Culture Shock: The Second Stage of Culture Acquisition

    I know that this video is very comic, and it was meant to be like that. However, the purpose of this video goes beyond causing you to laugh your head off.  I always liked to learn things while having fun, and that's why I decided to share with you this video. So, We are going to analyse the video to understand what acculturation means.

Acculturation

  There are many complex and long definitions to acculturation, but I like better a simple an short one: Acculturation is the process of getting adapted to a particular culture. In the video we can see the four stages of acculturation which are discussed  in an article I read called "Sociocultural Factors."

  The first stage we can appreciate in the video is when the outsiders experiment great excitement and  joy over the newness of the place and the surroundings. In this phase, the outsider is just starting to know the culture and is easily impressed by the beauty and uniqueness of the surroundings. Besides, there is usually a lot of curiosity and anxiousness to know the new place. This usually only lasts for a short period of time.

   The second stage is the one most represented in the video, culture shock. In this stage, the outsider starts feeling in a great deal the cultural differences between his own culture and the target culture. This cultural differences may be very simple ones that the outsider can adapt to his own necessities like when the toaster adapted the size of the bread slice, or more complex which can not be easily adapted; in this case, it is  the outsider  who has to change in order to fit into the new culture. In the video, this is also represented  when the toaster found out that the electrical outlet was different and did not work with its plug.

   The third stage is one of gradual recovery in which there is general progress in regards to solving some the problems, self adapting, and accepting the differences that surround the outsider. It was difficult for the toaster at the beginning, but then it accepted the differences and sat down resigned.

   The four and last stage of acculturation is when either assimilation or adaptation, or both have taken place. This usually means that the outsider has regained his self-confidence and accepted the new culture; therefore, he feels more comfortable and less troubled by the differences.

  But the toaster did not get to the last phase! you may say, and that is true. The process of acculturation differs from individual to individual, and from culture to culture. There are some individuals that for some reasons can never really get adapted to a new culture. Or there are others who try to adapt or force themselves to fit into the  new culture, but those efforts do not always work, and sometimes end up with terrible results like in the case of our poor toaster.

Marvin Mendez

 

Videos: Culture Shock

Here you will find six videos which present different beliefs, ceremonies and traditions of several parts of the world. The host and film actress Shenaz Treasuryvala and and the producer Roye Segal are the ones in charge of the series of videos they call "Culture Shock." I hope you really enjoy the videos, and learn something new about culture. For watching the videos, just click  below on Read more »

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What's Culture?

What's Culture?

Culture defines how a group of people think, behave and react within a specific geographical location.

Many would say that is a limited definition for culture, and you might be right, but remember, this only my humble point of view that is determined by my own culture.

Generation through generation, we are taught a large set of behaviors, attitudes, values, beliefs, meanings, and many other things which will somehow determine the way we think, behave and react. All this acquired knowledge would define how people see the world that surrounds them, and how they understand it. For example, analyze for a second how different a Buddhist and a Christian person think; I bet you are going to conclude that they have a really different vision of life and of the world, and that's because their religion and beliefs,which are part of the knowledge that is socially transmitted, determine how they think and see the world.

Besides, our behaviors and reactions towards the society we live in, and towards the rest of the world depend on everything we know, understand and believe in. That's why people continue having similar behaviors and reactions to those of their ancestors.

It is also important to mention that as human beings with the capability of thinking and learning, we are always changing and adapting our culture to our own necessities and context. However, we do keep what we consider is part of our cultural identity. And our cultural identity is that what makes us and our own society different from the rest.

To finish, let us remember a famous phrase Marcus Garvey once said,

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”