International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

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International Journal of Intercultural Relations

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel

A critique of critical acculturation

John W. Berry
Queens University, Kingston, Canada

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: This critique is divided into three sections. The rst section is a review of my positions on
Accepted 16 June 2009 three core issues regarding the nature of the human sciences (particularly cross-cultural
and acculturation psychology) that have been raised throughout these articles. Knowledge
Keywords: of these positions is essential background to understanding my comments in the second
Knowledge section. In the second section are some comments on specic claims and assertions about
Understanding my work that have been made in the articles. I believe that many of these assertions do not
Human science
represent my views, nor my empirical research, on acculturation. Of necessity, I have had
to select certain themes among all of these assertions. Although the special issue is a
critique of acculturation theory and research in general, the majority of the comments are
addressed to my work in the area. Hence, I have concentrated on criticisms directed at my
own work, rather than attempting to address the eld as a whole. However, my comments
likely have more general import for the eld of acculturation psychology as a whole. I
invite readers to consider these very contrasting sets of views about how we are to
understand individual human beings within the context of cultures, and of culture contact
and change. A third section returns to some of the basic issues regarding the nature of the
scientic enterprise. I advocate a dual approach, accepting both the natural sciences and
cultural sciences ways of advancing our knowledge of human behaviour in context. I argue
that dismissing the positivist traditions of the natural sciences, and replacing them with
social constructionist concepts and methods is a regressive step in our search to improve
our understanding of acculturation. Moreover, I have found little in these articles that
advances our knowledge of acculturation, or our potential for making applications for the
betterment of acculturating individuals and groups.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The opportunity to reply to these articles is very much appreciated. This reply is divided into three sections. The rst
section is a review of my positions on three core issues regarding the nature of the human sciences (particularly cross-
cultural and acculturation psychology) that have been raised throughout these articles. Knowledge of these positions is
essential background to understanding my comments in the second section. In the second section are some comments on
specic claims and assertions about my work that have been made in the articles. I believe that many of these assertions do
not represent my views, nor my empirical research, on acculturation. Of necessity, I have had to select certain themes among
all of these assertions. Although the special issue is a critique of acculturation theory and research in general, the majority of
the comments are addressed to my work in the area. Hence, I have concentrated on criticisms directed at my own work,
rather than attempting to address the eld as a whole. However, my comments likely have more general import for the eld

E-mail address: beryj@kos.net.

0147-1767/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.06.003
362 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

of acculturation psychology as a whole. I invite readers to consider these very contrasting sets of views about how we are to
understand individual human beings within the context of cultures, and of culture contact and change. A third section
returns to some of the basic issues regarding the nature of the scientic enterprise. I advocate a dual approach, accepting
both the natural sciences and cultural sciences ways of advancing our knowledge of human behaviour in context. I argue that
dismissing the positivist traditions of the natural sciences, and replacing them with social constructionist concepts and
methods is a regressive step in our search to improve our understanding of acculturation. Moreover, I have found little in
these articles that advances our knowledge of acculturation, or our potential for making applications for the betterment of
acculturating individuals and groups.
I begin with a well-known quote:
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. (Shakespeare; Hamlet, Act II, scene ii).
There are two reasons for using this quote. If we replace good with true, the following two statements can be generated:

All things are true if one thinks they are; there is no need for an empirical referent in the outside world. This remark is
directed at the recent advent of the social constructivist perspective in anthropology and psychology.
Numerous assertions about my views are made in the various articles; simply saying and repeating them does not make
them true. This remark is directed at the serious lack of evidence provided by many of the authors to substantiate their
assertions.

2. Nature of the human sciences

There are three fundamental issues where my views about the human sciences differ from those underlying these articles.
First is the character of scientic enquiry in the human sciences generally. The second is the comparative study of human
behaviour in cultural context (i.e., cross-cultural psychology). And the third is the study of how individuals work through the
process of adapting to a life in a new society (i.e., acculturation psychology).

2.1. Cross-cultural psychology

Here are two propositions:

Human beings are part of the natural world; as members of a single species, we share basic psychological processes and
capacities. These commonalities allow for intercultural understanding, and for making comparisons. One task for
psychology is to search for these commonalities, as part of our search for an understanding of our common humanity.
Human beings are part of the cultural world; we make various cultures, and are shaped by these cultures. One task for
psychology is to sample these variations in order to appreciate our magnicent variety; another task is to employ them in
comparative research in our search for our common humanity.

