integration

n. Within the psychological study of acculturation, and particularly the work ofJohn Berry, integration refers to a pattern of cultural change in which an individual engages with a new cultural group and adopts its characteristics while maintaining a strong connection to the original cultural group. This involvement can take place on many levels. For instance, one can maintain interpersonal and/or mediated contact with the original cultural group; continue to observe behavioral traditions, such as food or clothing preferences; and preserve some degree of identification with that group. At the same time, the individual might seek contact with a new cultural group with the intention of adopting at least some of that group's cultural characteristics and perhaps eventually begin to identify with that cultural group. It is important to recognize, though, that not all aspects of a person's life will necessarily evidence integration. People may readily interact with members of another cultural group and acquire new behavioral characteristics, but they may not adopt new cultural values or identities. Thus, any description of a person as "integrated" needs to specify on which dimension this claim is made.

There are two common approaches to assessing a person's level of integration. First, a researcher may utilize instruments specifically developed to assess the construct of integration, whereby participants indicate their agreement with statements such as "I have good friends from Culture X and Culture Y." This approach has been criticized as having a variety of psychometric problems, not the least of which is that participants may base their response on different aspects of the statement. Second, a researcher may ask participants to indicate their degree of cultural involvement in the cultural group of origin and then independently indicate their degree of involvement in the other relevant cultural group. Participants who claim that they are strongly involved in both groups are termed integrated.

These approaches to measuring integration reflect a theoretical assumption of the bicultural individual as somehow the additive sum of two or more cultures. Other formulations of biculturality have been offered. For instance, aspects of each culture may be selected and recombined into a cultural hybrid, a new form that is different from the sum of its parts (e.g., aspects of Cree and French cultures being reshaped into Metis). Young Kim has argued from a similar perspective that, through a process of stress, adaptation, and growth that takes place over time, a person exposed to a new culture will develop an "intercultural identity." Such a person is no longer rigidly bound by membership to any one particular culture but instead develops a broader perspective on culture and the human condition. In this case, the new form is greater than the sum of the parts. Still others retain the notion of cultural duality, arguing that the bicultural person does not engage both cultures simultaneously but rather shifts between cultural frames of reference in response to cues and negotiations with the social world. Still other formulations are possible, all potentially valid descriptions of different people in different circumstances. Some evidence suggests, for instance, that people who acquire a second culture early in life may have a different bicultural experience than those who acquire it later. As theoretical work on integration and biculturality grows, it is likely that these new conceptualizations will inform alternative approaches to measurement.

- KN