Acculturation Based on Various Conversations

The chapter continued to discuss how people experience other cultures when they are removed from their area to a different place. This occurs in the form of culture shock people experience new traditions that are unfamiliar to them when the come to a place that is home to another culture. Human development may also include joining the ideas of various cultures and forming it into a new concept. It puts heavy emphasis on learning other cultures in an unbiased form in order to compare and make observations. This chapter also studies of culture have been able to advance over time and how change is an essential aspect of

As the United State is becoming more of a diverse country, cultural adaptation is becoming the norm, as well as, bicultural identity. “Culture change has traditionally referred to the modifications, revisions, and new manners of expression that result from the process of interaction between cultures.” Robbins,Chatterjee and Canda, (2012) (pg.135). When any culture, individual has embedded within a community that assimilates the heritage receiving the culture biculturalism likely to emerge.

This article elaborately explains the process of becoming culturally competent. It states the stages of development as Denial, Defense, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration, respectfully. The article goes in depth on each stage of development, the first three being stages in what is termed “ethnocentrism” and the last three being stages of “ethnorelativism”. While the different stages are being discussed, the author presents examples of each and emphasizes the fact that American’s are not the only people who go through these stages when becoming more culturally competent.

Individuals coming in the U.S. have experienced a graduate deculturalization process as the country's majority assimilated them. Even with the fact that many communities struggle in order to preserve their cultural values, it is extremely difficult for them to do so in environments where they are being bombarded with cultural values belonging to other groups. While the U.S. has recently appeared to have adopted a more positive attitude with regard to other cultures, the matter is still problematic. The fact that many cultures have been gradually assimilated by the majority practically means that many traditions have been abandoned in order for people to develop interest in other concepts.

Many researchers have studied the immigrant assimilation in the recent years. America’s ethnic groups have been expected to come together as one and into the mainstream of american society for decades. Immigrant assimilation is a complex process in which immigrants should not only fully integrate themselves to a new country but also lose aspects perhaps all their heritage too if necessary. Social scientists rely on a primary benchmark to assess immigrant assimilation which is socioeconomic status. A melting pot can be described as a metaphor which indicates a society where many different types of people blend in as one.

Culture is the Backbone of a society, when something/someone tries to alter it or go against it everyone will notice. In this issue pointed out by Ruth Macklin, we look at the problems that can arise when an individual’s culture and autonomy clash. Every year there at least 30 million immigrants from all over the world that move to the United states of America, making America one of the most culturally diverse country in the world. Keeping this in mind, we will focus on Ruth Macklin’s issue of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles. Critics argue that we associate culture with a society, community and or family, but rarely with a single individual, thus placing it above the individual person. In this paper we are going to look at four different scenarios on from Ruth Macklin’s article.

Essentially, every culture has a specific basis, native language, religion and custom that reflects its history, values and beliefs. These conceptual constructs represents the total reality of life within the community of which is commonly known as “Culture”. Culture is not only a race, but is a way of life. In the United States, there are many different races that integrate with the American race and culture. However, these individuals often times may have difficulties adjusting, adapting or maintaining their heritage. How well they acculturate and adapt to the process can have an impact on how well the individual is able to integrate or engage to one or another culture.

The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans. Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. Today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to a diverse society (61).

America welcomes all people, regardless of their nationality, and it’s diversity from soil, religion, too government creates a divine and unique environment for many. In America, people are permitted to freely practice their traditions, belief, and values accordingly. Nevertheless, as people in America encounter difference on a regular basic, no one is a stranger. Although, diversity has caused conflict in America, it has also delivered several positive outcomes by the means of learning from variety. In addition, the charms of America has been influenced by the means of the collaboration of

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.

Caleb Rosado, has developed a list of seven adoptable behaviors which can help all groups of people to become more culturally diverse, it is as follows: “Recognition of the abundant diversity of cultures; Respect for the differences; Acknowledging the validity of different cultural expressions and contributions; Valuing what other cultures offer; Encouraging the contribution of diverse groups; Empowering people to strengthen themselves and others to achieve their maximum potential by being critical of their own biases; and Celebrating rather than just tolerating the differences in order to bring about unity through diversity.” In addition, it’s worth noting that in discovering and appreciating our differences, we are likely to find common elements to be enjoyed and even celebrated.

People respond differently- parents respond differently than children 3. Without affiliating oneself with an ethnic group makes acquiring economic success difficult because that group's money is lost.

Cultural boundaries have been the epicenter of driving apart individuals from different cultural backgrounds. The movie The African Doctor is the perfect example of such differences. It also portrays how and why overcoming these boundaries is significant to the wellbeing of the community. The community in which the African doctor is integrating has multiple things in common but the uncertainty avoidance that the community had was too high to permit any exchanges between the two cultures. The way the African doctor adapted to the way the locals where is proof that communication competence is key when it comes to dealing with and ingroups when being part of the out group. And trying to break the barrier of closed minded people that were born and raised in a specific environment that wasn’t proan to interact with anything other than themselves is very difficult, but in fact possible. The African Doctor shows us the tenacity of how to deal with these instances. Overcoming the obvious boundaries that exist between two separate cultures by focusing on how beneficial they are to each other is key to improving the eachothers lives.

Individuals do not experience life in a vacuum. People are shaped by their experience and the culture they live in. Their reality of the world is a view that is influenced by collected knowledge and preference of a majority group. We as people understand that generalizations are not representative of everyone but we nevertheless hold people to these generalized standards. Berry (2005) highlights the differences and interactions between group level and individual level processes and how they influence acculturation. He defined acculturation as “the dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and

Nowadays, during the age of globalization, the ability to build bridges between the diverse cultures appears to be an indispensable element of one 's professional success in almost any kind of career. In particular, interviewing an individual basing on the Twelve Aspects of Culture or Ethnicity implies a remarkable importance in terms of succeeding in cultural brokering. Subsequently, the analysis of the answers given during the cultural interview would be particularly helpful in terms of understanding the interrelations between the received information and the theories/concepts discussed in class. In addition, the received data may also serve as a practical illustration of the differences between the Personal and Group identities. Finally, the interview has largely changed my personal perspective and understanding concerning the work with the clients representing a different culture. Notably, speaking about the start of a personal career, there are several worth consideration points to be taken out of the interview.