2 Page Reflection Paper on Assimilation and Pluralism
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Healey8e_PPT_02.pptx
Chapter 2
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Assimilation and Pluralism: From Immigrants to White ethnics
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Assimilation: the process in which separate groups come to share a common culture and merge socially
As a society undergoes assimilation, differences among groups decrease
Pluralism exists when groups maintain their individual identities
In a pluralistic society, groups remain separate, and their cultural and social differences persist over time
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Assimilation and Pluralism
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Instructor’s Note: Ask students to provide examples of assimilation.
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Assimilation and pluralism are contrary processes
They are not mutually exclusive
They may occur together in a variety of combinations
Some groups may be assimilating
Others are maintaining or even increasing differences
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Assimilation and Pluralism
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Instructor’s Note: The Amish are a great example of a pluralistic group.
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Assimilation can follow a number of different pathways
Americanization or Anglo-conformity is a type of assimilation in which the dominant culture pressures others to conform
The melting pot is a form in which different groups come together and contribute in roughly equal amounts
This view emphasizes sharing and inclusion
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Types of Assimilation
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Park argues assimilation is inevitable in a democratic industrial society
Robert Park’s Race Relations Cycle is the idea that group relations follow a predictable cycle starting with conflict but leading to eventual assimilation
Contact
Competition
Accommodation
Assimilation
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The “Traditional” Perspective on Assimilation
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Milton Gordon broke down the overall process of assimilation into different processes in Assimilation in American Life (1964)
There is a distinction between the cultural and structural components of society
Gordon’s earliest stages of assimilation:
Acculturation or cultural assimilation
Integration or structural assimilation
Intermarriage or marital assimilation
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The “Traditional” Perspective on Assimilation
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Human Capital Theory: upward mobility is a direct result of effort, personal values and skills, and investment in education
Status attainment is a direct result of educational attainment, personal values and skills, and other individual characteristics
Deemphasizes structural over individual factors
Views assimilation as a highly desirable process
Assumes success is equally available to all
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The “Traditional” Perspective on Assimilation
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Horace Kallen (1915) argued that people should not have to surrender their culture and traditions
Rejected Anglo-conformist, assimilation model
Integration and equality are possible without extensive acculturation
Multiculturalism stresses inclusion, mutual respect, and a celebration of group diversity
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Pluralism
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Cultural pluralism exists when groups have not acculturated or integrated--groups maintain a distinct identity
Structural pluralism exists when a group has acculturated but not integrated
Integration without acculturation may exist
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Types of Pluralism
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Instructor’s Note: Many Native Americans are culturally pluralistic, maintaining their traditional languages and cultures and living on isolated reservations.
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Enclave minority groups
Establishes its own neighborhood and relies on a set of interconnected businesses for economic survival
Middleman minority groups
Relies on interconnected businesses, dispersed throughout a community, for economic survival
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Types of Pluralism
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Separatism: a minority group goal
A separatist group wishes to sever all ties with the dominant group
Revolution: also a minority group goal
A revolutionary group wishes to change places with the dominant group and establish a new social order
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Other Group Relationships
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Industrial Revolution: the shift in subsistence technology from labor-intensive agriculture to capital-intensive manufacturing
Labor-intensive: a form of work in which most of the effort is provided by people working by hand
Capital-intensive: a technology replaces hand labor with machine labor
Large amounts of capital are required to develop, purchase, and maintain the machines
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Industrialization and Immigration
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The timing of migration from Europe followed the timing of industrialization
The Old Immigration
From northern and western Europe to the United States from the 1820s to the 1880s
The New Immigration
From southern and eastern Europe to the United States from the 1880s to the 1920s
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Industrialization and Immigration
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Northern and western European immigrations shared many American values
These immigrants included Danes, Dutch, English, French, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, and Welsh
The Protestant Ethic stressed hard work, success, and individualism
Also supported principles of democratic government
Analyzed by Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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Immigrants from Norway
Most immigrants to the United States before 1890 (compared to any European nation except Ireland)
Became moderately prosperous Midwest farmers who created strong ethnic networks
Chains of communication and migration brought Norwegian to these areas for decades
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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Immigrations From Germany
More German Americans today than any other group (other than English)
Earlier 1800s arrivals became farmers, while later arrivals were urbanites
Relative affluence allowed children to move into white-collar and professional careers
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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Immigrant laborers from Ireland and Southern Eastern Europe
Largely non-Protestant, less educated and skilled
The Irish arriving in the 1820s made up part of the Old Immigration
Southern and eastern Europeans made up the New Immigration of the 1880s and beyond
Experienced greater rejection and discrimination
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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Jewish immigrants from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe followed a third party pathway into U.S. society
These immigrants were a part of the New Immigration and began arriving in the 1880s
