Ethnic Assimilation From The United States

well-rounded person (language, sports, activities) is preferred by colleges- thus, most of the immigrants in college have some sort of integrative cultural identity.

The word assimilation has many different meanings. Its interpretations range from the digesting of nutrients to the transfer of similar sounds. However, when sifting through the various definitions of assimilation, there is one concept that always seems to stand out. No matter what the source is or how it’s worded, there is almost always a reference to cultural groups. Whether it’s the acceptance of a group or the alteration of it, the customs of contrasting cultures continuously come up. One such definition, according to the AudioEnglish.org dictionary, based on WordNet 2.1 and supported by Princeton University, states assimilation is “the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another.” Kristyn Hammond, a college composition professor in the Texas A&M school system, describes in her eHow article Types of Assimilation, published on September 06, 2014, that as cultures mix and evolve, there is a “transition of cultural traits, language acquisition and cultural identities from each group to the other.” AudioEnlgish.org also relates terms such as Americanization and Westernization to assimilation, but unfortunately, these processes aren’t always as harmonious as the definition suggests.

In Milton Gordon’s, “Assimilation in America”, theorizes that there is a “3” stage process of assimilation; acculturation (cultural assimilation), integration (structural assimilation), intermarriage (marital assimilation). However, it is actually 7 stages, but for simplicity will refer to as 3 stages. The overall process seems to follow the theory of Anglo-conformity, in which immigrants “assume the desirability of maintaining English institutions, the English language, and English-oriented cultural patterns as dominant and standard in American life” (265).

The assimilation of Cuban Americans has come rather slowly due to the discrimination that this group has faced. Like most other immigrating groups, Cubans have seen themselves rejected and discriminated by the dominant group, making them embrace their own culture and straying away from the dominant expectations for several years. In order to maintain their culture, and as an effort to reject discrimination, Cuban Americans have opened various organizations and enclaves that help promote their heritage. The stratification between Cubans and white Americans is quite high in places like Florida. In fact, affluent Anglos are usually placed in elite private schools that are populated by little to none Latinos. Due to the fact that many Cuban Americans consider themselves to be exiles, their assimilation has come rather slowly. According to Gordon’s assimilation theory, cultural and identification assimilation have come at a slow pace. To elaborate, Cuban American immigrants have faced much discrimination and stereotyping that has led them to stay away from assimilating to the dominant culture. In fact, their cultural patterns have been kept sturdy by promoting their heritage in organizations, clubs and enclaves. With new U.S. born generations, there can be a sense of cultural assimilation, but for the most part, Cuban Americans have not completely assimilated culturally. In the same sense, identification assimilation has not come hastily. As mentioned, Cuban

In recent years the Hispanic population in the United States has grown over the past years or so. As the growth of Latinos/Hispanic population it can be debated, as Latinos/Hispanics have been taking over and becoming he largest minority group in the United States. As Hispanic/Latinos has been flourishes in the past years and now, the introduction of “Latino” and “Hispanic” has been marked into our vocabulary. However, since the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” have been introduced into our vocabulary, there has been a sense of lost and confusion surroundings what to call people who have some kind of background from Latin American and Spanish-speaking countries.

Gutek (2013) discusses about assimilation in chapter 10. Gutek (2013) writes, “Assimilation was interpreted as meaning that immigrants should learn to speak an read the English language, learn the values of hard work and punctuality prescribed by the Protestant ethic, and obey the laws of the United States (p. 351). When reading about this topic I began to wonder how could Americans expect for immigrants to enter a new country and loose touch with their culture and adopt a new one? The primary source helped to explain this for me. Ravage (1919) wrote,

I am in much agreement about the lasting effects of the assimilation of Native Americans. It was terrible. To identify precisely the true desires of the American government does not require a lot of speculation. There is evidence per the film, Indian School: Stories of Survival, that the government's policy was to "kill the Indian, save the man", essentially eradicating the Native culture from America (Givens, 2011). This policy is not only barbaric, its thoroughly inhumane. It was accomplished by disenfranchising the Native population by placing them on reservations, forcibly taking their children and enculturating them in American beliefs and customs, stifling the children's vital lessons in development from youth to adulthood,

