Goal
The goal of this module is to explore the assimilation and separation/ethnic competition models of acculturation. Crosstabulation will be used.
Concept
Acculturation is the process whereby the norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors of people from one culture are modified as a result of contact with a different culture. Although acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting habits and language patterns of the dominant or host society, acculturation can be reciprocal--that is, the dominant group also adopts patterns typical of the minority group.
Researchers have proposed several models of acculturation, including assimilation (whereby immigrants gradually lose their original cultural identity and become more like the dominant group), and separation or ethnic competition (whereby immigrants value their culture of origin and strive to preserve their ethnic/cultural identity, beliefs, and practices).
Studies have shown that acculturation has wide-ranging effects on immigrants' lives on several levels: psychologically, socio-culturally, and economically. For example, from a health perspective, research shows that high levels of acculturation are associated with increased smoking and drug use, as well as increased rates of certain types of cancer. From an economic standpoint, immigrants' income tends to rise as they become more acculturated. Feelings of political trust also are influenced by acculturation: research suggests that as immigrants become more integrated into US society, they become more cynical about American government.
Examples of possible research questions about acculturation:
The Detroit Arab American Study, 2003is a companion survey to the Detroit Area Study (DAS). It uses a representative sample of the Detroit metropolitan area, as well as an oversample of self-identified Arab and Chaldean Americans, and provides information on demographic characteristics, along with questions on respondents' country of birth, citizenship status, language spoken at home, religiosity, social trust, confidence in institutions, intercultural relationships, and attachment to transnational communities.
This exercise will use the following variables:
For this exercise you will explore the two major models of acculturation, assimilation and ethnic competition/separation, using crosstabulation.
Note that the variables E9, B2C, and D19E were recoded for readability (we renamed them, and excluded non-responsive answers "refused to answer," "don't know" and missing data), but not altered otherwise. The new variables are called: HMLANG, ARABTV, and VISIT respectively.
Respondents were asked in what year they immigrated to the US (E2A). This variable lists each year (from 1921 to 2003) as a distinct category. We recoded it by grouping years into 5 categories to indicate how long people had lived in the US: 1="less than 5 years", 2="5-9 years", 3="10-19 years", 4="20-39 years" and 5="40+ years". We named the new variable YRSUS.
Ethnic competition
The separation, or ethnic competition, model of acculturation proposes that immigrants value their culture of origin and strive to preserve their ethnic/cultural identity, beliefs, and practices.
To examine the strength of respondents' ties to their culture of origin look at whether
respondents speak a language other than English at home (HMLANG). Take a look at the crosstab of
Next look at whether respondents watch newscasts in Arabic. This is measured by the variable
ARABTV ("In a typical week, do you watch any television news broadcast in Arabic?"). Examine the
crosstab of
The variable VISIT measures the importance to respondents of visiting their country of origin
frequently. Consider the crosstab of
To explore the importance that immigrants place on traditional beliefs look at: the importance of
speaking Arabic (D19A) and the importance of marrying somebody of Arab background (D19B). For both
variables there were four response options: "A lot," "Somewhat," "Only a little," and "Not at all."
We collapsed them into two: "Important" and "Not (so) important" and called the new variables IMPSPK
and IMPMARRY. Take a look at the crosstabs of
Assimilation
The assimilation model of acculturation proposes that immigrants gradually lose their original cultural identity and become more like the dominant group.
Language proficiency is considered an important aspect of assimilation. Do immigrants' English
skills improve the longer they live in the US? To find out look at variable E11, which asks
respondents how well they speak English. There were 4 answer options: "very well," "well," "not
well," and "not at all." We collapsed those into two: "Well or very well" (coded as "1") and "Not
well or at all" (coded as "2"), excluded missing data, and named the new variable PROFICIENCY. Take
a look at the crosstab of
Next look at respondents' answers to the question: "How proud are you to be American?" (F4). The
four answer options were: "Very proud," "Quite proud," Not very proud," and "Not at all proud." We
collapsed them into two ("Very/quite proud" and "Not very/at all proud"), excluded missing data, and
named the new variable PROUDAM. The crosstab of
Respondents were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "I feel at home
in America" (H9). We collapsed the number of response categories from five to three ("Agree,"
"Neither agree nor disagree," and "Disagree"). The new variable is called HOMEUS. Run a crosstab of
To measure immigrants' civic engagement, look at the variable C4: "Are you registered to vote?"
We recoded this variable to include only those who responded "Yes" (1) or "No" (2), and named the
new variable VOTE. Run a crosstab of
Studies have shown that as immigrants assimilate, they adopt Americans' cynicism about political
institutions, and their confidence in the government. In this dataset confidence in the government
in Washington, DC is measured with the variable C30, which contains 4 answer options: "A great
deal", "A lot", "Not very much", and "None at all." We collapsed these categories into two: "A lot"
("1"), and "Not very much/at all" ("2"), excluded missing data, and named the new variable TRUSTGOV.
