Peter Skerry Assimilation

899 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of cultural assimilation

Peter Skerry wrote the article “Do We Really Want Immigrants to Assimilate” on the periodical, BROOKINGS. This article is essentially about Skerry’s arguments against how simple other sociologists and scholars make assimilating out to be. The basic concepts of assimilation are: Have to accept English as the national language, have to work blue collar jobs, and take pride in America. His articles contain his view on assimilation in American and how it tough it is on the immigrants in America. Skerry’s conveys his conclusion that assimilation deals with racial problems, segregation, and conflicts, through statistics and personal accounts with immigrants as he was conducting surveys. The reason I chose this article was that in Sociology we studied …show more content…

I agree with this because the media is brimming with horrible videos of native Americans being disrespectful to an immigrant because they are not absorbing their culture as quickly as the person would like. It is easier to tell someone to learn a new language, culture, and traditions, then to actually do it yourself and an adequate chunk of Americans do not realize this. If more Americans knew about the misfortune and suffering of absorbing another culture, I would anticipate that they would be more sympathetic and friendlier towards …show more content…

Unlike Skerry, I am truly indifferent about this statement because, on one hand, I believe that once someone assimilates into a dominant culture, that culture will change them as a person mentally, physically, and socially. It would be hard to spend years trying to fit into a society and then one day go back to your original heritage because your mind will not forget all of the new things one has picked up. On the other hand, One has to consider the possibility that, if the person has the willpower and initiative to go back to their native society then they can. It will be difficult but with the right person and the right mindset, it is

Show More
Related

  • Multiculturalism In Canada

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Meanwhile, multiculturalism in the United States has been part of their history, considering the fact that almost all its populations, including its founders are immigrants coming from different cultural backgrounds (Citrin, 2001). Due to globalization, there is no reason why other immigrants and new ethnic groups could have difficulty assimilating themselves into American life.

    Read More

  • Where Worlds Collide Pico Iyer

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some may say that people can adapt to a new place and completely let go of their culture; thus they are saying that cultural identity does not continually inform the way one views the world. This however, is not accurate. While people can adapt to a new place and adapt to parts of a new places culture, they cannot completely let go of their cultural identity. It will always impact the way one views the world. Take for example Bharati, the author of the personal essay “Two ways to belong in America”. While Bharti's sister Mira chose to hold on to every aspect of their indian heritage; Bharati wanted to feel like she belonged fully in America. When talking about her sister she says “She is happier to live in America as expatriate Indian than as an immigrant American I need to feel like a part of the community I have adopted”(85). Bharati needs to feel like she belongs, and though she may have broadened her culture; her perception of the world and others is still influenced by her indian cultural

    Read More

  • Bread Givers By Anzia Yezierska

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    This idea of struggling to assimilate in America can first be seen in Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska. Anzia uses the narrator Sarah, to tell the story of family who newly moved to America and is living in New York City. From Sarah’s narration, we can see the idea that some first-generation immigrants had a resistance to assimilating to American culture, whereas their children quickly became Americanized. Sarah describes her father Reb Smolinsky as the patriarch of the family, who is often accused of keeping his children only for their wages. By her father relying on his daughters to bring in money for the family, he can continue to practice Torah like he did in the old country.

    Read More

  • Immigration Dbq Essay

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...d not assimilate to accepted American culture. However, by the time society learned which ethnicities were ‘unassimilable’, the cultures had already begun to take root in America. At first America had a knee-jerk reaction to this realization and began passing more resolutions preventing ‘non-whites’ from entering the United States. However, as America experienced the increase in cultural communities in reaction to prejudice formed by immigration laws, the government learned that only through a loosening of immigration law and lessening of prejudice would America become a true melting pot. The mid-1900s saw this manifestation in America, as immigration laws allowed more people from around the world to immigrate. As prejudice lessened, the cultural communities sprinkled throughout America that created a mosaic became less prevalent and have begun to form a melting pot.