Issues revolving around immigration are dominating the current political debate. In addressing these issues, politicians and other elected officials are forcefully orchestrating the way that immigrants become to know and embrace American culture, thus a crucial part of assimilation. Current practices of assimilation rely on dated research that stresses the importance of jobs, education and language immersion. However, as stated by Mary C Waters, there is a “disconnect between the public debate and findings of scientific research” (11). This disconnect stems from the fact that the practices that once worked for the first generation immigrants are not effective for the new so called second generation. Alejandra Portes and Mihn Zhou in “Should Immigrants Assimilate” and Mary C Waters in “Debating Immigration” address the weaknesses as well as strengths of modern day assimilation in their writings.

The classical assimilation theory in Gordon talks about the assimilation process of the immigrants, focusing on the turn of the century (from nineteenth century to the twentieth). Due to the time frame, the theory deals with South and East European immigrants. Gordon says that the new immigrants will essentially conform to the “American” mainstream core, through seven steps, which can be summarized into three steps: cultural assimilation, structural assimilation, and intermarriage. The structural assimilation is then divided into

To analyze this further, let us look at a poem by Pat Mora entitled, "Immigrants." In her poem she is painting the picture of what an American consists of and how immigrants try to make their children become Americanized. She says that immigrants try to make their children fit in as much as they can by giving them American names, feeding them American food, dressing them in American clothes and speaking

It is a sacrifice to move to a foreign country and have to change the principles and traditions that have been instilled in an individual since birth. For this reason, in order to adjust to a new culture immigrants not only have to be disposed to discard their original values to adapt to their new nation, but they have to deal with certain barrier in order to assimilate to their new lifestyle. Whether an immigrant is considered first or second generation, the obstacle of learning a new language or struggling with finding balance between the two distinct cultural worlds still remain a challenge.

For years there has been controversy about how immigrants should assimilate in America. In the past, new incoming immigrants integrated themselves into the American Society based on what they believed the American culture and customs were. Sometimes they chose not to practice them because they were against their own personal beliefs (Zunz, Bodnar, and Thernstrom, p.53.). In recent arguments, some people believe that assimilation is achieved by adopting the American norms and language. While others believe immigrants should integrate their own customs and language into the American culture. These speculations have placed a dividing line in between how Americans feel immigrants should and should not assimilate.

With over seventy five million immigrants coming into the United States since it first became a nation, several theories have resulted. This chapter looks at assimilation, amalgamation, and accommodation. The values of the dominant culture includes how those in America should look, speak, and act. However, when these standards are not met by the immigrants it becomes difficult for them to fit in comfortably. On the other hand, diversity allows for greater possibilities and unexpected relationships to form.

The United States is a multicultural country that has experienced a rough journey towards building a cohesive country. Sherman Alexie’s story Reservation Blues explores the lives of some Native Americans who wrestled with cultural, racial, and religious barriers to embrace the rest of the country. The story reflects the process of racial and cultural integration the country has been going through since its inception, revealing an underlying struggle by the minority groups in the country to become part of the Americans culture that is often dominated by the majority white population. The process of assimilation occurs across all the different groups in the history of the country, and eventually, contributes to multiculturalism. Therefore, even though Native Indians, African-Americans, and other minority groups experienced plenty of transformations to assimilate into American society, they have enriched American cultures, making it become a multicultural country.

Cultural Assimilation is a procedure by which a person’s culture is transformed by another culture. Throughout the world, many cultures are being assimilated into the Western way of life. The cultures of ethnic groups in the United States and other countries are constantly influenced by the Western culture through movies, singers, clothing brands, food companies, and new technology inventions. Immigrants are expected to resemble the dominant culture in terms of norms, behavior and values. The three factors that contribute to cultural assimilation are: people throughout the world are influenced by the western fashion and can buy the same products distributed by multinational companies globally. The growing number of intra-racial and intra-cultural marriages advocates cultural assimilation.