What process involves minority groups adopting the dominant culture while blending their unique characteristics?

The process that involves minority groups adopting the dominant culture while blending their unique characteristics is cultural assimilation. This concept refers to the way in which individuals or groups from minority backgrounds integrate into the broader cultural context by adopting the norms, values, and practices of the dominant culture, while still retaining certain aspects of their original culture.

Cultural assimilation often leads to a merging of cultural identities, where the minority group gradually adopts the language, customs, and social practices of the dominant group, creating a new, blended cultural identity. However, it is important to note that this process does not necessarily mean complete loss of the minority group's original cultural traits; instead, it may result in a unique hybrid of both cultures.

In contrast, cultural pluralism recognizes and celebrates the coexistence of multiple distinct cultures within a society, allowing minority groups to maintain their unique identities without necessarily assimilating into the dominant culture. Multiculturalism similarly emphasizes the appreciation and maintenance of distinct cultural identities within a diverse society. Social integration refers more broadly to the process of bringing different groups together in society, which may or may not involve cultural assimilation.