Inculturation is the process of joining an individual to a certain culture, as well as the adoption of norms, habits and sustainable strategies of behavior. Modern cultural scientists use the term inculturation as an understanding of cultural norms and values by a child, and also includes the perception of cultural norms by adults.
Inculturation is understood as the assimilation of norms and traditions by people in their culture. This process is carried out when personality and culture influence each other - it gives a person certain personal qualities, while a person influences her.
This process is possible with daily communication with people belonging to the same culture, from whom the personality does not consciously learn the stereotypes of behavior enshrined in this society. The inculturation process consists of life support, personal development, and social communication.
Ways to develop inculturation
This process has several development paths. The most common way is imitation - the so-called imitation of the behavior of other people. From the point of view of inculturation, even the simplest procedure, like eating food or gestures, carries a certain value.
The second way is identification. This is the ability to accept the behavior, attitudes and values of the close environment. For example, children are often as career oriented as their parents.
In contrast to positive mechanisms, there are also negative ones, such as shame and guilt, which suppress positive mechanisms. Shame arises when exposed, while it does not require it for wine. A person with a sense of guilt punishes himself - he is tormented by torment about committing a bad deed.
Inculturation is divided into two stages - primary and adult. The initial stage is the assimilation of the main components of culture from birth to adolescence. She is the most important stabilizer of culture. The initial stage of inculturation contributes to the absolute assimilation of culture. However, if the process was interrupted, then the child can grow up with a completely changed perception of culture.
The adult stage begins with adulthood, when the individual enters adulthood. At this stage, it affects only some elements of culture that have arisen over the last period of time. These can be inventions or discoveries that directly affect the culture as a whole. At this stage, the individual develops the ability to independently master cultural norms. The adult stage of inculturation involves deliberate experimentation with the culture as a whole. At this stage, much attention is paid to professionalization, which is why inculturation is associated mainly with socio-cultural aspects. At this stage, a person lives until old age. The process ends with retirement. During this period, the main task for the individual is to preserve the meaning of life. It is for this reason that the problem of the inculturation of the elderly is very relevant in modern society.
