Acculturation: a social identity approach

Abstract

Under the influence of globalisation, people are, and are continuing to migrate around the globe on a large scale. Acculturation deals with the process of cultural and psychological change of immigrants as they live and interact with the host society. Berry’s (1992) framework of acculturation strategies is the predominant framework in acculturation studies today. According to the framework, four strategies (integration, separation, assimilation and marginalisation) emerge from the interplay between the maintenance of the ethnic culture and the adoption and integration of the host culture. It is argued that while this framework is useful in describing how groups of immigrants acculturate in a particular society, it is not sufficient to explain why people acculturate in different ways. Social identity theory is the proposed perspective in examining the nature of the acculturation process. The four acculturation strategies are argued to be the result of the activation of the in-group/ out-group mechanism, which is treated as a generic social cognitive mechanism by social psychologists. While the current study is not the first to discuss acculturation from a social cognitive perspective, it is the first to claim and empirically test a direct connection. Forty randomly selected participants were recruited in public areas in Christchurch, New Zealand, to take part in the study. Scales of ethnic identity and national identity were used to measure the acculturation style of the participants, and interviews were conducted afterwards to investigate the psychology related to the in-group/ out-group mechanism. Distinctions in stereotypic perceptions and beliefs were found across all acculturation styles, which suggests that acculturation and social identity are interrelated concepts. Additional themes (the role of language, personal identity, the change in environment and the integration of cultural norms) were also identified to influence the adaptation of immigrants. Their relevance and interaction with social identity were discussed.