Acculturation is a process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another group. Although acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting habits and language patterns of the dominant group, acculturation can be reciprocalthat is, the dominant group also adopts patterns typical of the minority group. Acculturation may be evidenced by changes in language preference, adoption of common attitudes and values, membership in common social groups and institutions, and loss of separate political or ethnic identification.Studies on acculturation have routinely found a correlation between a persons socioeconomic status and the level of acculturation one has experienced. A highly educated and high-income member of a minority group in the United States is likely to have experienced more acculturation than a person from that same minority group with less education and income.Measuring AcculturationHow do social scientists assess acculturation? They can survey members of a particular cultural group about the background of their parents, their upbringing as children and their attitudes about family, to name a few. They may also ask the survey respondents about the cultural background of the people with whom they attended school, socialized and worked.The most comprehensive measure of acculturation for use in health services and epidemiological research in Mexican-American populations was developed by Hazuda et al. (1988), according to Rice University in Houston. Hazuda's scales are based on a theoretical model that views acculturation as a multi-dimensional process involving language, cultural beliefs and values and structural assimilationthe integration of members of the minority group into the social structure of the majority group.Hazuda and colleagues asked survey respondents a lengthy list of questions, including the following:1. Throughout your adult life, have your neighbors been mostly Mexican American, mostly Anglo, or about equal numbers of each?2. Throughout your adult life, have your close, personal friends been mostly Mexican American, mostly Anglo, or about equal numbers of each?3. (Are the people with whom you work closely on the job/Are the people with whom you work closely on your last job) mostly Mexican American, mostly Anglo, or about equal numbers of each?Each answer received a score ranging from 3 to 9 points. Survey respondents who mostly had Anglo, or white, friends, coworkers and neighbors would be deemed the most acculturated, while those who reported having mostly Mexican American friends, coworkers and neighbors would be deemed the least acculturated.Forced AcculturationHistorically, some groups have been forced to acculturate. This includes Native Americans such as Luther Standing Bear. In 1879, he recounted his experiences of acculturation at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in a personal essay called First Days at Carlisle. At the school, Standing Bear, a Lakota, described how government officials separated him and other Native children from their parents to send them to boarding schools. There, the children were forced to cut their hair, stop speaking their native languages and wearing indigenous dress. Forced acculturation drove a cultural wedge between the children and their family members that never quite narrowed.Link to work citedhttp://www.rice.edu/projects/HispanicHealth/Acculturation.htmlhttp://faculty.washington.edu/joyann/EDLPS549Bwinter2008/Standing_Bear_final.pdfacculturationnounacculturation\-kl-ch-r-shn, a-\Definition ofACCULTURATION1: cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture;also: a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact2: the process by which a human being acquires the culture of a particular society from infancy

enculturation1. (noun) The gradual process of anindividualorgrouplearning and adapting to thenormsandvaluesof aculture(orsubculture) in which they are immersed (e.g., learning a newlanguageor clothing style).2. (noun) Learning how to become a member of a society or culture.Example:1. A foreign exchange student learning to navigate a new educational system, local customs, and new foods.2. Refugees adapting to a new place after fleeing their homeland.3. Enculturation is similar tosocializationand often used synonymously. The distinction between the two is enculturation is learning culturalnormsandsocializationis learning societalnorms, however, neither process occurs independent of the other. Enculturation typically refers to people in general and is informal andsocializationtypically refers to children and is formal or deliberate.4. Some sources listacculturation,enculturation, andsocializationas synonyms, while these terms are similar and easily confused, they are not synonyms in an academic context.5. Variant form:inculturation

emic and etic analysisA distinction borrowed by anthropologists from linguistics. Emicists concentrate on describing the indigenous values of a particular society while eticists apply broader theoretical models across a number of societies. The emic approach became popular in the late 1960s as part of the movement towardscultural relativism. In practice, anthropological research has always entailed a mixture of emic and etic approaches.

emic and etic analysisA distinction borrowed by anthropologists from linguistics. Emicists concentrate on describing the indigenous values of a particular society while eticists apply broader theoretical models across a number of societies. The emic approach became popular in the late 1960s as part of the movement towardscultural relativism. In practice, anthropological research has always entailed a mixture of emic and etic approaches.

The words emic and etic refer to two different approaches to researching human beings. The terms originated in linguistics and anthropology in the 1950s and 1960s; over the following decades researchers in numerous fields and disciplines, including education, have found the concepts useful (Headland, 1990). Precise definitions vary drastically across authors, but a basic understanding is as follows:An emic approach (sometimes referred to as insider, inductive, or bottom-up) takes as its starting point the perspectives and words of research participants. As Lett (1990) explains, from an anthropological perspective, Emic constructs are accounts, descriptions, and analyses expressed in terms of the conceptual schemes and categories regarded as meaningful and appropriate by the native members of the culture whose beliefs and behaviors are being studied (p. 130). In taking an emic approach, a researcher tries to put aside prior theories and assumptions in order to let the participants and data speak to them and to allow themes, patterns, and concepts to emerge. This approach is at the core ofGrounded Theory, and is often used when researching topics that have not yet been heavily theorized. Some of its strength lies in its appreciation of the particularity of the context being studied, in its respect for local viewpoints, and its potential to uncover unexpected findings.An etic approach (sometimes referred to as outsider, deductive, or top-down) uses as its starting point theories, hypothesis, perspectives, and concepts from outside of the setting being studied. As Lett (1990) describes it, Etic constructs are accounts, descriptions, and analyses expressed in terms of the conceptual schemes and categories regarded as meaningful and appropriate by the community of scientific observers (p. 130). A researcher who takes an existing theory or conceptual framework and conducts research to see if it applies to a new setting or population is taking an etic approach. One of the strengths of the etic approach is that it allows for comparison across contexts and populations, and the development of more general cross-cultural concepts (Morris, Leung, Ames, & Lickel, 1999).While in some cases methodologies heavily privilege one approach over the other, many researchers live in the tension between these two extremes. A completely etic approach risks blinding oneself to potentially new and groundbreaking concepts. At the same time, since all researchers come with previous ideas, perspectives, and commitments (seeSubjectivity) it may be impossible to be purely emic.Etic and emic can also refer specifically to codes, such as those used inThematic Analysisto label sections of text according the themes and patterns. An etic code is one developed from the literature or prior research, while an emic code arises from the data and is often built from a participants own words.