Italians' Majority Acculturation and Expectations: A Study on Italians' Attitudes towards Iranian Migrants in Italy

Today's multicultural society requires an understanding of acculturation dynamics. Acculturation, a two-way process, involves cultural exchange between two or more groups in contact. While existing literature predominantly explores acculturation in countries historically formed by migrants, Italy, with its relatively recent experience of immigration, presents an understudied context regarding majority acculturation orientations. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating Italian majority acculturation orientations and expectations from Iranian/ Middle Eastern immigrants. By exploring whether Italians are willing to adopt elements of minority cultures and the factors influencing this inclination, such as deprovincialization, ideological beliefs, and intergroup contact, this research extends the literature on majority acculturation to the Italian context. Using a cross-sectional design, we sampled 992 Italians via social platforms. Through correlation and regression analyses, we assessed the relationships between variables and the extent to which they predict Italians' acculturation orientations. Our findings suggest that more positive contact with immigrants and higher levels of deprovincialization are associated with a greater willingness to adopt elements from diverse minority cultures. Conversely, higher levels of national identification and negative contact with immigrants contribute to a weaker acculturation orientation towards other cultures, with a preference for maintaining Italian culture. Additionally, higher levels of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) relate to assimilationist acculturation expectations. These findings provide implications for policy-making and interventions fostering positive intercultural interactions and promoting social cohesion in diverse societies.