“Embracing the Middle Ground:” Examining Second-Generation Americans as Members of a Co-Cultural Group

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

Through a co-cultural theory framework, this study examined how second-generation Americans perceive their positionality as Americans and how it affects their communicative practices with the mainstream U.S. culture. Second-generation Americans are people born in the U.S. to at least one foreign-born parent. Interviews with twenty-two children of Turkish immigrants were qualitatively analyzed. Results revealed that these individuals practice forms of assimilation, accommodation, and separation within the U.S. The study extends existing co-cultural theory scholarship to the second-generation American and demonstrates the impact of negotiations these individuals navigate between dominant U.S. systems and dominant American group members. It also identifies the communicative strategies that these individuals find useful in their interactions with the mainstream U.S. culture.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Howard Journal of Communications

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