My claim is that both propositions are true. However, my reading of the main arguments in the articles in this special issue
indicates that the authors consider only one (the second proposition) to be true. For example, Chirkov comments (p. 97):
Thus, the process of acculturation could be addressed from two different philosophical positions. Researchers could apply a
naturalistic approach position and analyze acculturation as a natural science phenomenon trying to explain it through
discovering and applying universal covering laws of acculturation and then predicting future outcomes of this process. Or
researchers could look at acculturation through the prism of the interpretative social sciences and focus on the dynamics of
the changes in the intersubjective meanings of various culturally constructed realities and study individuals intrasubjective
meanings that immigrants assign to their actions in a new country (emphasis on Or added). In my view, this either/or
position seriously limits the possibility of attaining a comprehensive knowledge of the processes and outcomes of
acculturation.
My position is that the use of approaches from both the natural and cultural traditions of research should be used in
research on acculturation. The advantage of employing both approaches is that it allows for comparative work (based on our
common membership in one species), and for work that focuses on the individual within the nexus of a single culture. This
joint approach can be based on three sets of ideas drawn from the eld of cross-cultural psychology.
In taking this dual stance, I follow in the footsteps of Donald Campbell who advocated using concepts and methods drawn
from both traditions. In editing Campbells collected papers, Overman (1988, pp. xviii, xix) notes that in many of his works,
Campbell sought: to reconcile differences between the quantitative tradition and all it stands for and the qualitative
tradition and all it stands for. The dominant characteristic of these essays is Campbells ability to weave a path, not just
between quantitative and qualitative knowing, but also between the goal of objectivity and ontological nihilism, between
the empirical-behaviourist expectation and the solipsism of phenomenal absolutism. His success depends on our willingness
not to be wedded to choosing between the two sets of beliefs, but being able to recognize and operationalize an intermediate
position . . . Donald Campbell is most notable over his long career as a social science researcher and theorist to synthesize and
reconcile these opposing perspectives.
 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371 363

More recently, others have taken this dual stance. For example, Fry (1996) has advocated a multicultural approach to the
philosophy of science, in which both positions (cultures) are seen as part of a larger frame for engaging in social science
theorizing and research. And Glynos and Howarth (2007, p. 1) note that starting with Bernstein (1976) and continuing to the
present, while the dominant view [is] that social and political theorists ought to distinguish and then choose between
explanation, interpretation and critique, [Bernstein] optimistically advocates their dialectical integration for any theoretical
approach worth its salt.
In my view, it makes no sense to advocate for one perspective, and to dismiss the other, as is done in this special issue.

2.1.1. Nature of culture

A core question in cross-cultural psychology is the nature of culture. This issue has three aspects: what is culture; where is
culture, and how can it be accessed? With respect to the rst question, I accept that the claims for culture to be both concrete
and symbolic to be valid. The longstanding view in anthropology that cultures exist concretely and are available for
observation was challenged in the 1970s by Geertz (1973) who saw culture in the mind of the people, as an historically
transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols (Geertz, 1973, p. 89), and as a conceptual structure or system of
ideas (Geertz, 1984, p. 8). However, a dual approach has been advocated by DAndrade (1995, p. 212) who dened . . .
culture as the entire social heritage of a group, including material culture and external structures, learned actions, and
mental representations of many kinds . . .. That is, culture is made up of socially shared concrete features (artefacts and
institutions) as well as abstract features (representations of these concrete aspects and symbols). This dual approach, which I
also advocate, has informed much of recent work in cross-cultural psychology.
With respect to the second question (but related to the rst), does culture have a separate existence as a quality of
collectivities and groups; and does it reside in the psychological makeup of individuals? Is culture to be conceptualized: as an
independent variable (having an existence outside any particular individual): as an organismic variable (internalized as part of
an individuals psychological makeup); or with some combined status? In my work with the ecocultural framework, my
answer (Berry, 2000) is that it is both. That is, cultures exist as shared features of groups prior to the presence of any
particular new members (be they neonates or immigrants). In a sense, cultures are lying in wait for individuals to come
along, and become participants in the process of cultural transmission from cultural communities to individuals (Berry &
Georgas, 2008).
To justify the view that there are two levels to be considered, it is helpful to recall the argument (Kroeber, 1917) that
culture is superorganic, super meaning above and beyond, and organic referring to its individual biological and
psychological bases. Two arguments were presented by Kroeber for the independent existence of culture, at its own
collective level. First, particular individuals come and go, but cultures remain more or less stable. This is a remarkable
phenomenon; despite a large turnover in membership with each new generation, cultures and their institutions remain
relatively stable. Thus, a culture does not depend on particular individuals for its existence, but has a life of its own at
the collective level of the group. The second argument is that no single individual knows or possesses all of the culture
of the group to which one belongs; the culture as a whole is carried by the collectivity, and indeed is likely to be beyond
the biological or psychological capacity (to know or to do) of any single person in the group. For example, no single
person knows all the laws, political institutions and economic structures that constitute even this limited sector of ones
culture.
For both these reasons, Kroeber considered that cultural phenomena are collective phenomena, above and
beyond the individual person, and hence his term superorganic. This position is an important one for cross-cultural
psychology since it permits us to employ the groupindividual distinction in attempting to link the two, and possibly
to trace the inuence of cultural factors on individual psychological development. Hence, I consider that culture
is, in important ways, an independent variable (or more accurately, a complex set of inter-related independent
variables).
However, from the ecocultural perspective the processes of cultural transmission and acculturation lead to the
incorporation of features of culture as part of the individual; hence culture also becomes an organismic variable, part of
the psychological makeup of every person. It is simultaneously outside and inside the individual. Being both out there
and in here (Berry, 2000) the interactive, mutually inuencing, character of culturebehaviour relationships becomes
manifest.
With respect to the third question, can culture be accessed by anthropological research methods that have been used for
hundreds of years, such as observation, and asking questions of individual members and key informants? The ethnographic
enterprise has used these methods to great advantage, and cross-cultural psychology has adopted them to our own
advantage. Numerous textbooks (e.g., Ember, Ember, & Peregrine, 2007), essays (e.g., Hunt, 2007), archives (e.g., Human
Relations Area Files), and thousands of culture-specic ethnographies attest to the important accumulation of cultural
knowledge about peoples of the world, and to their comparative examination. In my view, these approaches (which are
broadly within the positivist tradition, since they accept the reality of the object of study) should not be dismissed entirely
and replaced by the more recent interpretive approaches. Again, I assert that both approaches to studying culture can and
should be used, to the advantage of our eld. The metaphor used by Pike (1967) to advocate the joint use of emic and etic
approaches to cultural, linguistic and psychological phenomena is compelling Berry, 1999a). The dual use of the two ways of
examining a phenomenon corresponds to using a pair of binoculars: using both eyes provides perspective on what is being
observed.
364 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

