Cultural anthropology, a branch of anthropology investigating cultural variation among individuals, identifies two crucial processes: enculturation and acculturation. Read the text carefully to understand these concepts.

According to Hoebel (1972), enculturation is both a conscious and unconscious conditioning process whereby man, as a child and adult, achieves competence in his culture, internalizes his culture, and becomes thoroughly enculturated (p. 17). In other words, enculturation is the process of learning one’s own culture or “retention of, or cultural socialization to one’s culture of origin” (Yoon et al., 2020, p. 343).

Acculturation, in turn, is “a learning process of second-culture acquisition [or] cultural socialization to the mainstream culture” (Yoon et al., 2020, p. 343). Both processes involve multiple dimensions of behaviour, cultural identity, knowledge, and values in social contexts.

Scholars identify behavioural and value-level dimensions of acculturation. The former refers to processes of acquiring such aspects as language, food, media use, entertainment, and social relationships. These can be compared to the visible side of the Moon of Culture. The second dimension, referring to values, assumptions, beliefs, concepts, etc., forms the dark side of the Moon of Culture, which is harder to reach than behavioural acculturation (e.g., Miller et al., 2013). That is why the acculturation process starts with the behavioural dimension, which can be followed by a value-level dimension but does not necessarily have to.




So far, we have explored some basic concepts of culture, including definitions, philosophical perspectives, cultural awareness, and cross-cultural dimensions. The philosophical perspectives of selected famous thinkers display their views on culture as linked to civic engagement, power dynamics, and social hierarchies.

Cultural awareness was discussed as the ability to recognise and respect cultural differences, involving both visible behaviours and deeper, value-driven aspects. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions were presented, comparing nations based on factors like individualism, power distance, and masculinity to better understand cross-cultural differences. Additionally, the concepts of enculturation and acculturation were highlighted, focusing on how individuals learn their own culture or adapt to a new one.

Last modified: Friday, 7 February 2025, 6:30 PM