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Differentiate between acculturation and assimilation.
In the context of sociology and anthropology the concepts of acculturation and assimilation hold an important position. These concepts are important to understand the cross-cultural impacts on minorities and majorities within those societies which are multicultural or multi-ethnical in nature. It must be noted that even though some people tends to consider both the concepts as two different manifestations of the same idea, such notion must be refuted because there are subtle differences existing between these two concepts which demarcate their jurisdictions in terms of theoretical and practical implementation.
Acculturation is a process that may be involuntary in which individuals belonging to a minority remain true to their culture, but become unable to alienate from the impacts of the majority culture, and is forced to learn the new culture to survive (Spector, 2013, p. 31). But assimilation is a different process. Even though like in acculturation in assimilation too, minorities gradually adapt to the cultural practices of the majority, there is a difference. Unlike acculturation, "There is a loss of one's own culture as a person gives more value to the cultural aspects of the majority community in the process of assimilation" ("Difference Between Acculturation and Assimilation", n.d.). So, one major difference to be found existing between the concept of assimilation and acculturation is that, in case of assimilation the minority culture changes to embrace the majority culture but in case of acculturation the minority culture remains intact even though adopting some specific aspects of the majority culture.
In conclusion, in the context of the concepts of acculturation and assimilation hold an important position. It is in respect of cross cultural influences that these two concepts are employed to analyze the degree of influence and its effects. There is a debate in America that immigrants should acculturate and assimilate to an American norm, and those who groups who dispute this believe these folks should maintain their identity of the land they came from (Spector, 2013, p. 32). The great thing about this country is you have a choice on which direction you would like to follow, whether it be conforming to the "American norm" or continue with their heritage and your beliefs. With either choice the individual can be a successful and productive member of society, the choice is up to the individual.