What policy describes a nation forcing or encouraging a subject people to adopt its institutions and customs?

• A. Cultural pluralism
• B. Assimilation
• C. Multiculturalism
• D. Self-determination

Answer: (B)

Assimilation is the policy in which a nation forces or encourages a subject people to adopt its institutions and customs. It aims to blend diverse groups into a single, dominant culture by promoting the language, education, laws, and everyday practices of the mainstream society, sometimes at the expense of the group’s own traditions. This can involve schooling, government programs, or social pressures designed to erase or minimize distinct cultural identities so that the minority gradually becomes part of the dominant culture.

This contrasts with cultural pluralism or multiculturalism, which recognize and allow multiple cultures to exist side by side within the same society, rather than urging one to disappear. Self-determination, on the other hand, refers to a group's right to decide its own political status and pursue its own economic, social, and cultural development, not to the process of adopting another culture's norms.