Assimilation in Ethnography

the merging of one people with another, in which one of them loses its language, culture, and national consciousness. Forced assimilation took place in many countries under conditions of national and religious oppression—it occurred this way in the Austrian Empire, later in Austria-Hungary, and in tsarist Russia. Analogous processes are continuing at present in some capitalist countries (Spain, Greece). Natural assimilation takes place in a number of countries where there are national minorities. In the USSR and other socialist countries, under conditions of complete equality of rights for all peoples, some national minorities have overcome their centuries-old economic and cultural isolation and are being integrated into larger ethnic communities.