Abstract

This study examines the influence of cultural values on the process of adaptation of Bangladeshi community in Montreal. The forms of adaptation as a community range from institutions rooted in an enclave economy on one hand to more complete assimilation on the other. But cultural differences are experienced very acutely at the interpersonal level. It is at this level that this study seeks to discover which values are most likely to be (a) abandoned, (b) undergo adaptation, or (c) remain constant. My findings indicate that those families and individuals most deeply involved in an enclave community--the Sylhettis--and, at the other extreme, those who have secure jobs that are commensurate with their status expectations, experience the least amount of stress in making adjustments to their cultural values. Those families and individuals, whose previous occupational training and previous social status are not sufficiently valued by members of the host society in Montreal find it much more difficult to accommodate their cultural values with those of the host society and subsequently experience much more personal stress and anxiety