A two-way process? A qualitative and quantitative investigation of majority members’ acculturation

Acculturation refers to changes that result from intercultural contact. Although it is commonly defined as a two-way process with changes occurring among both minority members and majority members, surprisingly little research has focused on the acculturation of majority members. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, the present study attempted to fill this gap by exploring how and how much majority members change because of exposure to immigrant cultures. In the first part, using an open-response format, majority members reported positive as well as negative cultural change across a broad range of life domains. Most changes were reported in the private as compared to public sphere, and in terms of behaviours rather than values. Second, based on their responses to quantitative acculturation scales, the majority-group participants could meaningfully be clustered into three acculturation strategies commonly used to describe minority-group members’ acculturation, namely a separation, integration and undifferentiated acculturation cluster. No evidence for an assimilation cluster was found. Separated majority members (i.e., who maintain their majority culture but do not adopt immigrant cultures) reported significantly more identity threat and perceived ethnic discrimination, but also higher self-esteem. Interestingly, integrated majority members (i.e., who both maintain their majority culture and adopt immigrant cultures) were three times less likely to live in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods as compared to separated participants. The results of this study offer important insights into majority members’ acculturation experiences and their psychological importance. Implications for culturally plural societies and future research are discussed.