THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATION: AN INTERGROUP PERSPECTIVE

The growing global trend of migration gives social psychological enquiry into acculturation processes particular contemporary relevance. Inspired by one of the earliest definitions of acculturation [Redfield, R., Linton, R., & Herskovits, M. (1936). Memorandum on the study of acculturation. American Anthropologist, 38, 149-152.], we present a case for considering acculturation as a dynamic intergroup process. We first review research stimulated by the dominant perspective in the field, Berry's acculturation framework. Noting several limitations of that work, we identify five issues which have defined our own research agenda: (1) the mutual influence of acculturation preferences and intergroup attitudes; (2) the influence of the perceived acculturation preferences of the outgroup on own acculturation and intergroup attitudes; (3) discrepancies between ingroup and outgroup acculturation attitudes as a determinant of intergroup attitudes; (4) the importance of the intergroup climate in which acculturation takes place; and (5) acculturation as a process developmental and longitudinal perspectives. We review research of others and our own that document each of these points: longitudinal and experimental studies, rarities in the acculturation literature, figure prominently. Research settings include Turkish-German relations in Germany, indigenous-nonindigenous relations in Chile, African migrants to Italy and ethnic majority-minority relations in the United Kingdom. We conclude with an agenda for future acculturation research and some policy implications of our analysis.