chapter two assimilation and pluralism: from immigrants to white ethnic to white americans © pine...

Chapter Two Assimilation and Pluralism: From Immigrants to

White Ethnic to White Americans

© Pine Forge Press, an imprint of Sage Publications, 2010

Assimilation and Pluralism Assimilation is a process in which formerly distinct and

separate groups come to share a common culture and merge together socially.

As a society undergoes assimilation, differences among groups begin to decrease.

Pluralism, on the other hand, exists when groups maintain their individual identities.

In a pluralistic society, groups remain separate, and their cultural and social differences persist over time.


Assimilation and Pluralism

In some ways, assimilation and pluralism are contrary processes, but they are not mutually exclusive.

They may occur together in a variety of combinations within a particular society or group.

Some segments of a society may be assimilating, while others are maintaining (or even increasing) their differences.


Types of Assimilation

Melting pot—a process in which different groups come together and contribute in roughly equal amounts to create a common culture and a new, unique society.



Americanization or Anglo-conformity

Rather than an equal sharing of elements and a gradual blending of diverse peoples, assimilation in the United States was designed to maintain the predominance of the British-type institutional patterns created during the early years of American society.



Under Anglo-conformity, immigrant and minority groups are expected to adapt to Anglo-American culture as quickly as possible.

Americanization has been a precondition for access to better jobs, education, and other opportunities.

But Americanization has also created conflict, anxiety, demoralization, and resentment.


The “Traditional” Perspective on Assimilation: Theories and Concepts

Robert Park and “Race Relations Cycle”

– Contact

– Competition

– Accommodation

– Assimilation

Assumed that Assimilation is inevitable in a democratic and industrial society.

In a political system based on democracy, fairness, and impartial justice, all groups will eventually secure equal treatment under the law. © Pine Forge Press, an imprint of Sage Publications, 2010


Milton Gordon, Assimilation in American Life (1964)

Differentiated between:

– Culture

– Social structure

• Primary networks

• Secondary networks


Gordon’s Stages of Assimilation



Human Capital Theory

More a status attainment theory than assimilation theory.

– Incomplete in explaining status attainment as it de-emphasizes structural factors in favor of individual factors.

– Also assumes fairness in U.S. society.


Pluralism

Horace Kallen (1915) rejected the notion of Anglo conformity, which was inconsistent with democracy and other core American values.

Evidence that full assimilation has not materialized, even among European ethnic groups

Interest in pluralism has also increased due to

Increasing U.S. diversity Global conflicts rooted in ethnic differences

Multiculturalism has been and will be an ongoing debate


Types of Pluralism

Cultural pluralism exists when groups have not acculturated and each maintains its own identity.

Structural pluralism exists when a group has acculturated but not integrated. That is, the group has adopted the Anglo-American culture but does not have full and equal access to the institutions of the larger society.

Integration without acculturation reverses the order of Gordon’s first two phases.

– Enclave and Middleman Minorities


Other Group Relationships

Separatism goes well beyond pluralism and exists among groups in French Canada, Scotland, Chechnya, Cyprus, southern Mexico, Hawaii, etc.

Revolution seeks to switch places with the dominant group and become the ruling elite or create a new social order


From Immigrants to White Ethnics

A massive immigration from Europe began in the 1820s

They came as immigrants, became minority groups upon their arrival , experienced discrimination and prejudice in all its forms, went through all the varieties and stages of assimilation and pluralism, and eventually merged into the society that had rejected them



Industrialization and Immigration – Industrialization destroyed the traditional way of life as it introduced new technology, machines, and new sources of energy to the task of production. In response, peasants began to leave their home villages and move toward urban areas

The first wave or “Old Immigration” came from Northern and Western Europe in the 1820s; the second wave or “New Immigration” began arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe in the 1880s



Northern and Western European immigrants included English, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Welsh, French, Dutch, and Danes. These groups were similar to the dominant group in their racial and religious characteristics and also shared many cultural values with the host society, including the Protestant Ethic.

