SOC 308 Racial & Ethnic Groups

The definition of assimilation is to become like others or help another person to adapt to a new environment. Many ethnic groups immigrate to a new country and often fleeing conflict in their home country to make a better life for themselves and their families. Many ethnic groups perceive the United States as a country with greater economic, political, and social opportunities, and therefore, many immigrate to the country. There are many ethnic groups and different cultures that come to the United States. An important concern in immigration research involves the effects of immigration and assimilation on health, education, and social programs, particularly in areas of high immigration concentration. According to the article National Research Council (1996), “One of the most serious deficiencies in the area of immigration and economic inequality is the absence of information about income and employment dynamics among various segments of the foreign-born population. Virtually all national estimates of immigrant employment, poverty, and welfare participation are based on data from the decennial census or the Current Population Survey. Although static measures of poverty status and welfare participation are useful for portraying aggregate trends and differentials in the prevalence of poverty in a given year, they do not illustrate the dynamics of income stratification processes.” Ethnic group assimilates contributes to and reinforces existing ethnic hierarchies and we will explain if the mainstream society is more welcoming to newcomers if they assimilate or if they retain some of their own cultural customs. There are many ethnic groups and cultures that immigrate to the United States to be able to provide a better life to provide for their family and better job opportunities to have in the US. “In fact, major streams of European immigration can 3 ETHNIC GROUPS be identified during the colonial era, the first portion of the 19th century, and the period from the 1880s to 1920. European immigrants were granted increased access to the United States as stipulated in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. This quota system was not effectively ended until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,” (Coates, Ferber & Brunsma, 2018). The assimilate received positive and negative feedback when they came to the United States and the society was not as welcoming to some ethnic groups, because there are not many job opportunities for them, and some will also receive welfare benefits to help them get on their feet until they found jobs or an affordable place to live. “Immigration is a phenomenon that affects most nations around the globe, including the United States, Canada and most European countries. The volume of international migrations appears to be growing—for instance the number of immigrants who live in the United States has tripled during the last twenty years and is now approaching thirty million or ten percent of the American population,” (Stodolska, 1998). Assimilation differs for ethnic groups that immigrate to a new country versus indigenous ethnic groups and analyze cultural symbols, such as food and play a role in assimilation. The immigrant groups expect to assimilate to mainstream culture and try to grow accustom to their culture and how the Americans do things in the US. The assimilation can help those to achieve fluency in the dominant language, some educational or economic success, familiarity with the country’s history and culture. There are some that cannot go back home to their old country and its hard for them to contact their family they left behind, but this is something many dreams of and want to come to America for a better life. “Immigrants contribute to America in a million different ways, from growing the food on our tables to creating the technologies we use every 4