Assimilation is the process of merging one nation with another. This phenomenon occurs both on a voluntary basis and by force.
The concept of "assimilation" is used in ethnography and sociology. It means the loss of an ethnic group or its separate part of one or another distinctive features belonging to it. As a result, they are borrowed from another people. In general, assimilation is a real ethnocultural shift. It occurs in the self-awareness of a single social group, which once represented a different community.
Varieties of concepts
Does the process of merging one nation with another take place peacefully or militarily? There is no definite answer to this question. The concept of “assimilation” is distinguished by syncretism and polysemy.
The process of merging one people with another occurs in some cases voluntarily. Here we can talk about natural assimilation. But sometimes the merging of one people with another occurs by violent methods. In such cases, they talk about artificial assimilation.
Also, the process of merging peoples can be complete or partial, social or ethnic.
Ways of assimilation
If the merging of one people with another occurs naturally, then this process lasts quite a long time. Assimilation in this case occurs gradually. It is carried out as a result of contacts of various ethnic groups. At the same time, certain socio- and ethnocultural traditions are transferred from one group to another.
If the process of merging one people with another occurs through violent actions, then there is a deliberate destruction of ethnosocial systems.
Artificial assimilation cause purposefully. The main way to achieve this goal in this case lies in the implementation of a focused state policy. At the same time, the process of merging one nation with another occurs only as a result of colonization, economic expansion, religious and cultural-linguistic domination, forced deportation, the creation of quasi-communities standing above the nation (Aryan race, Soviet people), etc. Often, forced assimilation is achieved through political dictate. Consider the different types of assimilation in more detail.
Culture influence
With this assimilation, the process of merging one people with another occurs peacefully or as a result of hostilities. Thus, peoples living in a particular area and having one or another ethnicity can adopt a completely different culture for themselves, which has political significance or superiority.
An example of this is the gradual adoption of Latin culture and language by enslaved peoples.
Cultural assimilation occurs either by chance or by force. The history of mankind has accumulated many examples of both the first and second scenarios. Sometimes one culture spontaneously adapts to another. But sometimes this happens by violent means. An older and richer culture forcibly combines the weaker ones.
Immigrant culture
The term "assimilation" is sometimes applied to people who have voluntarily resettled in a foreign country for them. They bring their own to a new place, different from the traditions and customs existing here.
As a result, certain cultural changes are taking place in society. Moreover, they are not the usual one-way process. The concept of assimilation suggests that weak cultures will necessarily unite into one, stronger. All this will happen through the adaptation of peoples and through their direct contact.
Assimilation continuity
The process of merging one nation with another is happening in the world all the time. There are no restrictions for specific countries and regions. So, knowing the languages you can work and study internationally. This will make it possible not to limit yourself to the framework of any one group. People living in different countries make a certain contribution to the formation of a global culture, which is replenished with various elements of the customs and traditions of various ethnic groups.
Sometimes the process of merging one nation with another takes place in the phase of enthusiasm for a different, more attractive culture, as well as in cases of interfaith and interethnic marriages. The forced nature of assimilation can be said in cases of forced migration of peoples, during military annexation, partial extermination of ethnic groups (genocide), and the state suppressing certain cultural and linguistic phenomena.
Forced assimilation
The history of mankind is familiar with the basic methods of the total transformation of the conquered ethnic group. They consist in changing the language, culture, as well as religion. The conquerors used this method to "tame" the peoples they conquered.
This practice, as a rule, was used in former times, during the period of colonialist conquests. However, the use of such methods can be seen today.
The birth of a new community
The process of merging one nation with another takes place in the phase of ethnic rapprochement. With the contacts of two, and sometimes even more peoples, a community is born that has new traditions and customs.
It is a product of interaction and mutual enrichment not only of cultures, but also of their individual forming elements.
An important step in this process is language assimilation. This stage of formation of a new culture begins after the everyday rapprochement of peoples.
Ethnic Assimilation Phases
The processes of rapprochement of peoples were actively studied by the American sociologist R. Park. In his opinion, ethnic assimilation goes through the following phases:
1. Contact.
2. Competition.
3. Fixture.
4. The assimilation itself.
The researcher considers the merger of their cultures to be the core of the processes of rapprochement of peoples. This is currently observed especially frequently. The internationalization of the world economy provokes such a process. In this case, assimilation is nothing more than a specific direction of national policy, the purpose of which is the non-physical destruction of one or another ethnic group.
Spread
Ethnic assimilation can be especially widely observed in countries with a high level of economy. These are, first of all, those states in which a large number of immigrants are present.
The process of merging one people with another in this case consists in the actual dissolution of a previously independent ethnos in the environment of another, as a rule, large people. In this case, the assimilated ethnic identity is changing. For them, the process will become ethno-transformational. The other side will go through the ethnorevolutionary process, since its self-awareness will not undergo any changes.
Assimilation can be observed not only in modern developed countries. This process existed during all periods of the history of mankind. The most striking example is the assimilation by the Russian people of the Finnish-speaking tribes of the Mer, the Murom, and the Meshcher. This process occurred during the period when Kievan Rus existed.
Propagation speed
The processes of rapprochement of peoples in different countries are not the same. Their speed is influenced by such factors as the size of the assimilated ethnic group, the time of its stay in the new environment, the nature of resettlement, occupation, social and legal status, frequency of marriage, marital status, etc.
It is believed that the rapprochement of peoples occurs more rapidly if there is maximum similarity in their economic activities. However, the influence of this factor is ambiguous. As a rule, the similarity of economic activities contributes to the intensification of assimilation processes. Of course, getting into a close economic environment for her, the ethnic group merges with her pretty quickly. But at the same time there are competitive clashes. They occur between the indigenous and the alien population. This, in turn, makes the assimilation process extremely difficult.
The speed of the merger of nationalities largely depends on the marital status of immigrants. As a rule, men come to work in other countries. Moreover, of these, there are married people who have arrived with or without families, as well as bachelors.
Which men will most quickly merge with the indigenous people? Of course, single. They will marry local girls and create a new family.
How will other categories of immigrants behave? The one who came with his family, the assimilation process will last a long time. After all, communication with loved ones will allow them not only to preserve, but also to reproduce the old ethnic community.
The process of assimilation of those men who left their families goes even lower. They live by the thought of returning to their homeland and consider the host country only a temporary refuge. Of course, they have to adapt to existing local conditions. However, they do not want to dissolve in a new environment.
The speed of the assimilation process is greatly influenced by the correlation of the level of culture of two or more contacting peoples. Such a process will go as quickly as possible in case of equal conditions. The assimilation rate is also high when an ethnic group enters the environment, which slightly exceeds it in terms of culture.
But what will happen with sharp differences? In this case, the process of merging peoples becomes very difficult.
If ethnic groups that are similar in their culture and language (for example, Belarusians and Russians) participate in the assimilation process, then it acquires a number of features that significantly distinguish it from ordinary. In such cases, we can talk about ethnic conversion.
Despite the speed with which the process of merging one community with another takes place, despite the ways of its implementation, there is a linguistic and cultural rapprochement of a certain circle of people. Gradually, and sometimes even those differences that at the initial stage existed between people of different ethnic backgrounds were eliminated.