Critical History of the Acculturation Psychology of Assimilation, Separation, Integration, and Marginalization

Abstract

The psychology of intercultural adaptation was first discussed by Plato. Many modern enculturation theories claim that ethnic minorities (including aboriginal natives, immigrants, refugees, and sojourners) can favor either the dominant culture, or their own minority culture, or both, or neither. Between 1918 and 1984, 68 such theories showed varied and inconsistent terminology, poor citation of earlier research, conflicting and poorly tested predictions of acculturative stress, and lack of logic, for example, 2 cultures in contact logically allow 16 types of acculturation, not just 4. Logic explains why assimilation = negative chauvinism = marginality, why measures of incompatible acculturative attitudes can be positively correlated, and why bicultural integration and marginalisation are confounded constructs. There is no robust evidence that biculturalism is most adaptive.