America: Melting Pot vs. Salad Bowl

What is Multiculturalism? Multiculturalism is the presence of distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society. Multiculturalism plays a big part in teenagers as well as adults life’s. For example the two tv shows The Brady Bunch and Modern Family have different cultural lenses and cultures causing them to view multiculturalism as well as diversity in different perspectives.

David Brooks, who is a successful journalist, columnist, and self - described “comic sociologist” at The New York Times, communicates the dilemma of diversification in his expository essay “People Like Us”. Brooks thinks that people should encourage the diverse community to perceive and esteem each other 's different reflection in America. David Brooks demonstrates why all different kinds of humans are attracted to identical and similar races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, political values, and classes in his essay based on typical examples surrounding us. In other words, Brooks argues all kinds of humans are most comfortable and pleasant living and working with people who share the same values and ideas. Brooks’ convincible thoughts

The point is, we are all different. Yet the differences that we have between us can be used to strengthen society as we know it. Diversity enables us to have the opportunity to learn, develop, and understand different ways of living, and experience our lives to the fullest. Without diversity, we are closed or boarded off in our own worlds. But with it, we expand our knowledge and we are no longer ignorant. When you are aware of the differences and embrace them, then you have taken the blind fold off to living differently and you are a better person for it. The key is exposure and using what you learned to increase more tolerance and decrease things such as racism.

Also, it is natural to search out or relate to that which is "like" or common to us. These ideas form or create the self definition of who an individual is. Cultural togetherness is not a bad thing. However, these ideas have negative retributions when acted upon in extreme degrees. The individuality of a group is wonderful, but not when it causes a cut off from other groups. What segregation brings or prevents is the opportunity for experience of diversity or a wide range of livelihood in general. There is more to the world then just you or just me. This type of separation causes barriers or invisible lines and walls that are rarely crossed by people in our society today. These barriers produce the loss of uniqueness among both a group of people as well as individuals. When everyone is the same or alike, people lose the capability to be special or unmatched ( Myers, 34). Differences and diversity should be celebrated as a chance or opportunity to be able to stand out as well as the chance to educate each other about the creation of man and woman.

Many individuals interpret diversity differently specifically in the United States because of its melting pot of distinct cultures and lifestyles. In his essay “People Like Us”, David Brooks’ argues that although the United States is a diverse nation as a whole, it is homogeneous in specific aspects like interactions between people. To some extent, his observation is true; people tend to stick to what or who they are comfortable with. There are also exceptions where the American people attempt to establish relationships with others because of their desire to expand out of their norm. For instance, Brooks excludes the

So, why do we need diversity? As America grows, the differences in cultures among individuals become colossal. People are becoming closed-minded about others who are disparate from themselves,

“People Like Us” by David Brooks examines diversity in America and argues that even though society tends to idealize diversity in a way, most of us don’t really care too much about it as long as we are happy. In the first paragraph Brooks states “ what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves”. This is something that most of us notice on some scale, but what does it say about the need for diversity in America? Brooks explains “The United States might be a diverse nation when considered as a whole, but block by block and institution by institution it is a relatively homogenous nation” This is an irrefutable truth, we all know that cities like Laredo Texas and Lincoln Nebraska are predominantly white and in cities like Detroit Michigan and Jackson Mississippi the population is predominantly black. However, what we fail to realize is the extreme racial separation that is taking place naturally at a much smaller scale, not even city to city but neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. Brooks backs up his claim with the following example, “In Manhattan the owner of a three million dollar SoHo loft would feel out of place moving into a three million dollar Fifth Avenue apartment”. Politics, religion, income, lifestyle and general outlook on life can change in a matter of blocks. This may all seem

Earth, the only planet known to host life, contains a population that totals up to 7.4 billion people, peering a bit closer one can conclude that our population harbors billions of people who are all different in their own way, so finding a person who is not different can be quite challenging. America, misleading those with the nickname melting pot, inhabits millions of people belonging to a vast array of cultures and ethnicities; however, diversity most often equates to a shift in social rankings than it does to equality, and America, day by day, begins to portray a school lunch tray with divided sections rather than a melting pot. In a world where our differences ought to assist society in learning a plethora of new ideas and mindsets, we

Daniel J Boorstin, in this excerpt from The Decline of Radicalism, is set on the idea that dissension is the cause of conflict, not disagreement. He argues that dissension leads to violence rather than just debate, and as a result, produces more strife and struggle. Although well-intentioned, his lack of a developed argument and failure to elaborate emphasizes Boorstin’s failure to discern that disagreements play a larger role in the formation of struggles. The Civil War, caused by the split of the United States, is considered the bloodiest battle on American soil.

The moment they are all combined in the bowl, they do not cease to be what they were originally. The bowl might have different kinds of vegetables but still they remain what they were. The salad bowl also has different kinds of vegetables that are important to our bodies differently. The salad bowl has a unique kind of taste all the same because of the mixture. That is the exact situation that immigration has brought about in America.

America is a nation where people of many backgrounds interact and enhance the country as a whole. America is best portrayed as a salad bowl because immigrants are able to keep their culture and traditions, yet still be American. According to the salad bowl theory, various cultures are associated yet distinct. America could is a salad bowl because culture is contained in a single mass and somehow stay diverse and separate. The experiences of four different immigrants demonstrate how America is a salad bowl through their contributions to society.

What if America is a melting pot, not a salad bowl? If America was a melting pot it would connect the states. America then will separate because the states wouldn't have the same amount of power. Each state has a mayor, but when America is a melting pot each state wouldn't have a mayor just a president. This will create tyranny between the states and government, and eventually, a war would

Multiculturalism is the act of giving equivalent consideration regarding various foundations in a specific setting, and it can happen when a purview is made or extended by amalgamating zones with two or more diverse societies or through migration from various locales around the globe. Multiculturalism that seeks in keeping up the peculiarity of numerous societies is regularly differentiated to other settlement arrangements, for example, social mix, social osmosis, and racial isolation. Multiculturalism has been depicted as a "salad bowl" and "cultural mosaic" (Burgess, et al. 2005). In spite of the way that multiculturalism has predominantly been utilized as a term to characterize distraught gatherings, numerous scholars tend to center their contentions on outsiders who are ethnic and religious minorities, minority countries, and indigenous people groups. The term multiculturalism is frequently utilized as a part of a reference to Western country states, which

Multiculturalism can be defined as the view that various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest. America is a proud example of being a multiculturalistic society, for there is a variety of cultures and each has their own traditions and values. Because I have lived in a multiculturalistic society for nineteen years, I can say that multiculturalism has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of multiculturalism are that it is educational and  promotes tolerance, but the disadvantages are that it can act as a barrier as a result of stereotypic presumptions and can lead one to lose their individuality due to assimilation.

Multiculturalism is the occurrence of multiple cultures within one society, fundamentally due to the influx of immigrant societies, or the approval and encouragement of this occurrence. Many people have different views of multiculturalism. The people who have a negative view towards multiculturalism tend to argue against the uniting of a wide range of different cultures, races and faiths, in their points of view multiculturalism would be seen as a “mosaic” form, which tends to occur more likely in the US than in Europe, as it would fundamentally mean that they are putting races, religions and cultures into different groups, however they are not uniting as one society, another word for that would be integration. Whereas, the people that agree