Paradoxes Of Assimilation

America has been a melting pot of cultures for many centuries, with the number of immigrants continually rising every year. Most of these immigrants come into the country with nothing at all except for the clothes on their backs and a few English words. But they also bring with them something special – their cultures and traditions from their homeland. In the Immigrant Advantage, readers can see that these specific traditions that they bring with them give them an advantage because they tend to have better mental and physical health than their native born American counterparts (5).

Assimilation of the native Indians occurred in different phases. The United States in the early years adopted an Indian policy that they used to build good relations with the bordering tribes which helped politically and in trading with the natives. However, they reserved to stop the good relationships in order for them to acquire more land as the moved west to expand their territory. (Keller,1983)

Adaptation is the adjustment to one's surrounding conditions. Many animals experience this through physical and behavioral changes based on new obstacles they may face in their environments. They could be surrounded by new species of predatory animals or sources of food that require a new set of skills. Similarly, this can be experienced by humans as well. When a person finds themself in a new place they may need to change in order to survive. In Amy Tan’s fiction novel, The Joy Luck Club, immigrant Chinese mothers share their life stories from back in China, their journies to the states, and the relationships with their American born daughters. They learn a new language, society and overall way of life. However, assimilation into the American culture dramatically separates the connection between the mother’s and their daughters. The mother’s lost themselves on their way to the United States and must deal with the negative realities of their American born children, and see their daughters drifting further away from their culture.

Juana Mora in “Acculturation Is Bad for Our Health: Eat More Nopalitos” argues that the United States offers many job and educational opportunities for Latinos, but acculturation in America negatively impacts their health. Mora offers research and statistics, most of which I find compelling, to explain that these illnesses are primarily due to the immigrants’ new “daily habits and environment changes” (Mora 660). After arriving in America, immigrants often live in crime-ridden, low income neighborhoods, rely on fast food, abuse alcohol and tobacco products, and have fewer safe areas for exercise. Additionally, the stress caused “by learning a new language and culture” and “living in new and sometimes dangerous environments” causes illnesses such as post-traumatic

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

The organizations that would take over other beings and cause them to lose their identity to become a slave to the larger organization. However, Assimilation often associated with a negative connotation with the loss of one’s identity or historical culture as part of an integration process with a new, larger cultural identity. This negative connotation therefore raises racial and cultural identity concerns at the mere mention of the term, which results in a loss of the positive connotations of assimilation and loss of the perspective that assimilation does not require the loss of individual identity. The people involved still retain their individual identities, hopes, dreams, interests, loves, and goals, but they also can function more successfully

Assimilation is necessary to survive in any culture. This is because there are certain attributes that are embraced (which help to improve communication and understanding). Those individuals who are able to accept them will transform the way that they can interact with everyone. This is the key for having increased opportunities.

Assimilation patterns differ in societies that are characterized by paternalistic race relations than in societies characterized by competitive race relations. According to the lectures and readings, assimilation is defined as a process by which minority and majority groups are merged into some total societal unit. There are also three different type of assimilation which are Anglo (or dominant group) conformity, the Melting Pot, and cultural pluralism. Some additional concepts that go along with assimilation are acculturation where the minority adopts the dominant culture, amalgamation the biological blending of the groups, and the transmuting pot where the dominant group selects aspects of minority culture and modifies it to fit the

In the United States, there are disparities between the different racial groups when it comes to low birth weights and premature births. Evidence of this can be seen with information collected Reichman (2005). She found that African Americans have the highest rate with this accounting for 13.0%. While whites are reporting 6.5% and Hispanics are seeing figures of 6.5%. However, inside the Hispanic demographic there are differences in these numbers as Puerto Ricans have 9.4%. These disparities are not tied to economic status with many educated African American women having children of low birth weight. Whereas, there are differences between select segments of the Hispanic population in contrast with other sub groups. (Reichman, 2005)

Canada has always been recognized as a multicultural country with a diversity of ethnic groups. According to the 2006 census (Statistics Canada, 2006), there was a total of 1,109,980 new immigrants arriving Canada from various countries between 2001 and 2006. The Multiculturalism Act (1988) is adopted to encourage ethnic groups to preserve their own languages and cultural heritages while integrating into the Canadian culture (Minster of Justice, 1984). Despite that, constant barriers remain in immigrants’ experiences of acculturation. Newcomers who failed to acculturate into the host country may experience social exclusion, which could result in a reduction in their health statuses. Although recent immigrants are often healthier than the general Canadian population, their health status tend to converge to the Canadian-born population with increased length of residence; for instance, statistics revealed worsening immigrant health in chronic conditions like diabetes and tuberculosis (Statistics Canada, 2002). This is referred as the “healthy immigrant effect”. Immigrants’ initial healthy status is explained by self-selection reasons, and screenings that are regulated by the Immigration Act (Statistics Canada, 2002). However, it is more crucial to understand the reasons for their deterioration in health over time. In this paper, we will explore a framework that explains the pathway between social exclusion, an important social determinant of health, and the deterioration in the

