The Evolving Mainstream: Majority-Group Acculturation Through a Decolonial Lens

This chapter uses Critical Whiteness Studies and Critical Race Theory to interrogate the phenomenon of majority-group acculturation, critiquing psychology’s historical “unidirectional gaze” which has overwhelmingly focused on minority acculturation. It argues that this neglect stems from the field’s colonial roots and paternalistic framings. To re-center the analysis, this chapter applies a decolonial lens, deconstructing the “mainstream” as a product of an invisible racial hierarchy. It then reinterprets empirical findings: reframing “own-culture maintenance” as a defense of racial normativity and “other-culture adoption” as a selective process often governed by dominant interests. Finally, the chapter distinguishes between colonial cultural appropriation and decolonial cultural exchange, advocating for an antiracist psychology that analyzes intercultural relations as a negotiation of power.