Floyd W. Rudmin
University of Tromsø, Norway

Acculturation is both an individual level phenomenon and a societal level phenomenon. At the individual level, according to the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary, “acculturation” is defined to be the “adoption and assimilation of an alien culture”, using assimilation in its biological meaning of ingestion and incorporation. Thus, “acculturation” as second-culture acquisition contrasts with “enculturation” as first-culture acquisition. Second-language learning is a good example of acculturation at the individual-level, e.g. some English-Canadians learning French, and visa-versa, causing neither language to change.

At the societal level, acculturation refers to processes by which whole cultures change “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” (Redfield, et al., 1936, p.149). The cultural diffusion of foods,religion and technology between neighboring nations or between minority and majority groups is a good example of acculturation at the societal level, e.g. peanut butter, pizza, or bagels becoming common US foods.

If a single minority individual acculturates, assimilating the majority culture, then that person becomes bicultural. If the whole minority group acculturates and also stops minority enculturation, then the minority is assimilated by the majority, causing the minority culture to disappear and often causing the majority culture to change, e.g. the USA assimilated its German immigrants and now Christmas trees are part of US culture.

This bibliography began as my own core literature when writing critical reviews of contemporary acculturation research. I later did systematic searches for acculturation articles, for example, including almost all of the JSTOR articles with the word “acculturation” in the title. I have made effort to be accurate in the titles and reference details. My inclusion of links is my method of checking that titles were correctly worded and spelled. If users of this bibliography find errors, or url addresses that are no longer functioning, I would appreciate being informed. Science is a collective behavior. Literature is our collective memory.