por We explain what endoculturation is, its characteristics, the differences between acculturation and transculturation, and various examples.
What is endoculturation?
The endoculturation or enculturation is the conscious and unconscious process in which an older generation «invites», pressures or forces younger generations to accept the values, ways of thinking and acting considered traditional.
The word comes from the combination of the prefix endowhich means ‘within’; culturewhich is ‘care’ and the suffix –tion, which means ‘action’. That is, what is done to take care of internal customs. Through endoculturation, tastes, models, passions and ways of behaving are transmitted from one generation to another.
For example, in some countries the love of a certain sport comes from a process of endoculturation: in the United States and some Caribbean countries, such as Venezuela, Cuba or the Dominican Republic, the sport that almost all children practice is baseball, unlike other countries, such as Spain, Argentina, Chile, Italy or Germany, where they have played soccer since they were little.
The endoculturation process begins in the family and continues in the later stages of child socialization, such as school, and reaffirmed by the media. Anthropologists indicate that boys and girls receive cultural information by decoding it, and in this sense, when decoding it, it is susceptible to changes.
This would explain, for example, the cultural changes that occur from one generation to the next.
Characteristics of endoculturation
It is a conscious and unconscious process.
This means that during childhood we are surrounded by cultural behaviors, some imposed through education and others much more internalized, which do not need verbal expression.
Examples of conscious enculturation would be: «don’t put your elbows on the table, use the cutlery, don’t eat with your mouth open, wash your hands before eating, brush your teeth after eating, you have to study», etc.
An example of unconscious endoculturation would be when we see one of our parents take charge of preparing the food and taking care of the house, when we see who is the one who goes out to work; by attending our family’s religious observances in a certain religion; by eating certain dishes prepared in certain ways.
the traditional
The concept of «the traditional» comes precisely from endoculturation, where they are accepted as their own values and ways of previous generations.
Culture is transmitted from older to younger
The older generations, having a position of power and hierarchy before childhood, impose culture.
The receiver meets the older generation
It is logical, since inculturation happens in the home. Grandparents and parents are in charge of maintaining this “order”.
Primary and secondary socialization
Endoculturation is based on the knowledge acquired by the boy or girl in the primary environment of the home, but it is then reinforced in schools, which would be secondary socialization. And later, the exchange with their peers of age, generational friends.
culture can be changed
This is one of the most interesting characteristics, since culture is not a precept, something that must be followed blindly. The youngest (and often the not so young and fully consciously) can modify behaviors considered «natural» or «traditional».
This is what explains the changes that have taken place in recent times, in which a patriarchal way of being, thinking and acting is being abandoned in order to consciously generate a deeper change, not only in laws but also in people’s thinking.
It is necessary
Without endoculturation, each generation would have to start from scratch. Thanks to it, certain customs can be kept stable, thus generating a certain lifestyle that characterizes a certain society, despite the changes throughout history.
Differences with acculturation and transculturation
acculturation
Acculturation occurs when, after cultural contact with other societies, a process of assimilation of part of that culture begins. Cultural anthropology defines it as the cultural contact between two cultures, where one of them acquires and adopts practices and values of the other.
The word comes from English acculturation and it indicates a host culture and a native one, or a dominant one and a weaker one. The acculturation process is established when there is an exchange of cultural practices or values between two cultures.
This could be seen in the processes of colonization, neocolonization, or religious conversion, where native cultures gradually lost their mother tongues, customs, or clothing, adopting the dominant ones.
In any case, the process is almost always asymmetric: the dominant culture is less influenced and generally its values are assimilated by other cultures.
transculturation
It happens when the acculturation process deepens and the formation of a new culture takes place.
Thus, transculturation alludes to a new cultural identity, which is not the same as the dominant or dominated culture. Although it can mean cultural enrichment, in this process the weakest culture is the one that loses the most cultural elements (its worldview, beliefs, religion, language, customs…).
Transculturation is what has happened in colonized societies, where a «Creole» culture emerges: colonial society is different from native society and colonizing society.
Examples of endoculturation
What happens with the Taliban in Afghanistan is an extreme example of endoculturation: those who do not fully accept the values that they consider to be true and traditional are punished with death. Schools for girls are banned, they are forced to wear the burqa and all are required to abandon Western customs, both in clothing and behavior.
Immigrant groups tend to consciously practice endoculturation: by speaking their languages within the home or by following certain cultural practices (such as praying or forcing the youngest to eat together and sit at the table).
The mutilation practiced in at least 28 countries in Africa (genital mutilation of girls, where the clitoris is removed) is carried out for cultural and social reasons; those in charge of doing so are usually the mothers themselves.
Circumcision (cutting off the foreskin of the penis) of male children among Jews is another example of endoculturation.
When we prepare the dishes that we learned to make at home, watching our mothers and fathers make them, it is a classic example of endoculturation, since we put into practice what they transmitted to us. «This is how my mom or my grandmother used to do it» is usually the excuse to repeat the method of preparation.
Precisely, gastronomy is one of the most evident cultural practices of endoculturation, and that is why there are traditional dishes, typical foods, preparations typical of each country that continue to be taught, even outside the home, such as in cooking schools.
The passion for soccer in countries like Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Mexico or Brazil, where you learn to play this sport from an early age, and being a fan of one team or another is transmitted from one generation to another.
Gender roles are another example of endoculturation, when boys and girls are taught that there is a “right” or “wrong” way to be feminine and masculine.
The practices related to health, the way in which an individual relates to his health, come from endoculturation, since body care is learned through family habits.
References
Enculturation (2021). Taken from en.wikipedia.org.
Meaning of Endoculturation. What is it, Concept and Definition (2021). Taken from en.encyclopedia-titanica.com.
Meaning of endoculturation (2021). Taken from significados.com.
Endoculturation (2021). Taken from definition.de.
Arrieta, E. (2021). Acculturation and transculturation. Taken from differentiator.com.