**5. Conclusion**

The acculturation concept developed by cultural anthropologists is used to explore changes occurring in different cultural groups when they interact with each other. Meanwhile, psychologists focus on changes experienced by an individual. The authors of this chapter have viewed acculturation from both the collective and individual perspectives. The sample of this study was drawn from young people – members of Russian-speaking groups, and ethnographic observations were made during group events. By contrast, interviews with some young people revealed deeply individual aspects of acculturation, leading to the conclusion that everybody follows his/her own acculturation path. A conclusion from this study is therefore that the acculturation

process is an individual search for balance between preservation of the heritage culture and integration into the host culture, and this process is affected by many factors.

This chapter discusses the acculturation orientations among the Russian youth in Finland by investigating celebration customs of young people. The experience gained by Russian youth from celebrating festivities shows the course of immigrant acculturation in Finland. Out of four acculturation strategies defined in the academic literature (assimilation, integration, separation and marginalisation), orientations towards assimilation, integration and separation were identified among the interviewed youth during the fieldwork. The data obtained from the qualitative study do not provide evidence supporting the fact that marginalisation of the Russian youth might be observed in Finland. This would mean distancing from the host culture and alienation from the origin culture.

The study reveals several indicators of Russian youth acculturation orientation. As regarding assimilation, these indicators are: first, adoption of Finnish festive culture traditions in families through an informed choice, giving up Russian traditions; second, young people's efforts towards learning Finnish at the level of a native speaker and difficulties to answer questions beyond common topics in Russian; third, willingness of young people to celebrate festivities together with their Finnish peers. The indicators of Russian youth's orientation towards integration are: first, celebrating festivities within the family according to Russian traditions, complementing them with elements of Finnish festive culture; second, young people's willingness to acquire Russian alongside Finnish to talk freely about various topics in Russian; third, the practice of inviting Finnish friends, acquaintances and the local organisations to festivities of Russian traditional culture; fourth, young people's willingness to broaden the circle of their friends, which consists mainly of Russianspeaking youth, with the local Finnish peers.

The issue of cultural inclusiveness, exclusiveness and the essentialisation of cultural identities directly relates to the family which assists in providing the next generation with the ideal sociocultural inclusivity and helps prevent "culture wars" [54]. During the process of analysing the data, a hidden intergenerational conflict was identified. It is highlighted by the acculturation process: young people move away from the heritage culture, but parents try to stick to it. Although young people did not talk about conflicts with their parents during interviews, data suggest that views on the value of festive traditions vary between generations. Given that acculturation among youth occurs at a faster rate and more easily compared to their parents [55], there is a risk of stirring up an intergenerational conflict. Sharp intergenerational dissonance that might lead to intergenerational "culture lag" [56] was not identified in the study conducted in Finland. However, this conclusion should not be generalised. Data of one interview reveal a sharp intergenerational conflict in the family: the interviewee condemns his/her parents' decision to immigrate to Finland and rejects their encouragement to integrate into Finland, threatening to burn his/her Finnish passport. This individual case shows that sometimes, alongside the dominant assimilation and integration orientations, the orientation towards separation can be observed. It should be added that the data obtained from an interview with one of the group leaders, who particularly emphasised "our" in her narrative, show the orientation towards separation. By making a distinction between "we" and "they", separation is unavoidable.

The data presented in this chapter show that acculturation is not only the issue of accommodation of two cultures; it also involves other aspects that are frequently ignored in exploring acculturation. The interviewed Russian immigrant *Acculturation Orientations among Russian Youth in Finland DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110303*

youth in Finland pointed to their religious identity that determines the dates when they celebrate their festivities or their political position that determines their participation/nonparticipation in historical remembrance events. This confirms that acculturation is a complex process linked to various systems and fields of social relations, including religion and politics.

This study shows that, in the case of migration, intercultural dialogue does not take place outside an individual but between his/her various identities (a Finn, Russian, Orthodox believer, Lutheran, European, non-European etc.). The experiences of celebrating festivities revealed by young people illustrate that the dialogue between identities is profoundly personal, situational and strongly influenced by the festive heritage culture. Strictly speaking, these conclusions are valid only for the young people who participated in the study. However, there are reasons to believe that the acculturation orientations identified here might be found among other Russian immigrant young people as well.
