Acculturation: The Broader View. Theoretical Framework of the Acculturation Scales

Abstract

Most available acculturation scales suffer from a psychologizing bias and lack a multidisciplinary theoretical grounding. One-dimensional scales predetermine the process of acculturation, assume superiority of the host society, and do not take into account ethnic identity or the “aspirational culture” of minority groups. That identity, performing as an ideology, allows a dialectic of control reproducing autonomic strategies over the actions of the agents of the host society in a parallel way to the controlling strategies of these agents over the ethnic groups.

Key Words:

• Drug use
• Acculturation
• Theory
• Ethnic identification
• Aspirational culture