation and Low Birthweight Infants among Latino Women: A Reanalysis of HHANES Data with Structural Equation Models." American Journal of Public Health 86 (March,1996):394-396
H. Balcazar, G. Peterson, and J.A. Cobas. “Acculturation and Health-related Risk Behaviors Among Mexican American Pregnant Women.” American Journal of Health Behavior (November-December 1996):425-433.
Two Different Worlds: Acculturation Stress and Adaptation
among Cuban and Nicaraguan Families -
Andres G. Gil, University of Connecticut, William A. Vega, University of California
G. Peterson, J.A. Cobas, H. Balcazar, and J. Amling. "Acculturation and Risk Behavior among Pregnant Mexican American Females: A Structural Equation Model." Sociological Inquiry 68 (November, 1998):536-556.
Acculturation and smoking behavior in Asian-American
populations
Grace X. Ma, Yin Tan, Jamil I Toubbeh, Xuefen Su, Steven E. Shive and Yajia Lan
Acculturation had a variable effect on smoking behavior: more acculturated youth and less
acculturated male adults had higher smoking rates than the less acculturated youth and the
more acculturated male adults. Smoking rates for females were generally lower than those
of males regardless of acculturation status; acculturated adult females had a higher
smoking rate than the less acculturated.
Acculturation and Psychological Well-Being among Immigrant Adolescents in Finland - A Comparative Study of Adolescents From Different Cultural Backgrounds.
Adapting a Measure of Acculturation for Cross-Cultural
Research - Felicitas A. Dela Cruz, DNSc, RN, Azusa Pacific University, Geraldine V.
Padilla, PhD, American Cancer Society, Elaine O. Agustin, BSN, RN, Methodist Hospital
Describes a systematic and replicable process used in adapting and modifying A Short
Acculturation Scale for Hispanics for use with Filipino Americans. Depicts the multiple
and iterative steps of translation and back translation to produce ASASFA in English.
Acculturation and the Mental Health of Latina Women in the Women, Infant, and Children Program - Antonia Cordero, Brenda Kurz, University of Connecticut. Program compared five measures of acculturation and mental health status/utilization.
Relations of Depression, Acculturation, Socioeconomic
Status in a Latino Sample - Israel Cuellar, University of Texas-Pan American
Robert E. Roberts, University of Texas Health Science Center.
Data from 1,271 Latino first-year college students; 89% self-labeled as either Mexican
American or Hispanic, 11% as Mexican National. Symptoms of depression were compared for
various acculturation levels, bicultural groups with controls for SES and gender. The
Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II) was used to assess
acculturation characteristics. Variance in depression scores was influenced more by gender
and SES than by acculturation or ethnic identity status. Assimilated Mexican Americans
reported significantly fewer symptoms of depression than more traditional counterparts.
Ethnicity and acculturation were not found to lessen or increase risk for depression, and
SES associated with ethnicity was found to directly affect depression scores.
Acculturation, Drinking, and Intimate Partner Violence
among Hispanic Couples in the United States: Longitudinal Study -
Raul Caetano, Suhasini Ramisetty-Mikler
Christine McGrath, University of Texas School of Public Health.
Examines the 5-year association between acculturation, drinking, and male-to-female
partner violence and female-to-male partner violence among Hispanic couples. Drinking is
associated with acculturation among women. Couples with mixed acculturation level are less
at risk for male-to-female partner violence. Acculturation level at Time 1 is not
associated with male-to-female partner violence and female-to-male partner violence status
5 years later.
Gang Membership and Acculturation: ARSMA-II and
Choloization -
D. A. Lopez, Patricia O'Donnell Brummett, California State University, Northridge
Choloization, a staple in gang research on Latinos, asserts that gang members are less
acculturated than non-gang members. A sample of Latino incarcerated youths from Los
Angeles County (N = 370) is used and the veracity of the concept of choloization using the
ARSMA-II Acculturation Scale is examined.