The crosstab of
Think about your answers to the application questions before you click through to the interpretation guide for help in answering them.
Ethnic Competition
What percentage of respondents said that they speak a language other than English at home? Are responses consistent across the different immigrant groups?
What percentage of respondents watches newscasts in Arabic? Are there large differences between the groups?
Which group of immigrants was the most likely to say that it's very important to visit their country of origin frequently? Which group was the least likely to think so?
How important is it for immigrants in the sample to speak Arabic? Are there large differences between the groups? Does the importance of marrying someone of Arab background diminish the longer people live in the US?
Assimilation
What percentage of recent immigrants does not speak English well or at all? What percentage of those who have lived here the longest falls in that category?
Is there much difference in the level of pride about being American in the different groups of immigrants? Do you find the results surprising?
What percentage of recent immigrants reported feeling at home in the US? What percentage of those who have been here the longest felt the same way?
Of which group was the largest percentage registered to vote? Between which two groups are the differences in voter registration the greatest?
Is acculturation corrosive of political trust? Does confidence in the American government increase or decrease the longer people live in the US?
Interpretation
Things to think about in interpreting the results:
It is important to look at the amount of missing data in each relationship and think about the ways in which that might affect the generalizability of the results -- some crosstabulation tables have relatively little missing data, others have a great deal.
It is also important to note the actual number of respondents in each cell of the crosstabulation tables. It is problematic to make inferences based on cells that contain few or relatively few respondents.
Remember that the data are population- and setting-specific. They are only representative of self-identified Arabs and Chaldeans in the greater Detroit Metropolitan area.
The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percent of the people who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people that represents this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the observed numbers in each cell compares to the expected number if there were no association between the two variables. The accompanying bar charts display the patterns visually as well.
Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions, usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population. The analyses in this guide used weights to increase the generalizability of the findings, so the resulting tables are meant to reflect the relationships we would expect to see in the general population.
The analyses show the following:
95.5% of immigrants in the sample reported speaking a language other than English at home. This number is consistent across most immigrant groups, and only drops to 80.4% for those who have lived in the US for 40 years or more.
75.7% of the people in the sample reported watching Arabic newscasts. Recent immigrants (those in the US less than 10 years) are much more likely to watch newscasts in Arabic than those who have been in the country 40 years or more (51%).
73.4% of respondents said that visiting their country of origin was "somewhat" or "a lot" important. The importance of making frequent visits to one's country of ancestry seems to decrease the longer people live in the US. 58.6-64.8% of "new" immigrants (here less than 10 years), but only 49.6% of those who have lived here 20 - 39 years and 48.9 % of those who have been in the U.S. more than 40 years, deem it very important to visit their country of ancestry often.
89.3% of respondents deem it important to speak Arabic. The vast majority of each group shares this view although those who have been in the country longer are slightly less likely (84.5% of those here 20-39 years and 84.1% of those here 40 years or more) to say speaking Arabic is important. Similarly, the vast majority (84.3%) of all respondents thinks it is important to marry someone of Arab background. This number drops to 72.5% for those who have lived in the US the longest.
More than half of recent immigrants do not speak English well or at all (54.8%). The number drops to 7% for the people who have lived in the US for 40 years or more.
All immigrant groups show very high levels of pride in being American. Even among the most recent immigrants, 89.3% reported feeling "quite/very proud" to be American.
68% of the most recent immigrants in the sample reported feeling at home in America, versus 91.3% of those who have lived here for over 40 years.
Voter registration rates increased the longer people resided in the US, reaching 86% among those who have been in the US for 40 years or more. It was 0% among the most recent immigrants, but there were only 2 respondents in that category who were citizens and therefore were eligible to vote--too few to make any meaningful inferences. Voter registration jumped to 54.6% for those who have lived in the US between 5 and 10 years.
Respondents who have lived in the US 5-10 years showed the highest level of confidence in the government. 67.4% of them said that they had a lot of confidence in the federal government. This number drops to 44.6% for those who have been here the longest.
Summary
The goal of this exercise was to explore two different models of acculturation: separation/ethnic competition, and assimilation.
Taken together, the results suggest that both models may apply to the participants in this survey. On the one hand, they deem it important to preserve their cultural identity, language, and practices, as evidenced by the fact that most speak a language other than English at home, watch Arabic news, and attach a lot of importance to visiting their country of origin, speaking Arabic, and marrying someone of Arab background. On the other hand, the results show that the longer people reside in the country, the more they assimilate. They become fluent in English, take pride in being American, consider the US their home, and though they also adopt Americans' cynicism toward government and political institutions, most are registered voters. This suggests that immigrants can take on American cultural values while maintaining a high affinity for their ethnic cultural identity.
Future research should consider how these models of acculturation apply to immigrants from different cultures, as well as other factors that might influence acculturation, such as immigrants' experiences of racism and discrimination.