The article “The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and Its Variants” discusses three types of assimilation that immigrants to the United States undergo: complete assimilation, selective assimilation or minimal assimilation.
1. List advantages or disadvantages for each category of assimilation.
2. Examine one of the groups from the article and discuss the assimilation specific to that group.
3. Have you experienced or encountered any of these forms of assimilation in your life?
Complete assimilation and minimal assimilation kind of have the same setbacks. In both of these cases, the person is missing out on a different culture. If they have minimal assimilation, they are missing out on the country that they are now in, which could make them seem like they just don't care to be there. In the cast of complete assimilation, it could seem as though they are completely giving up on the country that they came from. Selective assimilation is probably the best route to go. They can hold values that they learned in their homeland, while still attempting to fit in in their new country.
ReplyDelete1. List advantages or disadvantages for each category of assimilation.
ReplyDeleteAn advantage of complete assimilation can be that you have made this new place your real home and you “fit in”. A disadvantage of this is the loss of your unique culture and its practices. Selective assimilation continues the culture and practices while adopting new ones. Minimal assimilation keeps a strong hold on most aspects of the culture but often people will isolate themselves to not be influenced and they will continue to just speak their native language and associate themselves with only people of their culture.
3. Have you experienced or encountered any of these forms of assimilation in your life?
I actually just had a good conversation kind of about this with my dad because as a third generation American I feel completely assimilated. My grandparents were the last to speak Yiddish and keep kosher homes which they stopped doing when they had my parents. I asked my dad why these practices of many were lost. He told me that they thought it was unnecessary because they were in America now and that they faced a lot of discrimination. I would say we still celebrate our Jewish culture and it is a part of our American life but religion aside my ancestors committed themselves to making a life in America and being part of it.