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Cultural identity
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Zangwill (1908) wrote, “ God is making the American!...the real American had not yet arrived. He will be the fusion of all races, perhaps the coming superman…the glory of America, where all races and nations come to labor and look forward.” This is an exert from the play “The Melting Pot.” Israel Zangwill was Jewish born in England, January 21, 1864 in London, England. Besides the “The Melting Pot,” Zangwill used his pen to defend women’s suffrage, Jewish emancipation, assimilation and Zionism. Zionism is the Jewish liberation movement (Wikipedia, 2012). In 1909, “The Melting Pot” was opened in Washington D.C. It was a hit. President Theodore Roosevelt gave the play high reviews. The New York Metropolitan Playhouse ran the production in 2006. Zangwill married Edith Ayron, who was a feminist and an accomplished author in her own right. He passed away at age 62 in West Sussex, England (Rochelson, n.d.). Zangwill had an idea and vision of what cultural assimilation would become. This idealistic approach of Americas “melting pot” is a multifaceted theory on its own. There are many aspects to the American assimilation. This involves leaving part of ones cultural identification to join a larger American culture in search of work and a means to sustain. Many aspects of this vision have begun to unfold in our culture over the past century. Some of the cultural assimilation examples will be addresses as well as what the Bible might say regarding this vision. There are also some weaknesses or differences that can be found in the “modern melting pot” concept. “Today the trend is toward multiculturalism, not assimilation. The old "melting pot" metaphor is giving way to new metaphors such as "salad bowl" and "mosaic", mixtures of vari... ... middle of paper ... ...metaphor: why coerc, HoHoNu, A Journal of Academic Writing, 4(1) Web. 22 Nov. 2015. http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/writing.php?id=91 Parrillo, V., (2009) Strangers to these shores: race and ethnic relations in the United States, (9th ed.), Boston, MA, Allyn & Bacon Preston, J. (2011) 11.2 million immigrants in the U.S. in 2010, report says, no change from ’09, The New York Times, Web. 28 Nov. 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/us/02immig.html Rochelson, M., (n.d.) Israel Zandwill, Jewish virtual library, Web. 30 Nov. 2015. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/zangwill.html ThinkQuest (n.d.) The Chinese, Immigration, the Journey to America, Web. 18 Nov. 2015. http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Chinese.html Wikipedia (2012) Israel Zangwill, Web. 19 Nov. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Zangwill
The term melting-pot has been used since the 1700s. It has always been a metaphor to describe immigrants coming to America. The melting pot is a fusion of cultures and ethnicities into one larger culture. Americans did not like the idea of immigration to their country, viewing their country as beautiful the way it was. Many thought America would be ruined if too many people immigrated and left their cultural mark on the country. The melting-pot concept on immigration seems to highlight historically how America came to be, but for more current immigration, Americans views are more negative. American attitude towards immigrants in the 1900s was not very favorable. Since they feared them, immigrants were often treated horribly by Americans. Robert H. Clancy says, “Vigorous complaint and more or less bitter persecution have been aimed at newcomers to our shores. Also the congressional reports of about 1840 are full of abuse of English, Scotch, Welsh immigrants as paupers, criminals, and so forth.” (Clancy,
Dyson, Michael Eric. 1996. Race rules: navigating the color line. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.
...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.
Perhaps, the “Melting Pot” myth gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. With millions of immigrants entering the United States, culture was changing within the United States. Americans set a high standard for there society and everyone wanted to be accepted. There was a social requirement to live in a civil society creating together the “American Dream,” which leads to prosperity. Many immigrants moving to the United States brought with them various traditions of their culture and after moving, they repressed such beliefs and forged ahead with a new way of “American Thinking.” The rituals and traditions of such societies should have brought diversity to this nation’s culture however, these ways would soon become a part of the past. The “Melting Pot” myth heavily influences American society and people believe that everyone no matter what skin color or religious belief is created equal. This belief of the American Way of life is idyllic to say the least. Unfortunately, this myth has been thwarted due to a high level of racial supremacy within the nations past and even present. There are two particular events in national history, which will forever hinder equality: slavery of African Americans and Japanese internment camps during World War II in America. These substantial events shape our society and are only the tip of the iceberg when it
This essay will discuss the intrinsic relationship between diversity conceptualization and social integration presenting a response against David Brooks’ essay entitled “People Like Us.” In order to do this I will discuss four crucial elements: the influences of different definitions of diversity in cultural unification, Brook’s ideas about social groups working together and social groups coexisting together, the importance of diversity, and the influence of diversity in social changes. I will examine why some people have the perception that our American society ignore or see as unworthy diversity. Thus, I will dispute Brook’s view stating that our society disregards diversity, and Americans just pretend that it is important to them.
