DOI
10.22191/buuj/8/1/4
Faculty Sponsor
Nicola Satchell
Abstract
The impact of acculturation on the West has primarily been explored through the favorable and adverse effects of immigration. However, the conversation surrounding the impact of western acculturation on the rest of the world is relatively undeveloped. Here, on the basis that acculturation is the adoption of cultural practices and can exist without the physical presence of a dominant culture, the impact of western acculturation will be associated with the socioeconomic disenfranchisement of an overseas population: Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates. More specifically, free education and western media are identified as mechanisms of western acculturation. Both media induced and free education induced acculturation constitute a level of agreeability that acclimates workers to the social structure of the capitalistic business model employed in the UAE. Media induced acculturation directly predisposes Pakistani expatriates in the UAE to the socioeconomic disenfranchisement that accompanies the power dynamic in the social structure of the capitalistic business model. Education models in the UAE institutionalize western acculturation, possibly leading to socioeconomic disenfranchisement and deep-rooted cultural change. Deep-rooted cultural change becomes imperative when considering the promotion of globalization in that although globalization may provide a broader cultural perspective, it can also eliminate cultures via acculturation-induced cultural dominance.
Recommended Citation
Ali, M. M. (2022). Analyzing The Contribution of Western Acculturation to The Socio-Economic Disenfranchisement of Pakistani Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates. Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.22191/buuj/8/1/4