Immigrants from Norway – On a per capita basis, Norway sent more immigrants to the U.S. before 1890 than any European nation except Ireland

Immigrants from Germany – The stream of immigration from Germany was much larger and German Americans left their mark on the economy, the political structure, and the cultural life of their new land



Assimilation patterns – By and large, assimilation for Norwegian, German, and other Protestant immigrants from Northern and Western Europe was consistent with the traditional views discussed earlier

Immigrant laborers from Ireland and Southern and Eastern Europe – these “immigrant laborers” came in two waves: the Irish took part of the Old Immigration, while Italians and other Southern and Eastern Europeans made up the New Immigration



Eastern European Jewish Immigrants and the Ethnic Enclave – Jewish immigrants from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe settled in the urban areas of the Northeast and Midwest; NY city was the most common destination.

Unlike most European immigrant groups, Jewish Americans became heavily involved in commerce and often found ways to start their own businesses.

The enclave economy and the Jewish neighborhoods established by the immigrants proved to be an effective base from which to integrate into American Society.



Chains of Immigration – All of the immigrant groups tended to follow “chains” established and maintained by the members of their groups.

Someone from a village would make it to the United States; the successful immigrant would send word to the home village; within months, another immigrant from the village, perhaps a relative, would show up at the address of the original immigrant


The Campaign against Immigration: Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination Anti-Catholicism – Much of the prejudice against the Irish and the new

immigrants was expressed as anti-Catholicism

Anti-Semitism – Jews faced intense prejudice and racism as they began arriving in large numbers in the 1880s

The prejudice and racism direct against the immigrants also found expression in organized, widespread efforts to stop the flow of immigration. The National Origins Act established a quota system that limited the number of immigrants that would be accepted each year from each sending nation, a system that was openly racist, allocating nearly 70% of the available immigration slots to the nations of Northern and Western Europe.


Patterns of Assimilation The Importance of Generations - It takes time to become completely

Americanized.

First generation (immigrants) - Settled in ethnic neighborhoods and make limited movement toward acculturation and integration. Focused energies on family and social relationships.

Second generation (children of immigrants) - Psychologically or socially marginalized as part ethnic, part American. Many experience conflict between school and home worlds which reflected different cultures. Enjoyed wider choices and opportunities than their parents.

Third generation (grandchildren of immigrants) - Usually born and raised in non-ethnic settings. English is their first language. Ethnicity is a minor part of their self-image. Attain high levels of integration at secondary and primary levels.


Patterns of Assimilation Ethnic Succession

A second factor that shaped the assimilation experience is captured in the concept of ethnic succession or the myriad ways in which European ethnic groups unintentionally affected each other’s position in the social class structure of the larger society.

Politics – After a period of acculturation and adjust, the Irish began to create their own connections with the mainstream society and improve their economic and social position


Patterns of Assimilation Ethnic Succession

Labor unions – The labor movement provided a second link between the Irish, other European immigrant groups, and the larger society.

Religion – A third avenue of mobility for the Irish and other white groups was provided by the religious institution.

Other pathways – besides party politics, the union movement, and religion, European immigrant groups forged other not-so-legitimate pathways of upward mobility.


Patterns of Assimilation

Continuing Industrialization and Structural Mobility

Structural mobility resulted more from changes in the structure of the economy and the labor market than from any individual effort or desire to “get ahead”


Variations in Assimilation

Degree of Similarity –The degree of resistance, prejudice, and discrimination encountered by the different European immigrant groups varied in part by the degree to which they differed from these dominant group characteristics.


Variations in Assimilation Religion - A major differentiating factor in immigrant

experiences.

Kennedy (1944) found the immigrant generation chose marriage partners from a pool whose boundaries were marked not just by ethnicity, but also religion. As children and grandchildren of immigrants married based on religion but less so by ethnicity (i.e., a triple melting pot)

Herberg (1960) - Acculturation didn't affect all aspects of ethnicity equally. European immigrants wee encouraged to learn English, for example, but not to change their religious beliefs. Religion became a vehicle by which immigrants could convey their ethnicity.


