Enculturation is the process by which children are socialized to the standard modes of thinking, feeling, and behaving considered appropriate for an adult in a given society. Because language is the primary means of communication, it is one of most important components of the enculturation process, and because cultural information is encoded in language, children
Given the ongoing dramatic racial/ethnic diversification of the United States, the need for counselors to understand the unique cultural backgrounds of their clients presents an important challenge. A useful construct in this effort is enculturation. Construct Definition and Clarification In 1948 Melville J. Herskovits first described enculturation as the process of socialization into, and maintenance