2.1.2. Absolutism, relativism, and universalism

Three theoretical positions have been outlined in cross-cultural psychology (Berry, Poortinga, Segall, & Dasen, 2002):
absolutism, relativism and universalism. Absolutism holds that human beings are qualitatively and fundamentally the same
the world over, and are can be understood without having regard to the cultures into which they have been enculturated.
Concepts of, and assessments of, psychological qualities need not take cultural features into account. Claims that
intelligence is intelligence, and depression is depression are held to be absolutes, and they can be understood, measured
and compared without cultural constraints (e.g., Lynn, 2006). In sharp contrast, relativism considers human behaviour to
be so fundamentally entwined with, and a product of cultures that no common psychological concepts or measures of them
can be valid, nor is it possible to make comparisons across cultures. The universalist perspective asserts that all human
societies exhibit commonalities (cultural universals), and that all individual human beings possess basic psychological
processes (psychological universals). These psychological processes are shared, species-common characteristics of all
human beings on which cultures play innite variations during the course of development and daily activity. Since cultural
variations are the very starting point for the search for underlying similarities, it is clearly different from absolutism, which
denies any important role for culture. Universalism is the position that I espouse for both cross-cultural and acculturation
psychology.
With respect to cultural universals, what is the evidence for their existence? In our cognate disciplines of anthropology
(e.g., Murdock, 1975), sociology (e.g., Aberle, Cohen, Davis, Levy, & Sutton, 1950), and linguistics (e.g., Chomsky, 2000) there
is substantial evidence that groups everywhere possess shared sociocultural attributes. For example, all peoples have tools,
social structures (e.g., norms and roles), social institutions (e.g., marriage and justice) and languages. It is also evident that
such underlying commonalities are expressed by cultural groups in vastly different ways from one time and place to another.
That is, common processes become developed and expressed differentially across cultural groups.
There is parallel evidence, at the psychological level, for both underlying similarity and surface variation (Berry et al.,
1997). For example, all individuals have the basic processes needed to develop, learn and perform speech, technology, role
playing and norm observance. I know of no studies that reveal the absence of any basic psychological process in any cultural
group. Even with the existence of these common processes, there are obviously vast group and individual differences in their
development, and in the way of expressing these shared underlying processes.
My own position is that of universalism, which is a vantage point that allows consideration of both cultural uniqueness
and similarity at different levels. It also allows for the comparative integration of psychological phenomena across cultural
communities.

