TOWARDS AN INTERACTIVE ACCULTURATION MODEL - A SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

The first part of this paper proposes a continuum of ideological premi ses that seeks to account for the broad range of immigrant integration policies adopted by Western democratic states. In the second part, a review of Social Psychological models of immigrant acculturation strat egies demonstrates the need to explain more clearly the interactive na ture of immigrant and host community relations. The Interactive Accult uration Model (IAM) presented next proposes that relational outcomes a re the product of the acculturation orientations of both the host majo rity and immigrant groups as influenced by state integration policies. The model makes predictions regarding the acculturation combinations most likely to produce consensual, problematic, and conflictual relati onal outcomes between immigrants and members of the host community. So cial psychological research is needed to test the validity of the IAM model empirically.