The acculturation process in the head office of the SAPS

Abstract

South Africa is a culturally diverse country attempting to move towards unity with the purpose of addressing the imbalances of the past. This is a serious challenge to everyone in the country irrespective of their colour, race, or religion. As the nation transforms to a 'rainbow nation', acculturation is taking place. Acculturation is a process by which one cultural group takes on and incorporates one or more cultural traits of another cultural group. This will result in new cultural patterns that improve an individual's social fit. Acculturation processes are supposed to have an effect on the acculturating individual's health, sense of social competence, and academic achievement. The objective of this research project is to analyse acculturation processes in the South African Police (SAPS) at the national head office. A cross-sectional survey design with an availability sample (n = 294) was used. The participants were conveniently selected from different sections of the SAPS national head office. Instruments used in previous acculturation studies were adapted to measure mainstream domain, ethno cultural domain, individual level variables, and psychological and sociocultural acculturation outcomes. The results indicate that acculturation context and individual coping styles of participants in the SAPS national head office influence acculturation outcomes. The acculturation context variables and individual coping styles explained 22% of the variance in Effectiveness and efficiency at work. The acculturation context variables and individual coping styles explained 23% of the variance in Reputation, respect and development opportunities at work. 11% and 20% of the variance of Physical and Psychological health respectively was explained by the acculturation context variables and individual coping styles.