Native Americans were unable to resist invasion by the new United States because of overwhelming pressure from white officials and settlers therefor undercutting their society from maintaining independence and freedom. Disease, immigration, and forceful relocation would be the demise of both the populations and the spirits of the Native American tribes. White officials and new settling communities came in droves, some saw the Native American as either peaceful or logical, therefor capable of assimilation into the American populous; or they were seen as savages and hostiles capable of only bloody warfare and guerrilla tactics. Both images of the Native American residents were true, they tended to side with whoever they believed would help them keep their land during wars, for example the French in the French and Indian war, and the British in the American Revolution.

The decline in immigrant health status over time can be attributed to the acculturation process (Singh & Siahpush, 2001; Akresh, 2007)This hypothesis implies that culture that initially induces better health outcomes and lower mortality rates among immigrants begins to erode as immigrants acculturate and adapt to the negative health behaviors and lifestyles within the host society (Akresh, 2007; Angel, Buckley, & Sakamoto, 2001).In addition, the literature stresses other factors, such as: lack of access to the health care system (Abraído-Lanza, Chao, & Flórez, 2005), stress associated with migration (Newbold & Danforth, 2003; Biddle, Kennedy, & McDonald, 2007; Dean & Wilson, 2010), exposure to racism and anti-immigrant discrimination as well

Neonatal and perinatal health outcomes will influencing the overall future health of an individual. Indeed, many illnesses and disorders originate from prenatal and early infancy abnormal developments. Preterm-birth and low-birth weight have been positively correlated with adverse health outcomes ranging from childhood to the adult life of an individual. Thus, it is essential for public health professionals to understand not only the biological factors influencing birth timing and weight, but also the psychosocial dynamics which may impact those outcomes. For years, many scientists have observed what is called the ‘migrant paradox’. The migrant paradox designates a situation where first generation immigrants who are almost systematically socio-economically disadvantaged exhibit better health outcomes as the native-born population. There could be multiple causes to this migrant paradox. In this paper, I will attempt to evaluate multiple studies aimed at tackling the link between perinatal and neonatal health outcomes and migrant status. Those papers have been published within the past 15 years, with the notable exception of Rumbault’s 1997 paper on assimilation. In this article, the American sociologists suggests that assimilation does not always carry out positive consequences on the health of immigrants. Indeed, some elements of the habitus of the native-born population may have adverse effects on health outcomes. Thus, while assimilating, the immigrants lose negative and

In the precise case of neonatal and perinatal health outcome, reproductive habitus, which Smith-Oka defined as “the modes of living the reproductive body, bodily practices, and the creation of new subjects through interactions between people and structures” (Smith-Oka, 2012, p. 2276). This sociological concept is the focal point of Fleuriet et al. 2015 interdisciplinary research on the migrant paradox in the United States. The idea that a specific habitus protects neonatal and perinatal health outcomes of migrants in high-income countries from poverty, social exclusion and lower levels of education is an underlying theory of multiple of the analyzed papers, starting with Zeitlin et al. 2011 analysis of a French district. However, the literature regarding those health parameters and their relationship to migrant status also encompass research on the impact of neighborhood segregation, birth countries’ of mothers and their ethnicity.

Sociologist Frederic Thrasher, for instance, blamed the Americanization process as the “source of criminal behavior” (Selig). His belief was based on the suggestion that the way in which second-generation students are assimilated into American culture loosens ties with their native-cultural background and they lose the feeling of being controlled by their traditions and customs. Second-generation students were blamed for not being able to integrate into society accordingly, therefore they were denied proper education and equality rights. However, schools were perpetuating a Naive Assimilation Theory, which assumed that minority groups would instantly forget about their traditions and origin and would be ready to integrate completely into American life. It was not the fault of the student for not becoming an asset to society, instead, they were trapped into an education system that kept on marginalize them. These schools were judging students by their performance of American cultural standards and conduct, however they were not providing effective means to merge both the student’s native culture and American culture. Students were expected to settle for what was offered to them, but they were left behind in a cycle of family disintegration and identity loss. Furthermore, American culture was never challenged to incorporate other cultural identities and customs to change its original basis. Different minority groups were not allowed to contribute into the construction of