Variations in Assimilation Social Class - A central feature of social structure

that affected immigrants.

Gordon (1964) argued that the U.S. in the 1960s had not three, but four melting pots, one for each of the major ethnic/religious groups and one for black Americans, which were subdivided by class. Believed the intersection of religious/ethnic and social class boundaries or "ethclass" was the most significant structural unit in U.S. society.

Social class affected structural integration.© Pine Forge Press, an imprint of Sage Publications, 2010

Variations in Assimilation Gender - Experiences of women immigrants recorded less than were

men's experiences.

Many immigrant women came from patriarchal cultures and had less access than men to leadership roles, education, and good occupations.

Men immigrants outnumbered women immigrants. Women immigrants' experiences varied depending on their country of

origin. Women also began the process or acculturation and integration. For

example, many Irish immigrants were young single women who came to the U.S. seeking jobs.

The type and location of women's employment varied. Irish women, for example, concentrated in domestic work and factories. Italian women did tasks that could be done at home such a laundry and piecework. Women's wages tended to be about half of what men earned.


Variations in Assimilation

Sojourners – (Or “birds of passage”)

Some immigrants had no intentional of becoming American citizens and therefore had little interest in Americanization.


The Descendants of European Immigrants Today

The largest ancestry group in the United States is German American.

Integration and Equality - White ethnic groups are today on the verge of being completed assimilated.

The Twilight of White Ethnicity? - Hansen’s principle of third-generation interest: “what the second generation tries to forget, the third generation tries to remember”

Ethnic revival – a notable increase in the visibility of an interest in white ethnic heritage

White Ethnicity in the 21st Century: From White Ethnics to White Symbolic ethnicity or an aspect of self-identity that symbolizes

one’s roots in the “old country” © Pine Forge Press, an imprint of Sage Publications, 2010

Contemporary Immigrants: Does the Traditional Perspective Apply?

Assimilation today is fragmented or segmented and will have a number of different outcomes: some groups will integrate in the middle-class mainstream, others will find themselves permanently mired in the impoverished, alienated, and marginalized segments.


Implications for Examining Dominant-Minority Relations

Minority group status has much more to do with power and the distribution of resources than with simple numbers or the percentage of the population in any particular category.


Comparative Focus: Immigration, Emigration, and Ireland Like the United States, Ireland finds itself dealing with diversity and

debating what kind of society it should become.

The number of newcomers entering Ireland increased more than 4 times over between 1987 and 2008, to almost 90,000, and the number of people leaving decreased dramatically, to less than 20,000.

These numbers are miniscule compared to the volume of immigrants received by the U.S. each year, but the percentage of the Ireland’s population that consists of immigrants (13.8%) is actually greater than the comparable percentage in the United States (12.8%)


Comparative Focus: Immigration, Emigration, and Ireland

The immigration is changing the racial composition of Irish society.

Although still a small minority of the total population, the number of Irish residents of African descent has increased by a factor of 8 between 1996 and 2006.

Although many Irish are very sympathetic to the immigrants and refugees, others have responded with racist sentiments and demands for exclusion, reactions that ironically echo the rejection Irish immigrants to the U.S. experienced in the 19th Century © Pine Forge Press, an imprint of Sage Publications, 2010

Comparative Focus: Immigration, Emigration, and Ireland

The rejection of non-Irish newcomers was manifested in the passage of the “Citizenship Amendment” to the Irish constitution, which was overwhelmingly supported (80% in favor) by the Irish electorate in June 2004.

Prior to the passage of the amendment, any baby born in Ireland had the right to claim Irish citizenship.

The amendment denied the right of citizenship to any baby that did not have at least one Irish parent and was widely interpreted as a hostile rejection of immigrants.

One poll suggested that people supported the amendment because they believed that there were simply too many immigrants in Ireland


chapter two assimilation and pluralism: from immigrants to white ethnic to white americans © pine...

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assimilation theory

separate groups

particular society

unique society

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pluralistic society

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