The two theories I will evaluate in this essay are social identity theory and acculturation. Social Identity Theory (SIT) was proposed by Turner and Tajfel (1979) and states that we aim to improve our self-image by discriminating against people who do not belong to our group. The second theory, acculturation, is “the process of internalizing the rules of behavior in another culture” (Hogg & Vaughan, 2009, p.329). The issue I will focus on in this article concerns the ways in which SIT and acculturation can be used to explain the discrimination that Mesut Ozil experienced. Ozil is a German footballer who made statements, reported in a newspaper article, in which he highlighted his decision to leave the German team. I will compare the two theories and evaluate them in relation to this newspaper article. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Our “social identity” refers to our awareness of belonging to a certain social category or group (Hogg and Abrams, 1988). We naturally place people into social groups and divide them into in-groups (people similar to us) and out-groups (people different from us). This is known as social categorization and through this process we tend to see our category as the best, because it is part of our identity. A study by Mastro, Behm-Morawitz, and Kopacz (2008) used SIT to examine the effects of exposure to television portrayals of Latinos. The results suggested that participants preferred the group and their self-esteem was improved by making downward social comparisons. This can be used to explain why the German media blamed Ozil for losing the World Cup. In his statement he talks about how the newspapers criticized his Turkish origins, rather than his performances. The media's goal in this case was to create a story that would sell and they used Ozil as an opportunity. German people will naturally prefer people who belong to their in-group, as stated by social identity theory, and since Ozil has Turkish origins, they see him as an out-group. However, SIT does not fully explain the display of racism towards Ozil. . Ozil belongs to the category of “Germans” and this is the group he identifies with. He was born in Germany and has lived there his entire life, yet he is discriminated against because he is part of an outgroup. The SIT states that self-esteem increases when one has a group identity, but this is not the case for Ozil as he is not accepted into the group he identifies as a member of. This suggests that one's social identity based on membership in a group can only increase self-esteem through acceptance by that group and reflects limited support for self-esteem effects ( Abrams, 1992 ; Abrams & Hogg, 1990 ). The acculturation process occurs when two cultural groups come into contact, resulting in psychological and cultural change (Berry, 2017). Berry et al. (1986) described strategies used by immigrants to cope with change between their own culture and the host culture, including integration, separation, assimilation, and marginalization. However, these strategies do not take into account a dynamic interaction between the two groups: it is more than just the immigrant's approach to acculturation. The interaction and acculturation model (Bourhis, 1997) best explains the fit between the acculturation strategies of minority and majority groups. The racism that Ozil experienced can be explained by this model of.