Culture and Socialisation — Sociology STD 11 Humanities — Question
CBSE BoardEnglish MediumSTD 11 HumanitiesSociologyCulture and Socialisation6 Marks
Question
What is acculturation?
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Answer
Culture is determined by dynamic and evolving process. It is not static.Cultural changes occur due to acculturation and defusion:
Acculturation refers to cultural and psychological changes resulting from contact with other cultures.
Contact may be direct (e.g., when one moves and settles in a new culture) or indirect (e.g., through media or other means).
It may be voluntary (e.g., when one goes abroad for higher studies, training, job, or trade) or involuntary (e.g., through colonial experience, invasion, political refuge).
In both cases, people often need to learn (and also they do learn) something new to negotiate life with people of other cultural groups. For example, during the British rule in India many individuals and groups adopted several aspects of British lifestyle.
Acculturation can take place any time in one's life. Whenever it occurs, it requires re-learning of norms, values, dispositions, and patterns of behaviour.
For any acculturation to take place contact with another cultural group is essential. This often generates some sort of conflict. Since people cannot live in a state of conflict for a long time, they often resort to certain strategies to resolve their conflicts.
Studies carried out with immigrants to western countries and native or tribal people in different parts of the world have revealed that people have various options to deal with the problem of acculturative changes. Thus, the course of acculturative change is multidirectional.
Changes due to acculturation may be examined at subjective and objective levels. At the subjective level, changes are often reflected in people's attitudes towards change. They are referred to as acculturation attitudes. At the objective levei, changes are reflected in people's day-to-day behaviours and activities. These are referred to as acculturation strategies.
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