Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication

After reviewing traditional approaches to the study of immigrant adaptation, we develop a theory of differential adaptation, which suggests that migrants may adapt in a variety of ways that do not necessitate that they acquiesce to larger pressures to assimilate or accommodate the larger society they have joined; moreover, they may change the existing culture and society into which they move. Their experiences are “differential” and require a more complex theoretical framework for researching the relationships among immigration, culture, power, agency, and communication.