The Missing Side of Acculturation: How Majority-Group Members Relate to Immigrant and Minority-Group Cultures

Abstract

In many countries, individuals who have represented the majority group historically are decreasing in relative size and/or perceiving that they have diminished status and power compared to those identifying as immigrants or members of ethnic minority groups. These developments raise several salient and timely issues including: (a) how majority-group members’ cultural orientations change as a consequence of increasing intercultural contact due to shifting demographics; (b) what individual, group, cultural and socio-structural processes shape these changes; and (c) the implications of majority-group members’ acculturation. Although research across several decades has examined the acculturation of individuals identifying as minority-group members, much less is known about how majority-group members acculturate in increasingly diverse societies. We present an overview of the state of the art in the emerging field of majority-group acculturation, identify what is known and needs to be known, and introduce a conceptual model guiding future research.

The role of intraminority relations in perceptions of cultural appropriation.

“…Societal narratives around cultural appropriation are largely characterized by conflict, misunderstanding, and intergroup tension. Although social psychologists can play a unique role in illuminating the dynamics and mechanisms behind cultural appropriation perceptions, they have remained surprisingly silent about this subject (but see Kunst, 2021; Mosley & Biernat, 2021, for recent seminal research). The current research uniquely delineates the psychology of cultural appropriation by systematically examining Black Americans’ responses to outgroups who appropriate elements from their culture.…”

“…In diverse societies, different cultural groups adapt to each other and engage in each other’s cultural practices (see Berry, 2001; Haugen & Kunst, 2017). This process of acculturation is well understood when minoritized cultural groups borrow from the majority cultural group (Kunst, 2021). However, the reverse process—whereby the majority group adopts minoritized cultural practices or where minority groups adopt each other’s practices—has rarely been investigated (but see Lefringhausen & Marshall, 2016).…”

Local consumer well‐being in a multicultural marketplace: From conflict to engagement

“…Majority-group acculturation (Kunst et al 2021) Individualism/collectivism (Czarnecka et al, 2020) To examine how the minority versus majority status of locals affects the process of consumer acculturation. To examine how individualism and collectivism affect locals' consumer acculturation.…”