Acculturation
From Encyclopædia
In
anthropology, acculturation is the influence of one society or ethnic group on another as a result of continuous face-to-face contact. Acculturation, or culture contact as it is also called, is a form of diffusion of culture traits and institutions (see
DIFFUSION, CULTURAL). It differs from other forms of diffusion, however, in that it involves direct interaction between groups. Although acculturation involves changes in both of the societies and cultures in contact, the term generally is used to refer to changes that occur in a nonindustrial society under the influence of a complex Western society. An example of this is the influence of American culture on the native tribes of North
America. Anthropologists often study acculturation resulting from the effect of
colonialism and of modern national cultures on nonindustrial peoples. Acculturation became a strong
interest of social and cultural anthropologists in the 1930s. In 1935, the Social
science Research Council formed a committee of three noted anthropologists, Melville HERSKOVITS, Ralph LINTON, and Robert REDFIELD, to define the nature and scope of the acculturation process. Since then others have refined and extended such studies. Acculturation brought about by governmental programs or agencies has been called "directed culture change."Charles WagleyBibliography:
Austin, Clyde N.,
cross-Cultural Reentry (1986); Bredy, Ivan A., and
Isaac, Barry L., A Reader in Culture Change (1975); Cohen, Yehudi A., Man in Adaptation, 2d ed. (1974); Herskovits, Melville J., Acculturation: The Study of Culture Contact (1938);
Bronislaw Malinowski, The Dynamics of Culture Change (1961; repr. 1976); Padilla, Amanda M., ed., Acculturation (1980).
