Cultural Assimilation And The American Culture

There are many ways for people from other countries to adjust to living in the United States. There are also things that immigrants think they have to do to fit in. In this essay I will include the best ways for immigrants to adjust to American culture. I will also include challenges immigrants face to fit in in America. Finally, I will include what immigrants do to adapt to America.

The United States has been a host to a wide diaspora of people. Immigrants have had to transition from their familiar land to a new-fashioned foreign land that they must consider home. They bring with them the essence of their initial homeland such as customs, traditions and beliefs that inadvertently change the dynamics of culture within the United States. As a result the United States is an extremely culturally diverse nation. The continual changes or accretions that Americans encounter have always been a controversial topic depending on the experiences of individuals and communities that have immigrant populations. This essay will critically explore

The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing. Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them. Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.

With each generation of Irish Americans, the assimilation of the American culture became greater. Irish Americans were very open to acculturation and structural assimilation. For Irish Americans, cultural assimilation was a very swift process. Mainly, they would focus on learning the Anglo-Protestant culture along with the values and basic views of the country. Immigrating Irish, like many other ethnic immigrants, have to adapt to the ways of the new country by adopting the language and cultural norms. Cultural assimilation for Irish Americans occurred when they adopted Anglo-protestant culture and, in exchange, gave up much of their own culture. Not only did Irish American citizens have to assimilate to the culture, they also had to go through

Assimilation is the manner in which people of a cultural group start to lose their individuality that makes them different from the more dominant culture, as they seek to fit in. America has been a melting pot of different cultures for centuries, whether it was by choice, forced or for a better life. History has proven that assimilation in America was not acceptable but that has changed over time.

In the countries of immigrants like the united States, people from different cultural backgrounds bring their own cultures and traditions to live and work together. In the normal situation, one kind of culture will hold a dominant position. It is good for the people who have the dominant cultural background. However, that makes people from another cultural backgrounds confuse, especially for second or third generations of the non-dominant cultural background people. For these people, cultural assimilation and retroculturation are two necessary processes. They will influence non-dominant culture of people and their next generations. In Manuel Munoz’s work “Leave Your Name At The Border”, he points out the cultural assimilation by discussing the changing of Hispanic people’s names. Name is very important because it is the symbol of the culture, but many Hispanic people change their names to the American style in order to get the better lives in the united States. The interesting phenomenon is that, after several generations, the descendants of the first immigrants start to interest in their original culture because their own cultural symbols make them special. The different traditions are the representatives of different cultures. In Julia Alvarez’s work “Once Upon a Quinceanera”, she talks about retrocultration and the very important celebration of Hispanic girls, Quinceanera. In her work, Quinceanera is not only an important tradition for young girls, but the tie between

Immigrants come to America in search of freedom and acceptance of their cultures. According to America’s title as a “melting pot”, immigrants should be able to come to America and find exactly what they looking for. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Richard Rodriguez covers this in his essay “The Fear of Losing a Culture” when he says, “Hispanics want to belong to America without betraying the past. Yet we fear losing ground in any negotiation with America. Our fear, most of all, is losing our culture” (Rodriguez 94). If there are people from cultures who are scared to belong to America for fear of losing their culture, how can America be a “melting pot”? Rodriguez shapes the American culture in a very detrimental way. He speaks of how America believed its national strength came from diversity, but Latin America is really the bed of so many races and cultures (Rodriguez 94-95). America has turned a blind eye to Latin America, refusing to believe that Latin America is so diverse. Latin Americans have much to offer from their passion and dedication to hard work. Regardless of what America wants, Latin Americans will change America as it forces them to change (Rodriguez 95).

Through stories like Blaxicans, Of Plymouth Plantation, and Mother Tongue, the element of immigration is shown strongly throughout. The encounters of immigration are in America with other cultures and each culture deals with different encounters followed by different struggles. These encounters affected the people coming to america and the people already in America but overall it changed America as a whole nation. Immigration changed America and the lives of those who settled here through widespreads of cultural diffusion.

Latino immigrants have always had many obstacles when coming into the United States, the difference between the American and the Latin cultures is what has caused a huge hurdle that immigrants have found hard to overpass. This obstacle has caused many generations to go through cultural assimilation. Mize et al. (2012) explain that cultural assimilation is the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar cultural patterns, which include language and the value systems of other cultures. In order for immigrants to be successful in another country, which is not of their origin; they need to learn how to assimilate to their new homes. Immigrants have learned that they need to adapt in order to get to experience new opportunities and also to learn from new cultures that are not theirs (Mize et al., 2012). Immigrants have learned that they are not leaving behind their own believes and norms, but mixing their norms, this gives them the opportunity to create and mix their culture with the new. Cultural assimilation can be hard to achieve because in one hand it is important to change in order to live within a different culture, but on the other hand it is important for a person to maintain their identity regardless of where they live. At times immigrants find it difficult to achieve a balance and for many families it is a struggle over generations. There are different levels of assimilation, some immigrants come to the

For over thirty years, White America believed that all people who immigrated to the United States of America whether by force or will wanted to assimilate into America’s culture and become a member of a homogenous group. During this time, many immigrants decided to assimilate fearing the consequences if they did not submit to White America’s way of life. However, White American millenniums believe this antiquated way of thinking is out of touch, especially with the constant changing globalized world. In fact, many immigrants prefer acculturation instead of assimilation to retain their primary identity and culture (Chronicle 1). Furthermore, White America is accepting of the cultural differences in our country, often participating in many

While traditional values would persist, immigrants were unified by their desire to assimilate. Immigrants formed groups formed closed- knit groups ethnic communities within cities, and neighborhood called ‘’immigrant ghettoes. ’’ Assimilation was also encouraged in different ways, public schools taught children in English, and employers also insisted that English is spoken on the job. Church leaders and store owners who are Americans or assimilated immigrants also encourage their parishioners to adapt to the American

I have a new coworker at my office named Jorge who is from Central America. He is unfamiliar with American customs and claims that he is undergoing culture shock and needs my help with the adjustment. In this paper, I will define assimilation and present the pros and cons of Jorge assimilating fully into US culture. Also, I will explain the relationship between language and culture and list some ways that Jorge can viably communicate with others in a multicultural society to help his integration into American society go smoothly.

People always feel like the need to assimilate into particular group. It is a social pheromone. From my personal experience, there were three times when I wanted to assimilate into particular groups: the first time was in middle school, when I was trying to learn the local language. The second time was in freshman year of college, when I wanted to be part of the fashion trend. The third time was the last six months, when I was more involved in American culture.

Most nations experience some sort of immigration, be it from a neighboring nation mired in conflict, or from someone seeking better economic prospects across the globe. Regardless of circumstance, the question inevitably arises about how to deal with these new countrymen. A hotly debated issue for many years, certain corners of American political discourse center around the idea that in order to protect the dominant culture, policies ought to be in place that coerce immigrants to adopt the customs of this, their new home, while abandoning traits distinctive of their place of origin. This reactionary mindset that values assimilation over integration and the preservation of uniqueness of culture is harmful to immigrant groups themselves, and

Immigration into a First World country other than one’s own creates a border between one and the country they now reside in. Immigrants come into these countries knowing that they will be seen as aliens and foreigners to people already living there. In order to become socially accepted by the community, assimilation becomes the only solution they possess to feel better about themselves. Assimilation into First World country cultures disrupts the flow of cultural knowledge, which causes cultural alienation, resulting in traditional customs to be left in ruins, therefore integration of cultures rather than assimilating to First World country traditions becomes a better way of life.