Extending the Global Acculturation Model to Untangle the Culture Mixing Puzzle

Abstract

Today’s globalized environment exposes people to culture mixing—mixing of iconic symbols of different cultures in the same space at the same time. Findings on individuals’ exposure to culture mixing provide evidence for both exclusionary and inclusionary responses. In this article, we focus on the growing phenomenon of culture mixing of global and local symbols and artifacts. We generate a conceptual model to identify who is likely to respond in what way to the mixed cultural environment and why. To answer these questions, we build on the global acculturation model, which aims to explain individuals’ adaptation to the global environment by considering the relative strength of their local and global identities. We extend this model by considering not only the two entities’ relative strength but also their balance—the degree of symmetry between the identities’ strength. We propose that individuals with dominant (unbalanced) identity types (global or local) will exhibit negative and exclusionary responses to culture mixing, whereas individuals with balanced identity types (glocal or marginal) will exhibit positive and inclusionary responses to culture mixing. We also incorporate the concept of bicultural identity integration (BII) to suggest that individuals with high identification with both cultures (glocals) and with high BII will exhibit more inclusive responses than glocals with low BII. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.