There is now widespread evidence that most people who have experienced acculturation
actually do survive. They are not destroyed or substantially diminished by it; rather, they
find opportunities, and achieve their goals sometimes beyond their initial imaginings. The
tendency to ‘‘pathologize’’ the acculturation process and outcomes may be partly due to
the history of its study in psychiatry and in clinical psychology. Researchers often presume
to know what acculturating individuals want, and impose their own ideologies or their
personal views, rather than informing themselves about culturally rooted individual
preferences and differences. One key concept (but certainly not the only one) to understand
this variability has been emphasized in this chapter (acculturation strategies).