2.1.3. Process, competence, and performance

Another second set of concepts that is relevant to our discussion is a threefold distinction among: psychological processes
or capacities (which are posited to be shared features of all human beings); the development of competence (which are
posited to be variable across individuals and cultures); and the appearance of performance (which are also posited to be
variable across individuals and cultures). Processes are those psychological features of individuals that are the fundamental
ways in which people deal with their day-to-day experiences, such as perception, learning, and categorization.
Competencies are those features of individuals that develop with cultural experience, such as abilities, attitudes and values.
They are developed on the basis of the interaction between the basic underlying processes and peoples encounters with the
outside world. Performances are those activities of individuals that are expressed as behaviour, such as skilled work, carrying
out projects, or engaging in political action. Performances are those expressions of competencies that are appropriate to, or
are triggered by, the need to act in a suitable way in a particular context. The actual performance will depend, not only on the
competence, but also on a host of situational factors. For example, all individuals have the basic processes required to learn a
language (or multiple languages). Which language(s) will be learned (competencies) depends on the cultural context in
which the individual develops. And in a situation where there is a choice of language, the performance will depend on the
language of the interlocutor, and the requirement to speak a particular language in any specic situation (such as at work, or
in ones cultural community).
Understanding these three psychological phenomena is a prerequisite for interpreting the theoretical position of
universalism. We can only actually observe performances, in all their variety, in all their cultural and intercultural
contexts. Competencies can only be inferred from patterns of regularities in these performances (whether exhibited in
naturalistic settings, or under controlled test conditions). And, most removed from observable human behaviour are the
underlying processes; these also require the making of inferences from these patterns. In my view, the goal of science is
the generation of the most parsimonious explanations for observable events. It is thus important to keep up the search
for the underlying regularities (psychological universals) that are likely hidden beneath the culturally patterned
behavioural variability.

2.2. Acculturation psychology

Many of the critical comments made in this special issue refer to my approach to acculturation, particularly to a lack of
attention to culture (at least as dened by the critics who accept the interpretive version). This section reiterates two basic
frameworks that have guided my work on acculturation psychology. More details of these frameworks can be found in Berry
(2005).
 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371 365

Fig. 1. General acculturation framework showing cultural-level and psychological-level components, and the ow among them (Berry, 2003).

2.2.1. Cultural and psychological levels

In keeping with the cultural/psychological distinction made above for cross-cultural psychology, I argue that there are the
same two levels to research on acculturation. The framework in Fig. 1 shows these two main domains of research (Berry,
2003). The rationale for this distinction in acculturation psychology is that individuals who share a common cultural
heritage, or who are settled into a common society, do not necessarily experience, navigate or adapt to acculturation the
same way. That is, there are usually vast individual differences across individuals who share cultures and societies.
This framework outlines and links cultural and psychological acculturation, and identies the two (or more) groups in
contact. It provides a map of those phenomena which I believe need to be conceptualized and measured during acculturation
research. At the cultural level of enquiry (on the left) we need to understand key features of the two (or more) original
cultural groups prior to their major contact. It is essential to understand these pre-contact qualities of the groups that are
now attempting to live together following migration. Migrants bring cultural and psychological qualities with them to the
new society; and the new society also has a variety of such qualities. The compatibility (or incompatibility) in religion,
values, attitudes, personality (etc.) between the two cultural communities in contact needs to be examined as a basis for
understanding the acculturation process that is set in motion. It is also important to understand the nature of their contact
relationships (left and centre). It may be one of the domination of one group over the other, or of mutual respect or of
hostility; all kinds of relationship, ranging from positive to negative, are possible. Finally at the cultural level, we need to
understand the resulting cultural changes in both groups that emerge during the process of acculturation. No cultural group
remains unchanged following culture contact; acculturation is a two-way interaction, resulting in actions and reactions to
the contact situation. In many cases, most change takes place in non-dominant communities; however, all societies of
settlement (particularly their metropolitan cities) have experienced massive transformations following years of receiving
immigrants. These changes can be minor or substantial, and range from being easily accomplished through to being a source
of major cultural disruption. The gathering of this information requires extensive ethnographic, community-level work,
using methods derived from hundreds of years of research in cultural and social anthropology. These may employ methods
based on the concepts of culture outlined earlier: that is, culture is both out there and pre-existing, and in here and created
during social interaction.
At the individual psychological level (Graves, 1967), we need to consider the psychological changes that individuals in all
groups undergo, and their eventual adaptation to their new situations. Identifying these changes requires sampling a
population and studying individuals who are variably involved in the process of acculturation. These behavioural changes can
be a set of rather easily accomplished behavioural shifts (e.g., in ways of speaking, dressing, and eating) or they can be more
problematic, producing acculturative stress as manifested by uncertainty, anxiety, and depression (Berry, Kim, Minde, & Mok,
1987). As noted above, most research on acculturation (e.g., Sam & Berry, 2006) reveals large individual differences in these shift
and stress phenomena. Similarly, research on the various forms of adaptation (psychological and sociocultural; Ward, 1996)
usually reveals a large range of individual differences. A key task of acculturation psychology is to understand the links between
the cultural and psychological sets of information, as well as within these sets, for example how behavioural shifts relate to the
sociocultural adaptation. In my view, if these cultural and psychological concepts were not distinguished and assessed
independently, it would be very difcult to obtain a clear picture of the process and outcomes of the acculturation process.
366 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

Fig. 2. Acculturation strategies in ethnocultural groups, and in the larger society.