In the face of increasing anti-Semitism during the interwar periods Jewish identity often came into conflict with societal pressures to assimilate. Irving Howe’s, A Memoir of the Thirties, written in 1961, depicts his experiences as a Jew in New York City. In his memoir Howe describes the living and social conditions during this decade that pushed many New York Jews to become involved in some type of socialist movement. Although the memoir is primarily about political activities, his description of the social conditions and the Jewish community provides ...
Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, legal and illegal, from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants come because they want a chance at a better life; others are refugees, escaping persecution and civil wars in their home country. Many people believe the United States is the best place to go. There is more freedom, protection, and benefits, which seems like a good deal to immigrants. But the large number of immigration is affecting the current citizens of the United States. Taxpayers are forced to pay for the welfare and schooling for many of these immigrants, some who are illegal aliens. Some citizens believe that immigration can be hazardous to the environment. Others blame crime, poverty, and overpopulation on immigration. About sixty-eight million immigrants have been added to the United States since 1970, and it is estimated that 130 million people will be added over the next fifty years. The government has tried somewhat to restrict immigration but the laws are still too lenient. Nearly every other advanced country in the world is moving quickly towards stabilized population or has already achieved it. The United States is moving towards it very slowly. This country would have to reduce immigration down to 255,000 a year to do this (Beck 1). If nothing is done to stabilize the immigration to this country, what will become of population in the next decade? The population will continue to grow even faster - not due to births, but to massive immigration to this country. Immigration can become a serious problem to this country if the government does not produce stricter laws.
Glazer, Nathan. Beyond the Melting Pot. Boston, MA. The M.I.T. and Harvard University press. 1963
Wu, F. H. (2002). Yellow: race in america beyond black and white. New York: Basic
Many people in America want to assimilate to the U.S. because they think that being American is a better option. People such as the Italians in the 1870s tried to assimilate in order to become an American to not become an enemy in the U.S. Also, the Mexicans today are constantly coming to the U.S. to have a better life because they know being American is the best solution for their problems at home. What assimilation mean is when a person leaves one’s own culture to join a different culture the person wants to be. For the purpose of this essay, an American is a person who has commitment to succeed in what one wants, able to speak english, to love the pop culture in the U.S. at the time one is living such as the hit songs, games, T.V. shows, etc. but not to other cultures, and be a citizen in America. People throughout history must assimilate to become a true American
Mexican immigrant's that migrated to the United States from Mexico was at nearly half million
Lemay, Michael and Elliot Robert Barkan, eds. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues. Westport, Conn. Greenwood Press, 2009.
Blum, Lawrence. I'm Not A Racist But: The Moral Quandary of Race. New York: Cornell University Press, 2002. 5
How this many undocumented immigrants live here is a little hazy because of our rigorous laws. There are two different types of illegal immigrants and knowing these two distinctively different types of illegal immigrants is of great importance. The first, are immigrants that travel to our country legally with a visa or green card but stay as their visas become expired. The other illegal immigrant is when a person illegally trespasses our border without asking for permission from the government and lives here. The first type of Immigrants are much easier to track and incarcerate because of the fact that the government already knows that they are in the country. However, the second type of illegal immigrant is much more difficult to find because the government is unaware of their
In his article “The Failure of Multiculturalism”, Kenan Malik uses the diverse European culture to study and explain the irony of multiculturalism. He defines multiculturalism as “the embrace of an inclusive, diverse society” (Malik 21). Integration between cultures is practically inevitable, but several nations view this as a threat towards upholding their culture. Due to this, many countries have made attempts at properly integrating new people and ideas while trying to prevent the degradation of their own. This can result in unjust regulations and the reverse effect of an intended multicultural society.