How do Australian majority-group members acculturate? A person-centred approach

Abstract

Understanding how majority-group members adapt to cultural diversity is increasingly important in plural societies such as Australia. However, little is known about majority-group members’ acculturation towards immigrants and self-identifying minority-group members in a shared society. We address this with data from two white Australian majority group samples (Study 1, n = 212 undergraduate students and Study 2, n = 300 community sample). Using person-centred latent profile analysis, we identified majority-group members to be following an integrated (endorsing both majority and ethnic minority cultures, study 1), dominant (endorsing mostly the majority culture), disengaged (rejecting both cultures) and receptive strategy (endorsing mostly ethnic minority cultures). In Study 2 we also identified a diffuse strategy (showing no clear cultural preference). Moreover, intercultural sensitivity and intergroup contact predicted the probability of belonging to these acculturation profiles in expected ways in both studies, positively predicting profiles higher in endorsement of other culture adoption (integrated, receptive) and negatively predicting those low in other culture adoption (dominant, disengaged). We discuss our findings with reference to the need for further theoretical development of how majority groups approach acculturation and additional investigation in a range of sociocultural contexts.