Unlike most European immigrant groups, Jewish Americans became heavily involved in commerce
Capitalizing on their residential concentration, Jewish immigrants created an enclave economy
The garment industry became the lifeblood of the Jewish community
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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Jewish Americans today surpass the national averages in income, levels of education, and occupational prestige
Eastern European Jewish immigrants and the Ethnic Enclave
Enclave success due to group cohesiveness, family labor, and commercial ability
Economic advancement preceded acculturation
The Americanized children helped preserve and expand the family enterprise
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
European Origins and Conditions of Entry
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All immigrant groups tend to follow chains established and maintained by group members
Immigrants often responded to U.S. society by attempting to recreate as much of their old word as possible
For example, Little Italys, Chinatowns, and Little Tokyos
They did so, in part, to avoid harsher forms of rejection and discrimination
They also did this for solidarity and mutual support
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Chains of Immigration
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Instructor’s Note: Discuss the importance of social networks
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Anti-Catholicism
Much of the prejudice against the Irish and other new immigrants was expressed in this way
Threatened Protestant social, economic, and political hegemony
Although Catholics were often stereotyped as a single group, they also varied along a number of dimensions
Intra-Catholic group differences also caused conflict for resources
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Campaign Against Immigration: Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination
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Anti-Semitism: the prejudice or ideological racism directed specifically toward Jews
Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe faced intense prejudice and racism
The most dreadful episode in the long history of anti-Semitism was the Nazi Holocaust
6 million Jews died
Anti-Semitism did not end with the demise of the Nazi regime
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Campaign Against Immigration: Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination
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A successful exclusions
Campaigns against European immigration waxed and waned between the 1820s and 1920s
Anti-immigration forces triumphed with the passage of the National Origins Act in 1924
An openly racist quota system was used to determine the number of immigrants until the mid-1960s
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Campaign Against Immigration: Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination
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It takes generations for groups to become completely Americanized
The first generation: slightly acculturated and integrated
The second generation: very acculturated and highly integrated in secondary sectors
The third generation enjoyed high levels of integration at both secondary and the primary levels
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Patterns of Assimilation
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Instructor’s Note: People today--social scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens--often fail to recognize the time and effort it takes for a group to become completely Americanized. For most European immigrant groups, the process took generations, and it was the grandchildren or the great-grandchildren of the immigrants who finally completed acculturation and integration. Mass immigration from Europe ended in the 1920s, but the assimilation of European ethnic groups was not completed until well after World War II (and in some ways, it is still not complete).
Scholars have demonstrated that immigration to the United States was in large measure a group (sociological) phenomenon. Immigrant chains stretched across the oceans and were held together by the ties of kinship, language, religion, culture, and a sense of common peoplehood (Bodnar, 1985; Tilly, 1990). The networks supplied information, money for passage, family news, and job offers.
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Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Patterns of Assimilation
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Table 2.2 illustrates Italian American patterns of the structural assimilation. The educational and occupational characteristics of this group converge with those of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) as the generations change. For example, the percentage of Italian Americans with some college shows a gap of more than 20 points between the first and second generations and WASPs. Italians of the third and fourth generations, though, are virtually identical to WASPs on this measure of integration in the secondary sector. The other differences between Italians and WASPs shrink in a similar fashion from generation to generation.
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Sojourners
Birds of passage
No intention of becoming citizens
Return to the old country once enough capital accumulated
Italian immigrants
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
Variations in Assimilation
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Instructor’s Note: As the children and grandchildren of the immigrants married, their pool of partners continued to be bounded by religion but not so much by ethnicity. Thus, later generations of Irish Catholics continued to marry other Catholics but were less likely to marry other Irish. As assimilation proceeded, ethnic group boundaries faded (or “melted”), but religious boundaries did not. Kennedy described this phenomenon as a triple melting pot: a pattern of structural assimilation within each of the three religions (Kennedy, 1944, 1952).
In Milton Gordon’s view, the most significant structural unit within American society was the ethclass, defined by the intersection of the religious/ethnic and social class boundaries (e.g., working-class Catholic, upper-class Protestant, etc.). Thus, people weren’t “simply American” but tended to identify with, associate with, and choose their spouses from within their ethclasses.
In general, male immigrants outnumbered females. It was common for the male members of a family to immigrate first and send for the women only after they had secured lodging, jobs, and a certain level of stability. However, women immigrants’ experiences were quite varied, often depending on their original cultures.
These sojourners, or “birds of passage,” were oriented to the old country and intended to return once they had accumulated enough capital to be successful in their home villages or provinces. Because immigration records are not very detailed, it is difficult to assess the exact numbers of immigrants who returned to the old country (see Wyman, 1993). We do know, for example, that a large percentage of Italian immigrants were sojourners.
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The principle of third-generation interest is the idea that the grandchildren of immigrants will stress their ethnicity much more than will the second generation
The ethnic revival was an increase in the interest in heritage that occurred among White ethnics in the 1960s and 1970s
Healey, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class 8e. © SAGE Publishing, 2018.
The Evolution of White Ethnicity
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