2.2.2. Acculturation strategies

The concept of acculturation strategies refers to the various ways that groups and individuals seek to acculturate.
Knowledge of these variations has increased substantially in recent years (see Berry, 2003; Sam & Berry, 2006), challenging
the assumption that everyone would assimilate and become absorbed into the dominant group (Gordon, 1964). At the
cultural level, the two groups in contact (whether dominant or non-dominant) usually have some notion about what they are
attempting to do (such as colonial policies, or reasons for migrating). At the individual level, persons will vary within their
cultural group (e.g., on the basis of their educational or occupational background); and within their families, persons will
vary according to their gender or position (e.g., mother and son). The more immediate outcomes of the acculturation process
(including the behaviour changes and acculturative stress phenomena) are now known to be a function, at least to some
extent, of what people try to do during their acculturation (i.e., their acculturation strategies). These strategies continue
during the process of acculturation, and vary over time with acculturation experiences (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006,
Fig. 4.18; Ho, 1995). And the longer term outcomes (both psychological and sociocultural adaptations) often correspond to
the strategic goals set by individuals and by the groups of which they are members (Berry, 1997; Berry & Sam, 1997).
Initially, attitudes towards various ways to acculturate were assessed (Berry, 1970). Later work (e.g., Berry et al., 2006)
incorporated other psychological features (such as cultural identities, language, social behaviours and motivations) along
with attitudes, leading to the more comprehensive concept of acculturation strategies. In all this work, four ways of
acculturating were derived from two basic issues facing acculturating peoples. These issues are based on the distinction
between orientations towards ones own group, and those towards other groups (Berry, 1974, 1980). This distinction is
rendered as (i) a relative preference for maintaining ones heritage culture and identity and (ii) a relative preference for
having contact with and participating in the larger society along with other ethnocultural groups. It has now been well
demonstrated that these two dimensions are empirically, as well as conceptually, independent from each other (e.g., Ryder,
Alden, & Paulhus, 2000; Sabatier & Berry, 2008). This two dimensional formulation is presented in Fig. 2, for specic
ethnocultural groups and individuals (on the left) and for the larger society and individuals (on the right).
These two issues can be responded to on attitudinal dimensions, shown as varying along bipolar dimensions, rather than
as bald (positive or negative) alternatives. Orientations to these issues intersect to dene four acculturation strategies. These
strategies carry different names, depending on which group is being considered. From the point of view of specic
ethnocultural groups (on the left of Fig. 2), when individuals do not wish to maintain their cultural identity and seek daily
interaction with other cultures, the assimilation strategy is dened. In contrast, when individuals place a value on holding on
to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with others, then the separation alternative is dened.
When there is an interest in both maintaining ones original culture, while in daily interactions with other groups, integration
is the strategy. In this case, there is some degree of cultural integrity maintained, while at the same time seeking, as a member
of an ethnocultural group, to participate as an integral part of the larger social network. Integration may take various forms,
including alternation between cultural ways, and a merging of them (Berry, 2008). Finally, when there is little possibility or
interest in cultural maintenance (often for reasons of enforced cultural loss), and little interest in having relations with
others (often for reasons of exclusion or discrimination) then marginalization is dened. Note that integration has a very
specic meaning within this framework: it is clearly different from assimilation (because there is substantial cultural
maintenance with integration), and it is not a generic term referring to any kind of long term presence, or involvement, of an
immigrant group in a society of settlement (Berry, 2007). The assessment of these acculturation strategies are now a core
 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371 367

