assimilation
assimilation is a social process whereby a minority group or individual adopts the values and behavioural patterns of the majority group. As a result of this process, the majority group absorbs the minority group. This process is based on an asymmetric relationship between the two groups. Western social science literature does not regard assimilation as an inevitable process, but speaks separately of accommodation (adaptation), acculturation (cultural assimilation), identification (psychological assimilation), integration (structural assimilation), amalgamation (biological assimilation) and the loss of intergenerational ethno-cultural reproduction ability when the growing young person classifies himself or herself into a group other than that of his or her parents. In the study of ethnic relations, we can speak of a policy of assimilation that aims at the elimination of differences by making the identity traits of the dominant ethnic group or an artificially constructed identity generally accepted. assimilation is a phenomenon accompanying of the emergence of modern nation-states, especially in ethnically heterogeneous areas. This process was essentially completed in Western Europe by the French Revolution. It was an important element of political strategy in Central and Eastern Europe where building a homogeneous nation was seen as a prerequisite for political modernisation. assimilation meant a change of identity, including change of language, personal name, religion and other symbols of community identity. The main reasons for assimilation are usually urbanisation, the lack of a minority education system and the self-classification of children born in mixed marriages into the ethnic majority (the majority nation). Between 1848 and 1914, nearly two million people adopted Hungarian culture in Hungary (one third of this population were Israelites, one quarter Germans, one fifth Slovaks). From 1920 to the present day the number of Hungarians living beyond the borders of Hungary has decreased from 3.3 million to 2.1 million as a result of natural population decline, migration, the Holocaust and assimilation. The proportion of ethnic minorities in Hungary fell from 7.9% to 6.5% between 1930 and 2011. Most of them have become Hungarian native speakers.