    Read More

  • Brubaker's Theory Of Assimilation

    247 Words  | 1 Pages

    They highlight the diversity among immigrants and across social contexts as the reasons for this variability, another source of variability could be the outcome examined (Greenman and Xie, 2008). As pointed by Park and Burgess, assimilation is a process which takes time and effort. Assimilation may result either a quick or gradual change but it depends on the circumstances of the

    Read More

  • Immigration and Nativism in the United States

    2109 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.

    Read More

  • Becoming American, Becoming White

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.

    Read More

  • Latin American Immigration and the U.S. Immagration Policy

    2102 Words  | 5 Pages

    Immigration has always been a contentious issue in the United States. Benjamin Franklin thought that the influx in German immigration would flush out the predominately British culture in America at the time. (5) Furthermore, a continual wave of foreign cultures began pouring into the American metropolitan areas at the turn of the 20th century. The migration of Italians, Poles, and Jews across the Atlantic Ocean began a mass assimilation of cultural ideology and customs into the United States, yet many people thought that these migrants could not adapt. Today, the American society has become a melting pot of foreign influence; however, many cynics remain skeptical about the incorporation of Latin American people and their influences. Accordingly, these same critics are just as naïve as their previous counterparts, who refused to accept the many gifts and contributions these immigrants have to offer. We must ask ourselves: How long will it take to peacefully incorporate Spanish immigrants into American society? America was built on the movement of these cultures, and the current population of this country must set aside its non-democratic premonitions, and embrace the historical and positive aspect of Latin American immigration.

    Read More

  • Assimilation into the United States

    1819 Words  | 4 Pages

    Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.

    Read More

  • Multiculturalism in America: Hindrance or Advantage

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    Students attending American schools are taught clearly about the United States’ image as a melting pot; however, there is evidence to support that, while there is not an official federal stance on the matter (Sengupta), the amount of assimilation required to be legitimately considered a “melting pot” is not being reached. Although similar, there is often confusion about the differences between “multicultural” and “assimilated” communities. By definition, assimilation is the complete “merging of cultural traits from previously distinct culture groups” (Dictionary), while multiculturalism is delineated as the “preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation” (Dictionary). Early to mid-1900’s America entertained the idea of a melting pot, where people from all parts of the world would join together and assimilate. It seems, however, that the growing trend has been to treat America as more of a “salad bowl” (Porter), in that people are joining together but instead of merging as one unit, are maintaining a majority, if not all, of their primary culture with little attempt to adapt. This underachievement has left America to unintentionally become a multicultural society. The clear differentiation between expectation and reality brings vast amounts of controversy among the nation’s people.

    Read More

  • Gender Discrimination in Sports Media

    1867 Words  | 4 Pages

    Faris, Robert E.L., and William Form. The "Sociology" of the "Sociology" Britannica. The. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d., pp. 113-117.

    Read More

  • What is Sociology?

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reviewing the article titles given for this first assignment, I believe they indicate that Sociology, generally speaking, is not only a study of diversity or commonality in traits among people; it is also a science about factors in a person’s life and how these factors culminate responses. Interestingly enough, its topics of concern seem to be directly determined by current and common events of the world. Through the invention and expansion of new ideas, popular trends and fashions through time, Sociology adapts to responsibly to service the very subjects of interest it studies; for, even the slightest change of a person’s daily experience can have an insurmountable impact on attitude, personal growth, family dynamics and basic group behavior.

    Read More

  • Immigrants and Assimilation into American Society

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...accomplished the assimilation into one race, it consists of people sharing a similar identity. In the words of Richard Rodriguez, ?We are gathered together-but as individuals?we stand together, alone,? thus people will assimilate but as individual ?Americans?.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Studying Sociology

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper

    Read More

  • Sex and Gender

    1769 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marsh, I and Keating, M., eds. (1996) Sociology: Making sense of society., ed [2006], England: Pearson Education.

    Read More

More about Peter Skerry Assimilation

Open Document