A Comparative Study Of Enculturation And Acculturation

Enculturation and acculturation are two key words in the fields of anthropology and intercultural communication. However, a review of some literature on enculturaruration and acculturation leads to an apparently confusing misuse of these two terms. On the one hand, they are frequently employed to refer to the same process; on the other hand, they are conceptualized by different scholars in diverse ways. Likewise, Chinese translations of these two terms are also confusingly varied such as "ruhua" (濡化) and "hanhua" (涵 化), which has brought many inconveniences to meaningful discussions. It is against this background that the present study attempts to make a comparative study of enculturation and acculturation. The thesis sets out to present the key issues in the studies of enculturation and acculturation so as to lay a theoretical foundation for its following comparisons. A review of relevant studies has brought to light the similarities and differences between enculturation and acculturation, which can be summarized in three aspects. With regard to their similarities, three points can be highlighted as follows:1) Either enculturation or acculturation is a process of culture acquisition or learning; 2) both are interactive processes; 3) both can be approached at the individual-level and group-level. As for the major differences between enculturation and acculturation, three points can also be highlighted as follows:1) They are different in boundary condition; 2) they are different in the nature of process; 3) they are different in individual self-identification during the process. Although there are similarities, enculturation and acculturation are two essentially different concepts. To avoid further confusion and facilitate more fruitful research, the present study finds it highly necessary to distinguish the two terms through in-depth analyses, which will hopefully prove to be of great significance to intercultural communication studies.