Define Acculturation

Pederson (7) explains that there are stages of culture shock, which he identifies as the honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. In the honeymoon phase, a person is likely to get excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, tasting new foods, and acquiring new habits. However, as time passes by, they get into a phase of negotiation, where the differences between the culture one is used to and the one they find themselves in start to become apparent. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and frustrations start to take shape as unfavorable events perceived as strange come in the way of the person 's life, especially if a person does not feel accepted in the new culture (Mukherjee 273). Loneliness may set in, and the urge to go back to the familiar culture strongly comes into play. However, as time goes by, adjustment sets in, usually within six to twelve months, and one gets accustomed to the culture and also comes up with a routine. By this phase, one knows what is expected of them, and life once again becomes ‘normal.’

language. Some positive outcomes of cultural brokering on immigrant families are increased self-esteem, better knowledge of English language, and feeling like one matters to their family. Some negative outcomes of cultural brokering on immigrant families are stress and depressive moods, embarrassment of parents, conflicts within the family, and parentification of the child. All of these outcomes of cultural brokering are products of the acculturation theory. Lastly, some strengths of the acculturation theory include the focus on immigrant experience, the fact that it emphasizes the strengths that immigrants bring, and that it provides understanding of immigrant experiences for individuals who might communicate or be in the workplace with immigrant

Many second generation minorities from immigrant parents are driven subconsciously to conform to new culture and social norms. For foreign born parents and native born children integrating the two cultures they inhabit brings about different obstacles and experiences. In Jhumpa’s “The Namesake” the protagonist Gogol is a native born American with foreign born parents. The difference with birth location plays an important role in assimilating to a new society in a new geography. The difficulty for parents is the fact that they’ve spent a decent amount of time accustomed to a new geography, language, culture and society which makes it difficult to feel comfortable when all of that changes. For Gogol the difficulty only lies with the cultural norms imposed by his parent’s and the culture and social norms that are constantly presented in the new society.

The chronosystem according to the Ecological Systems theory refers to the environmental patterns, social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or population over a life time. Acculturation, as defined by Smith and Guerra (2006) is “the differences and changes in values and behaviors that individuals make as they gradually adopt the cultural values of the dominant society” (283). In order to capture the complex process of acculturation and consider all dimensions of acculturation, it is important to consider the influence of the factors that have already been explored in this brief: individual variations, family dynamics, parental and environmental factors; in addition to acculturative stress, adaptation process and generational status (Smokowski et al., 2014) which will be further explored. Although research has reflected inconsistent findings regarding impact of acculturation on mental health issues for Latinos’, when considered in the context described above, acculturation has been found to impact Latinos. Acculturative stress has resulted in negative mental health outcomes, specifically anxiety and depression, for Latinos’ especially when an individual’s culture and dominant culture conflict. (Hovey, 2000; Katagadda & Tidwell, 1998, Stein et al., 2012) Due to the individual adjustment process each family member goes through when

Acculturation also entails the changing of family roles which includes but is not limited to changes

The acculturation process can trigger role-reversal in immigrant

There’s various things that describes everyone, but there’s only a few things that make each and every one of us unique, which is, our cultural background. As far as cultural background, it defines the individual’s upbringing. The cultural background includes ones religion, race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, linguistic and values. These values can be shaped by family, friends, society, or authoritative level. This paper is a great way for one to define my identity or at least understand who I am.

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest, because of the sin, adultery, she committed. This letter separates Hester from the rest of the Puritans in the town, and causes her much loneliness and suffering. In the beginning of the book, the Puritans are disgusted by Hester, and shun her. As the book goes on, however, the townspeople slowly begin to let Hester into society, and use her as an example of how suffering and good deeds can lead to salvation. Hester’s view of herself does not change, and it shows that society is not the only source of her suffering. Hester’s suffering and lack of suffering from the town reflect on the nature of the Puritans, and reveal how even the strictest of societies can show compassion in certain circumstances.

Acculturation often occurs at different rates, and with different aims for different groups of people. When people migrate from their birth country they can lose their sense of identity, and are forced to form another one in their new country. People are forced to adapt to a new way of living with a foreign culture, which is not always an easy process. Like oppression, acculturation is a two-part

Acculturation is known as a cultural change and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures at multiple levels in both interacting cultures. It has also been referred to the changes in personal values, beliefs, behaviours, and ways of living that an immigrant or minority individual makes as a result of adapting to the mainstream cultural or behavioural norms (Berry, Kim, Minde, & Mok, 1987). Acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, and social institutions. In this modern era, through technology and media, people have been constantly engaging online to learn and understand new cultures, norms and languages. Acculturation is more than simply learning the English language, but also understanding the history of a new country, navigating its idioms and understanding the concepts behind its holidays.

In this article, it also talks about the families who have decided to try and assimilate into the dominant culture. Those who have more mental and/or physical health issues are the ones who have assimilated by forgetting their heritage and the connections that take place. In order to really understand culture we as workers need to take it upon ourselves to appreciate the connections between “ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, race, religion, geography, migration and politics and how they have together influenced families in adapting to American life” (Falicov, 1995). All of these things have an impact in some way on the assimilation of different cultures into the ‘American life.’ This article talks about how assimilating people move closer to these dominant values in two ways: 1) the longer time period they remain residents in the United States and 2) the degree of which the individuals rise in social class. It is thought that there are a few ways individuals can remain more comfortable in their ethnicity for a longer period of time, they typically remain in a neighborhood that is among their ethnicity, interact with members of their specific ‘group,’ and have religious ties to their ethnic

Acculturation is a term we discussed in class that refers to the process of assimilating into the dominant culture. I believe acculturation generates a culture of discrimination and bias. For example, in the 19th and 29th centuries immigrants adopted the “WASP” core culture in the United States. The core society deemed other cultures to be inferior and Immigrants were expected to discard their culture of origin. This is an arrogant idea because it presumes we should all adapt to one culture. The very idea of acculturation is dangerous because it propagates discrimination. America is known as a melting pot, but I do not think it means to forsake our ethnicity. In fact, I think it is a contradiction to the true meaning of America.

Chen Jenli made the selfless decision to move to New York for a few years to scope out a better life for both herself and her family. Good intentions do not always have good results. In her mind, Chen Jenli thought that this decision existed as a grand and noble one but, she fell into the trap of assumption. When she moved back home, she figured everything remained the same and all proved well again in her life. She stood blindsided and did not exercise mindfulness. She embodied acculturation and how it exists as “a process through which cultural patterns (e.g., values, beliefs, behaviors) change as a result of sustained

Acculturation is the process of how a person or a group of people adapt into another culture by taking small pieces of that culture into their own culture. It is the idea of blend in with another culture, other than your own. For example, my family and relatives came to the United States for a little over 10 years now and some of the family members have assimilated into the American culture by beginning to celebrate the holidays, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Further, we are remaining embedded in the ethnic of being Hmong. Many of us decided to come to America to obtain a better lifestyle, and the America society has greatly impact our life to assimilate into the American culture.

The identity of an individual is evident in a person from the things that they do about their culture. Some individuals with the knowledge that they have acquired from their culture are willing to carry out activities depicting their knowledge. A person’s identity can be known from the way they express themselves in relation to their culture, his notion brings about the aspect of one’s identity in relation to their culture. This aspect of culture shaping an individual’s identity experiences challenges in some given instances. Migration to another country with a different culture can be a big challenge to a person who is accustomed to a certain culture. This is because one may be unable to fit in the new environment because of the new culture. Factors that can cause lack of incorporation include