Reconceptualizing Acculturation: Ecological Processes, Historical Contexts, and Power Inequities

Theories of acculturation, stretching back to the 1930s, emphasize how cultural communities change in response to contact with one another (Berry 1997; Redfield et al. 1936). The principle of mutual adaptation that underlies this perspective has infrequently been applied to empirical work. As researchers have applied theories of acculturation to empirical work, primarily in studies of immigrants, work has most often focused on acculturation of immigrants to host communities. The provocative focus of this special section is the alternative: how host individuals and communities change in response to immigrants. In this way, the special section challenges dominant conceptualizations of acculturation. We are at a unique historical moment for re-examining what acculturation entails and its relevance for theory, research, and action in community psychology and in the social sciences more generally. The U.S. is witnessing the largest wave of immigration in history (Schmidley 2001). Children of immigrants account for half of children in California and 20–30% of children in ten other traditional gateway states for immigrants (Hernandez 2004). Immigrant presence is also expanding in other areas, with 100–200% increases in immigrant populations in 12 states that have not been traditional gateways (Hernandez 2004). Global flows of populations have also increased. Rural to urban migration is soaring in the low-income and middle-income countries, with great variation in experiences of social exclusion within nations at regional and city levels (Guang 2005; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2002). Thus, contact between host and migrant communities is occurring at levels that are unparalleled in human history. In the wake of these rapid and unprecedented changes in migration, we are confronted with opportunities to reexamine what acculturation is and to advance theory, research, and social action. This special section represents a significant step forward, and we hope it will stimulate future work. In this commentary, we build upon the provocative focus of this special section and offer our thoughts on ways to re-conceptualize acculturation. In the following sections, we expand conceptualizations of acculturation beyond that of (1) an individual-level phenomenon; (2) an ahistorical phenomenon; and (3) a phenomenon unaffected by power inequities. In each section, we note the contributions of articles in this special section, tie that work to research in multiple disciplines, and suggest future directions for research.