Question

Which of the following is the correct definition of Acculturation?

• A. It refers to the changes that occur in one's culture due to continuous contact with other culture. It occurs when one culture dominates over other culture(s).
• B. A situation when you encounter an entirely different culture, with a strange language, food pattern, housing pattern and belief system.
• C. A situation where there exists no culture and the society is acephalic.
• D. Accumulation of foreign cultures in an isolated primitive society

Hint:

- Enculturation: Learning one's own culture from birth.
- Acculturation: Culture change resulting from direct, continuous contact between two distinct cultural groups.
- Assimilation: Complete absorption into another cultural system.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Concept:
In socio-cultural anthropology, cultural dynamics study how cultural systems adapt, transform, and exchange traits over time.
Acculturation is a fundamental process of culture change resulting from continuous firsthand contact between distinct autonomous societies.
This question evaluates the precise anthropological definition and mechanisms governing acculturative transformation.

Step 1: Classical Anthropological Definition:
The classical definition formulated by Robert Redfield, Ralph Linton, and Melville J. Herskovits (1936) states that acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups.
In asymmetrical power relations, the politically, economically, or technologically dominant culture often induces extensive cultural remodeling and subordination in the less powerful society.

Step 2: Differentiating Related Cultural Concepts:
1. Culture Shock (Option B): The psychological disorientation and anxiety experienced when an individual is suddenly immersed in an unfamiliar cultural setting.
2. Acephalous Society (Option C): An egalitarian, uncentralized political system lacking formal chiefs or centralized governmental heads.
3. Cultural Isolation (Option D): The historical condition of remote societies remaining unaffected by external cultural flows.

Step 3: Final Answer:
Acculturation describes systemic cultural modifications resulting from sustained contact where one culture typically exerts dominance over another.
Therefore, Option (A) is the correct answer.