How ‘should’ the majority group acculturate? Acculturation expectations and their correlates among minority- and majority-group members

Bibliographic Data

ID8095930
AuthorsJonas R Kunst (0000-0002-5319-1256, University of Oslo, corresponding author), Simon Ozer (0000-0002-4881-4201, Aarhus University), Katharina Lefringhausen (0000-0002-2998-1311, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia), Kinga Bierwiaczonek (0000-0002-2251-5633, University of Oslo), Milan Obaidi (0000-0001-6416-1805, University of Oslo), David L Sam (0000-0003-4275-0697, University of Bergen)
Year2023
Volume93
Pages101779-101779
Publication date2023-02-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Intercultural Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0147-1767 • E-ISSN: 1873-7552
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.ijintrel.2023.101779
OpenAlexW4321488383
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited30

Do minority-group members welcome or reject that majority-group members adopt other cultures? Acculturation is commonly defined as a process of mutual accommodation. Yet, the acculturation of majority-group members has only recently received research attention. To date, we do not know the extent to which minority-group members expect majority-group members to adopt the culture of minority groups and/or to maintain their mainstream culture. Knowledge is also lacking about how these expectations relate to minority-group members’ own acculturation orientations and symbolic and realistic threat perceptions. We further do not know whether such associations are similar among minority- and majority-group members. To address these gaps, we surveyed 246 Muslim minority-group members and 247 White Christian majority-group members in the United Kingdom. Muslim minority-group members’ acculturation expectations towards majority-group members were normally distributed around the midpoint of the scale, suggesting that they did not reject majority-group acculturation on average. Acculturation expectations were correlated with symbolic and realistic threat perceptions among majority-group members but not among minority-group members. Cluster analyses showed that integrated Muslim minority-group members found it relatively important for majority-group members to adopt minority-group culture and to maintain their own culture. In sum, the results support the idea that minority-group members, at least in some contexts and settings, view acculturation as a mutual cultural change rather than as cultural appropriation

Acculturation · Ethnic group · Group (periodic table · Minority group · Sociology · Anthropology · Clinical Psychology · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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