feature of acculturation research (e.g., Berry, Kim, Power, Young, & Bujaki, 1989; Chirkov, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c), and
variations in them have been related to variations in both acculturation experience and to adaptation (e.g., Berry et al., 2006).
These two basic issues were initially approached from the point of view of the specic ethnocultural groups. However, the
original anthropological denition clearly established that both groups in contact would change and become acculturated.
Hence, in 1974 a third dimension was added: that of the powerful role played by the dominant group in inuencing the way
in which mutual acculturation would take place (Berry, 1974, 1980). The addition of this third dimension produces the right
side of Fig. 2. Assimilation when sought by the dominant group is termed the melting pot. When separation is forced by the
dominant group it is segregation. Marginalization, when imposed by the dominant group it is exclusion. Finally, integration,
when diversity is a widely accepted feature of the society as a whole, including by all the various ethnocultural groups, it is
called multiculturalism.
Integration can only be chosen and successfully pursued by non-dominant groups when the dominant society is open and
inclusive in its orientation towards cultural diversity (i.e., when there is widespread acceptance of a multicultural ideology;
Berry, Kalin, & Taylor, 1977). Thus a mutual accommodation is required for integration to be attained, involving the
acceptance by both groups of the right of all groups to live as culturally different peoples. This strategy requires non-
dominant groups to adopt the basic values of the larger society, while at the same time the dominant group must be prepared
to adapt national institutions (e.g., education, health, and labour) to better meet the needs of all groups now living together in
the plural society. This position is now widely promoted by various countries (e.g., European Union, 2005; Government of
Canada, 1971); every group and every individual, is expected to give a bit in order to achieve a winwin intercultural
situation in contemporary plural societies.
With the use of this dual framework, comparisons can be made between individuals and their groups, and between
specic ethnocultural groups and the larger society within which they are acculturating. Inconsistencies and conicts
between these various acculturation preferences are common sources of difculty for those experiencing acculturation
(Bourhis, Moise, Perrault, & Senecal,1997; Navas et al., 2005). For example this can occur when individuals in the larger
society do not accept the main ideology of their society (such as when individuals oppose immigrant cultural maintenance in
a society where multiculturalism is ofcial policy), or when immigrant children challenge the way of acculturating set out by
their parents. Generally, when acculturation experiences cause problems for acculturating individuals, we observe the
phenomenon of acculturative stress, with variations in levels of adaptation.
The presentation of these strategies for the non-dominant group has been based on the assumption that non-dominant
groups and their individual members have the freedom to choose how they want to behave during their acculturation. This,
of course, is not always the case; the preferences (attitudes) of individuals do not always become expressed in their actual
behaviour. Thus, in addition to attitudes, researchers usually also assess behaviours in the same domains as their attitudes
(for example, the preferences and actual behaviours for, food eaten, language used, religion, and family relationships). There
is always less than a perfect relationship between acculturation attitudes and behaviours (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), just as in
the case of any other areas of life. As noted above, the combination of acculturation attitudes and behaviours has been
termed acculturation strategies.

3. Critical comments on articles

Based on these general observations about cross-cultural and acculturation psychology, and the portrayal of my positions
on them, I now turn to comments on some specic issues raised in the articles in this special issue. In the opening sentence of
the concluding article, Chirkov refers (on p. 177) to the reections and opinions presented in the special issue. In this
characterization of the material as opinions I strongly agree. As foreshadowed in the opening quotation from Hamlet,
thinking (or saying or writing) something does not necessarily make it true.

3.1. Coherence of articles

One would expect that the articles in a special issue of a journal on a single topic would present a coherent picture of the
topic being addressed. At the very least there is an expectation of editorial comment on the differences across the articles.
Instead, the editor seems to have been unconcerned with disparities and inconsistencies among authors, preferring to
summarize only the communalities in the concluding article (as well as in the introduction and the rst article). For example,
most articles in the special issue advocate the interpretive or constructivist approach to acculturation rather than
following the positivist approach that is currently the dominant one (articles by Chirkov, Bhatia and Ram, Cresswell,
Waldram). However, two articles (e.g., Rudmin, Weinreich) do adopt a strict psychometric approach, which has its roots in
the positivistic tradition. No comment on this disparity is made, and hence no proposal is made to advocate the path forward
using both interpretive and positivist approaches together. Are we to develop the eld of acculturation psychology in two
mutually inconsistent directions?
There is frequent criticism of mechanistic linear models of the process of acculturation in the articles. For example, Tardif-
Williams and Fisher (p. 150) argue that acculturation is a dynamic and complex process . . . (that is) . . . a dialogic,
relationally constituted, and continually negotiated (unnalizable) process. Despite this emphasis on complexity and
interaction, there is yet another mechanistic model produced by Rudmin (p. 117, Fig. 2). And Weinreich presents a highly
mechanistic computerized procedure to assess cultural identities, but exactly how it works in practice is not easy to
368 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

understand, since access is limited to those who have enough money to buy into his scheme. Neither of these mechanistic
models is criticized by the editor nor by any of the authors in the special issue.

3.2. What is universalism?

The understanding of the position of universalism (as articulated above) is misrepresented in the special issue. It appears
that the differences between the positions of absolutism and universalism are not understood. For example, the phrase law
of acculturation was used with quotation marks (by Chirkov, p. 100, footnote 2) in commenting on our research with
immigrant youth (Berry et al., 2006). We do not use this phrase (as implied by the quotation marks), nor would I. The search
for pan-human regularities is very much a goal of comparative research on acculturation, but such acculturation universals
have not been attained as yet. And, when they are attained, in keeping with the position of universalism, they will only be
accompanied by important qualications by various cultural, social and economic factors.

