cultural assimilation
Adopting dominant customs
Cultural assimilation is the process by which individuals or groups from one culture adopt the customs, values, language, and behaviors of another, typically dominant culture.
The term often describes what happens to immigrants over generations as they integrate into a new society, sometimes losing distinctive features of their heritage culture.
Assimilation can be voluntary or coerced, and the word carries different connotations depending on context—celebrated as integration or criticized as erasure of cultural identity.
Cultural fusion place
- intermarriageWedding between different groups
- citizenshipStatus as state member
- naturalizationLegal path to belonging
- social cohesionGroup unity and belonging
mainstreaming · inclusion · participation · belonging · civic engagement · social mobility · acceptance · coexistence
Dish for tossed greens
- coexistenceSimultaneous presence together
- bilingualismProficiency in two languages
- ethnic enclaveArea where one group concentrates
- accommodationShelter or housing provided
Acquiring cultural norms unconsciously
- socializationInternalizing cultural norms
- acclimatizationAdjusting to new conditions
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- naturalizationLegal path to belonging
language acquisition · behavioral change · habit formation · lifestyle change · resocialization · code-switching
Belonging to ancestral group
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- mother tongueLanguage acquired from birth
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- generational divideDifference between age cohorts
dual identity · self-concept · belonging · ancestral traditions · family customs · ethnic pride · identity crisis · rootlessness
State of being identical
- monocultureSingle-crop agricultural system
- standardizationImplementing uniform technical specifications
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- westernizationAdopting Euro-American practices
anglicization · hegemony · boarding schools · ethnocide · marginalization · whitewashing
melting pot
Cultural fusion place
- intermarriageWedding between different groups
- citizenshipStatus as state member
- naturalizationLegal path to belonging
social cohesion · mainstreaming · inclusion · participation · belonging · civic engagement · social mobility · acceptance · coexistence · blending
salad bowl
Dish for tossed greens
- coexistenceSimultaneous presence together
- bilingualismProficiency in two languages
- ethnic enclaveArea where one group concentrates
enculturation
Acquiring cultural norms unconsciously
- socializationInternalizing cultural norms
- acclimatizationAdjusting to new conditions
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
naturalization · language acquisition · behavioral change · habit formation · lifestyle change · resocialization · code-switching
ethnic identity
Belonging to ancestral group
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- mother tongueLanguage acquired from birth
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
generational divide · dual identity · self-concept · belonging · ancestral traditions · family customs · ethnic pride · identity crisis · rootlessness · nostalgia
uniformity
State of being identical
- monocultureSingle-crop agricultural system
- standardizationImplementing uniform technical specifications
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
westernization · anglicization · hegemony · boarding schools · ethnocide · marginalization · whitewashing
- Colonial KoreaJapanese occupation, Japanese rule, colonial rule, occupation period, independence movement
- Czech AmericansCedar Rapids, Ennis, fraternal organizations, mutual aid societies, heritage societies
- French ColonialismFrench Empire, French Indochina, colonial empire, colonial administration, colonial governors
- German DiasporaGerman immigrants, German heritage, immigrant communities, German-American, immigration waves
- Japanese Empireimperial expansion, Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, China
- Jewish DiasporaJewish community, dispersion, Ashkenazi Jews, crypto-Jews, Babylonian exile
cultural assimilationcultural preservation
Protecting community traditions and artifacts
heritage preservation · cultural resistance · cultural reclamation · hyphenated identity
cultural assimilationmulticulturalism
Coexistence of diverse traditions
cultural preservation · separatism · segregation · cultural isolation · ethnic enclave
cultural assimilationcultural resistance
Opposing mainstream through heritage
cultural nationalism · nativism · decolonization · ethnocentrism · traditionalism
culture, cultural, assimilate, integration, assimilation, culturally, assimilated, acculturation, assimilating