Melting pot or salad bowl

Résumé du document

-People from different cultures came in America, notably the US, and had to merge into the American culture. They didn't had to abandon their culture, but they had to melt it into the mix of cultures that already exists
-Some characteristics of the migrants that came in America made the melting pot easier to achieve:
-They really came in America - their goal wasn't just to flee their country
-They wanted to climb the social ladder-determination, a certain mentality: ready to integrate, to develop their talent
-People were different but they all came from Europe

-At the end of the 19e century (Industrial revolution) people were coming from everywhere and integrating in the US, following the US way of life. But in reality, the communities stayed together, notably for language issues: for example the Italian community stayed together and spoke a "broken English". People didn't want to abandon their culture.
-The Jews who came in the 19e century weren't integrated either (for religious reasons notably)
-The Vietnamese who came after the Vietnam War weren't integrated because they weren't accepted but also because they didn't wanted to give up their roots. Women stayed at home and kept the tradition of their countries and educated their children in their language

Extraits

[...] yet it triggers problems But such a salad bowl prevents communities to be bound together does not provide the necessary glue that binds communities together”) one cannot build a society if the community have nothing in common, if they don't share anything It can even trigger conflicts between people who may reject the other cultures, or nurse the hope to go back home III Is there really a solution? [...]

[...] The Jews who came in the 19e century weren't integrated either (for religious reasons notably) The Vietnamese who came after the Vietnam War weren't integrated because they weren't accepted but also because they didn't wanted to give up their roots. Women stayed at home and kept the tradition of their countries and educated their children in their language Transition: thus Americans started to become “hyphenated”: they begin to be separated, given that they all keep their specific cultures II Advantages and drawbacks of the salad bowl At first sight, the salad bowl appears to be a good idea, and it was made necessary by the change of migrations It's almost “picturest” : everyone get to keep his culture but still live with everybody else The salad bowl took the place of the melting pot because the migrants were no longer the same : - Nowadays people's first goal is to flee their country, not to go in a specific place and integrate - People no longer come only from Europe, but from all over the world - They no longer come with the project to stay and ‘build' their lives there, they come to earn money and get back in their country then notably the migrants from Latin America, who can return easily back home given the proximity (this wasn't the case with migrants from Europe ) - They often have strong cultures if European and North-American cultures have similarities (notably because of historical ties), it is more difficult to mix Latin America culture or Asian culture with North-American culture (notably the language lots of European spoke English, while most Latin-Americans speak Spanish but not only) - And to finish they often live in big communities the European often came alone or in small groups, and thus had no other choice but to integrate nowadays there is huge communities of Latin-Americans or Asian people, who can thus stay together and to have to integrate . [...]

[...] Melting pot or salad bowl I The melting pot myth The theory and how it worked People from different cultures came in America, notably the US, and had to merge into the American culture. They didn't had to abandon their culture, but they had to melt it into the mix of cultures that already exists Some characteristics of the migrants that came in America made the melting pot easier to achieve : - They really came in America their goal wasn't just to flee their country - They wanted to climb the social ladder determination, a certain mentality : ready to integrate, to develop their talent - People were different but they all came from Europe Yet the reality is not that easy At the end of the 19e century Industrial revolution) people were coming from everywhere and integrating in the US, following the US way of life. [...]

[...] But in reality, the communities stayed together, notably for language issues: for example the Italian community stayed together and spoke a “broken English”. People didn't want to abandon their culture. [...]