3.3. What and where is culture?

Throughout the volume, there are claims that there is not enough attention paid to culture in acculturation research (at
least as dened by the current interpretive approaches; see Waldram article). For example, Chirkov (p. 95) argues: My
second thesis is that there is no attention given to culture in acculturation research . . . (emphasis on no added). He further
asserts that most research is guilty of: ignoring/omitting/skipping the descriptive phase of scientic research. This
sequence is exactly the one that I have proposed and advocated (Berry, 1989) and that is used by many cross-cultural
psychologists: emic and etic approaches are both necessary and complementary (Berry, 1999a). As noted earlier, Pike (1967)
argued that having these two perspectives on cultural and psychological phenomena is like having binocular vision:
perspective is gained by having two different points of view.
Even a cursory examination of my general acculturation framework (Fig. 1) would reveal that this joint examination of
cultural and psychological acculturation phenomena is exactly what I have been proposing, and doing, for years. The rst
research activity is to carry out the ethnographic research with the cultures (left side of the gure); only then is it possible to
develop psychological research procedures and instruments to examine the individual level phenomena (right side of the
gure). In my own research on acculturation with indigenous peoples, I have carried out these initial ethnographic studies,
using concepts and methods inherited from cultural anthropologists. In fact much of my work on acculturation has been
carried out by a team, in which there has usually been an anthropologist member (see Berry, 1976; Berry et al., 1986; Mishra
& Berry, 2008; Mishra, Sinha, & Berry, 1996). And in my research with immigrant, refugee and sojourner groups, almost
always the work has been carried out in collaboration with members of the relevant ethnocultural community (Ataca &
Berry, 2002; Aycan & Berry, 1996; Kim & Berry, 1985; Krishnan & Berry, 1992; Kwak & Berry, 2001; Sands & Berry, 1993;
Zheng & Berry, 1991). The immigrant youth study (Berry et al., 2006) was carried out with assistants selected from the
relevant ethnocultural community. Thus, in my view, the charge that culture has been ignored in the process of carrying out
research on acculturation is simply not valid. It appears that the charge is that if I do not adopt an exclusively interpretive
approach to culture, then I do not study culture!
Moreover, the two issues underlying the acculturation strategies framework (Fig. 2) were identied during extensive
ethnographic work, and are based on both key informants and open interviews at the beginning of the research projects. And
the domains of concern to both groups during acculturation are similarly identied by them. The cultural issues of concern
and even contention between them, such as language, heritage custom retention, and social relations can only be identied
in this way. This is why, when asked (as I am frequently) for my acculturation attitudes scale, I reply that I do not have one.
My position is that every acculturative arena requires initial ethnographic research to identify the domains of concern to the
two groups in contact; only then can they be rendered into a reliable and valid research instrument for use with acculturating
individuals.

3.4. What is acculturation?

A number of articles seek to (re)dene acculturation in various ways. For example, Rudmin (p. 106) recommends that
acculturation be dened as second-culture acquisition. This is a return to a unidimensional, and assimilationist view of the
process of acculturation; acculturation becomes simply taking on another culture (see comment on the concept of
enculturation, below). It entirely ignores the complexity of the process, which necessarily involves working out how to live
with and between two cultures. If acculturation is to be redened in terms of only one culture (and in a single directionthat
of culture acquisition) the core meaning of the concept will be lost.
A second example is the proposal by Weinreich (p. 125) that acculturation be (re)dened as enculturation. In my view, as
long as individuals are involved in two distinguishable cultural groups in contact, then acculturation (not simply
enculturation) processes will be involved. This is because enculturation is a process of becoming a competent member of,
and identifying with, one particular culture (Berry, 2007). In culture contact situations, this would involve an individual in
two enculturation processes; this is precisely what is portrayed in my cultural transmission framework (Berry et al., 2002,
Fig. 2.1), which Weinreich seems to have missed. As explained in the accompanying text, when there is such double
enculturation, the phenomenon is appropriately termed acculturation. The interplay between the two concepts (see my
 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371 369

discussion of cultural transmission; Berry, 2007, p. 546) is complex; however, the central criterion is whether one or two
cultures are being transmitted. If the situation involves two cultures, then it ts the longstanding meaning of acculturation.
There is an assertion by Weinreich (p. 125) that I assume that in acculturation settings both the dominant and heritage
cultures are benign and congenial . . . (and that) . . .. These assumptions reect an implicit ideology that cultures are benign for
all-comers. Similarly Bhatia and Ram (p. 148) claim that my framework implicitly assumes that both the majority and
minority cultures have equal status and power. These are prime examples of the belief that simply saying something makes
it true. No evidence is presented by either critic; indeed no evidence can be presented because I have never held these
positions, nor have ever expressed them. On the contrary, for example in my work with Aboriginal peoples (e.g., Berry,
1999b) the key to understanding their acculturative experiences and the variable outcomes (often negative) is the existence
of domination, conict and resistance. When cultural incompatibility or conict is present, then integration is not likely or
even possible; instead other strategies (particularly separation and marginalization) are the most common ways of
acculturating.

