Acculturation : early political and social science conceptions

Abstract

Acculturation refers to the psychological and cultural changes that are caused by continuous contact between people of different cultures. A culture is comprised of the norms, values, beliefs, information, and skills that people in a society share, and these are manifest in the visible behaviors, physical implements and social systems that the society expresses. Thus, different nations and ethnic groups have different languages, laws, religions, gender roles, manners, foods, clothes, architecture, etc. We are unaware of most aspects of our culture until we see them in contrast with other cultures. We think of ourselves as acting Anaturally@ and other peoples as acting differently because of their culture. A culture must have some adaptive utility to help a people survive in their environment and to transmit their way of life to future generations. However, all cultures have some maladaptive aspects due to cultural inertia in the face of changing natural and human environments.