American melting pot
The American melting pot Melting Pot describes a model of ethnic relations in which a nation-state's constituent ethnic groups engage in a process of reciprocal fusion. This can take either of two forms: 1) all ethnic groups acculturate to a universalistic set of values and symbols with no ancestral connotations, or: 2) there is two-way influence between ethnic groups in the society such that no ancestral group achieves symbolic dominance. In structural terms, the American melting pot certainly did not come to fruition until the decade of the 1960's, when the immigration quota system was removed, African- Americans achieved civil rights, electoral districts were reapportioned and Anglo conformity subsided. Since then, progress towards a melting pot in the United States has been rapid: inter-ethnic marriage has become a national norm (except with respect to African-Americans and some Asian and Hispanic groups), and most ethnic groups have achieved socioeconomic parity with British Americans. (Battistella 1989: 134-140) The demographic data on inter-ethnic marriage has also breathed new life into melting-pot ideology since the 1960's, particularly among American neoconservatives,
Political opponents of the idea, whether of the neonativist right or communitarian left, are especially scathing in denouncing the abstract, cultureless society that the concept may bring forth. They also point out that intermarriage does not necessarily eliminate ethnic boundaries and practices. The American mosaic is one of different cultures and regional identities, each with unique characteristics and flavors. (Salins 1997, Fukuyama 1995: 320, Schlesinger 1991, Sollors 1986, Hollinger 1995) This is not to say that the melting pot is the dominant ideological or heuristic paradigm in the United States. Settlers moved west to find new opportunity, escape religious persecution, and create a new and better way of life. but also among liberals opposed to multiculturalism in education, government and the universities. He suggests that the frontier played a significant role in shaping American institutions, and the "expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character. The old "melting pot" metaphor is giving way to new metaphors such as "salad bowl" and "mosaic", mixtures of various ingredients that keep their individual characteristics. The Great Plains, so named because it covers over 1,000 miles of plains and prairies, reaches from Oklahoma and Kansas to North Dakota. Wyatt Earp, and "Wild Bill" Hickok, two legendary lawmen, ruled the frontier towns of Dodge City and Abilene. It is this diversity that makes America what it is and, at the same time, creates the challenges it faces. American history began with waves of immigrants, bringing their own cultures and traditions to a vast new country. " Settlers came primarily from Germany, Sweden, and Norway. " . Today the trend is toward multiculturalism, not assimilation.
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Acceptance Essays
