enculturation
nounEtymology From en- + culture + -ation.
1
The process by which a person adopts the behaviour patterns of the culture in which they are immersed (or born).
- More specifically, enculturation is the process by which the individual through informal and nonformal modes of cultural transmission learns the language, the technological, socioeconomic, ideational, as well as the cognitive and emotional patterns of culture. It is a lifelong learning process that lasts from an individual’s infancy to adulthood and “which can be said to end only with his death” (ibid., p. 40).1979, Johannes Wilbert, editor, Enculturation in Latin America, University of California, page 8:
- Derived terms
- enculturational
- Related terms
- acculturation, enculturate, enculture, inculturation