3.5. What are acculturation strategies?

Perhaps the most contentious issue addressed in the special issue is that of acculturation strategies. Rudmin has made a
number of critical comments about the ways I have assessed acculturation strategies. He acknowledges that he has
published these criticisms previously (2001, 2008); however, he does not acknowledge that I and my colleagues have
responded to these criticisms on two occasions (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2008; Berry & Sam, 2003). Surely the norms
of sound scholarship require that both sides be presented, or at least referenced.
A second issue is whether acculturation strategies are really strategies in the sense that individuals actually seek out and
strive toward a particular way of acculturating that suits them. For example, Cresswell (p. 163) proposes that the concept of
intentionality be employed to understand an individuals acculturation. For him, intentionality involves actively ordering
living experience. Even though raw sensational impressions are a mass of unorganized stimuli, our experience is not one of
the unorganized chaos because we order it. As I understand this argument, he proposes that individuals are not pawns in the
acculturation process, but actively decide and proceed towards a particular goal in their intercultural life. This is exactly my
claim when I moved beyond assessing acculturation attitudes, to incorporating identities, behaviours and motivations in the
more comprehensive notion of acculturation strategies. However, it is not clear where in our 2002 book we claim that the
notion of intentional states involves relativism, solipsism, or radical subjectivity (e.g. Berry et al., 2002) . . ., or that . . . the
realist-absolutist dualism upon which the EmicEtic distinction is made (e.g. Segall, Lonner, & Berry, 1998) is a false dualism
. . . (Cresswell, p. 164). I am not sure that I understand these claims; however, I am sure that I have never stated these views!
Without specic references to these attributed points of view, it is difcult to know how to deal with them. A related set of
comments is made by Waldram (p. 174) when he asserts that: . . . contrary to John Berrys famous formulation, individuals
do not choose a strategy for acculturation, but rather engage with the new stuff of culture as they encounter it, often
without the kind of conscious scheming that Berry seems to suggest, and in ways that relate to, but are not bound to, their
sense of identity and heritage. Again, there is no documentation for the assertions that these views have been expressed in
my work; perhaps they are so famous that he can pull them out of thin air! Moreover, the contrast between these various
statements regarding my concept of acculturation strategies cries out for editorial attention. What does the critical
approach really say: are acculturation strategies actively sought by intentional acculturating individuals or they are mere
pawns in the process? Consistency in the presentation of a critical perspective is missing.

3.6. Applications and future research

A charge made frequently in the volume is that there is nothing useful or applicable that can be derived from the existing
body of knowledge on acculturation. However, a reading of the articles in the volume leads me to conclude that the situation
is unlikely to be any better with the use of types of the research advocated here. There is a considerable amount of opinion,
verbiage and speculation, and little of substance that can be used for policy or program development. My experience over the
years with policy makers and public ofcials has convinced me that the kinds of information deriving from these more
interpretive and constructivist approaches are looked upon skeptically by them. They typically want to know how you know
what you claim to know; how much of the information being communicated is really valid information, based on the
realities that they must deal with in their public roles, and how much is just in the researchers heads.

4. Conclusions

Most of the articles in this special issue take a singularly one-sided approach to acculturation psychology, with respect to
concepts, methods and applications. Conceptually, they dene culture in a very narrow way, based on social constructivist
views about culture and behaviour, and their relationships. The contribution of the positivist conception of culture (as having
an actual and concrete existence) is dismissed because it does not t this narrow denition. Similarly, the well-established
methods of positivist behavioural science, with its emphasis on reliability (reproducibility) and validity (both internal and
external) are dismissed in favor of more subjective and interpretive positions (where these important issues are not typically
addressed). And with respect to applications, the use of existing knowledge about psychological acculturation in the
370 J.W. Berry / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (2009) 361371

educational, health and organizational domains is entirely ignored (see Sam & Berry, 2006, part 4 on applications). This is
particularly surprising because the agenda for applications outlined at the end of the issue (p. 180) is largely a repeat of
concerns that already been addressed, and to some extent accomplished, by research on acculturation psychology following
the positivist tradition. Finally, much of the presentation is extraordinarily polemical, often replacing what has been actually
done and reported in the literature with opinion and misrepresentation, and occasionally ignoring what has been published.
To repeat, simply saying so, over and over again, and without providing evidence from specic published statements, does
not make an assertion true. I agree that criticism is essential for making progress in research and application. However, the
articles in this issue give me little hope for the future if this exclusively social constructivist agenda is pursued.
Just as the Goddess of victory challenges all athletes to excel, my challenge to these authors is just do it, but better!

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