SOME COMMENTS ON THE STUDY OF CULTURAL CONTACT

Abstract

This theoretical preface precedes 5 descriptive studies of acculturation occurring in the Philippines, Africa, Guatemala, and the United States. Acculturation studies have revealed inadequacies in certain former principles of cultural change, such as the speedier change of material as over against non-material culture in the face of a new cultural contact. They have isolated the process of syncretism, i.e. the strengthening of a cultural segment as the result of contact between harmonious segments of 2 cultures. They have shown the necessity of altering the definition of acculturation to allow for the continuous influence of a transient contact of a minority, e.g. in the case of converts to an alien religion remaining in a culture. Furthermore, proper definition of the terms diffusion and culture trait is demanded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)