Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this concept. A related term is cultural integration, which describes the process of becoming economically and socially integrated into another society while retaining elements of one's original culture. This approach is also known as cultural pluralism, and it forms the basis of a cultural mosaic model that upholds the preservation of cultural rights. Another closely related concept is acculturation, which occurs through cultural diffusion and involves changes in the cultural patterns of one or both groups, while still maintaining distinct characteristics.

There are various types of cultural assimilation, including full assimilation and forced assimilation. Full assimilation is common, as it occurs spontaneously. Assimilation can also involve what is called additive assimilation, in which individuals or groups expand their existing cultural repertoire rather than replacing their ancestral culture. This is an aspect it shares with acculturation as well. When used as a political ideology, assimilationism refers to governmental policies of deliberately assimilating ethnic groups into a national culture. It encompasses both voluntary and involuntary assimilation.

In both cultural assimilation and integration, majority groups may expect minority groups to outright adopt the everyday practices of the dominant culture by using the common language in conversations, following social norms, integrating economically and engaging in sociopolitical activities such as cultural participation, active advocacy and electoral and community participation. Various forms of exclusion, social isolation, and discrimination can hinder the progress of this process.

Cultural integration, which is mostly found in multicultural communities, resembles a type of sociocultural assimilation because, over time, the minority group or culture may assimilate into the dominant culture, and the defining characteristics of the minority culture may become less obverse or disappear for practical reasons. Hence, in certain sociopolitical climates, cultural integration could be conceptualized as similar to cultural assimilation, with the former considered merely as one of the latter's phases.

Cultural assimilation may occur either quickly or gradually, depending on the circumstances of the group. Full assimilation takes place when members of a society are no longer distinguishable from those of the dominant group in that society.

Whether a group is expected to assimilate is often disputed by both members of the group and the dominant members of society. Cultural assimilation does not necessarily result in similarity of appearance. Geographical and other natural barriers between groups, even when influenced by a predominant culture, may lead to cultural differences.^[vague] Cultural assimilation can happen either spontaneously or forcibly, the latter when more dominant cultures use various means aimed at forced assimilation.

Various types of assimilation, including forced cultural assimilation, are particularly relevant regarding Indigenous groups during colonialism taking place between the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. This type of assimilation included religious conversion, separation of families, changes of gender roles, division of property among foreign power, elimination of local economies, and lack of sustainable food supply. Whether via colonialism or within one nation, methods of forced assimilation are often unsustainable, leading to revolts and collapses of power to maintain control over cultural norms. Often, cultures that are forced into different cultural practices through forced cultural assimilation revert to their native practices and religions that differ from the forced cultural values of other dominant powers. In addition throughout history, voluntary assimilation is often in response to pressure from a more predominant culture, and conformity is a solution for people to remain in safety. An example of voluntary cultural assimilation would be during the Spanish Inquisition, when Jews and Muslims accepted the Roman Catholic Church as their religion, but meanwhile, many people still privately practised their traditional religions. That type of assimilation is used to convince a dominant power that a culture has peacefully assimilated yet often voluntary assimilation does not mean the group fully conforms to the accepted cultural beliefs.

The term "assimilation" is often used about not only indigenous groups but also immigrants settled in a new land. A new culture and new attitudes toward the original culture are obtained through contact and communication. Assimilation assumes that a relatively-tenuous culture gets to be united into one unified culture. That process happens through contact and accommodation between each culture. The current definition of assimilation is usually used to refer to immigrants, but in multiculturalism, cultural assimilation can happen all over the world and within varying social contexts and is not limited to specific areas.