Is America a Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl - Research Paper Example

IS AMERICA A MELTING POT OR A SALAD BOWL? The debate over America being considered as a melting pot or a salad bowl is not a new one. Many people have opinions of their own regarding it and I feel that America is best described as a salad bowl rather than a melting pot. America has a rich history of immigrants who posses different cultures, languages, dances, foods, clothing styles, social disciplines and principles. They therefore form a vigorous mixture. Some claim that the mixture is homogenous and over the years has amalgamated to form a unique culture while some prefer to describe the country as a salad bowl. In the process of melting a solid, as all its constituents become homogenized, similarly, the metaphor “melting pot” refers to an American society which is diversified because of its different ethnic groups but has eventually become homogenized by mixing their culture into one another. It can also be referred to a blend of culture as many minority groups have given up their native cultures in pursue of a more equal and blended society. The word ‘melting pot’ was first time used to describe America in the 1780’s and in the year 1875, a magazine described the incorporation of immigrants in the Unites States as follows, “ The fusing process goes on as in a blast-furnace; one generation, a single year even-- transforms the English, the German, the Irish emigrant into an American. Uniform institutions, ideas, language, the influence of the majority, bring us soon to a similar complexion; the individuality of the immigrant, almost even his traits of race and religion, fuse down in the democratic alembic like chips of brass thrown into the melting pot” (Coan 463). The term still took some time to be commonly used for the amalgamation of different nationalities, cultures and ideas in the States. In the year 1908, a leading character in one of the plays which was performed by an immigrant to the United States stated, “Understand that America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming” (James 116). On the other hand, as a salad bowl often contains many dissimilar vegetables and fruits; similarly, the different ethnic groups have kept their cultures distinct but still have tried to contribute towards the American culture. This can be compared as to how every vegetable in a salad bowl adds its own taste to the overall flavor of the salad. To describe America as a salad bowl is something I am more inclined towards as even though many different cultures have amalgamated into each other, they still uphold their distinct features including their native languages, food, dances, clothing and ideas. America is best represented as a salad bowl due to its various ethnic groups, the segregation of some of the ethnic groups, ethnic poverty and the diversified languages apart from English which are still spoken in America by various groups. For all the different ethnic groups which live in the United States of America, they each have their own unique culture and therefore this proposes that the society they live in is made up of many different social disciplines each preserving their own social values and principles. America has been accepting immigrants whole heartedly since many years and as a result, the country has become a place where different cultures have gathered and have been living together. In the early 1890s, many Southern and Eastern European immigrants came to the States. These included the Jews, Poles and Italians. They bought with themselves their own culture, languages and social disciplines (Archdeacon 112-125). The first people to settle in the United States were English, after which the Irish, Germans, French, Italians, Scandinavians, Greeks, Japanese, Chinese and Africans settled (Dinnerstein & Reimers 1). In the 1990’s the advent of Mexicans and people from Philippines and Cuba took place in America (U.S News and World Report). Today, numerous immigrant pour into the United States from Asia and Far East. This proves as to how America has been accepting immigrants from diversified cultures over the past years and all of them bring their own values and disciplines which merely merge to form a completely new culture, but instead preserves its individual identity just like a salad bowl (Dinnerstein & Reimers ix). Many people immigrating to the States are minorities and thus they often tend to settle in their own small groups and neighborhoods. The new comers settle in those places where they find their own people of similar ethnicity and race. This in turn creates an enclave and prevents an equal distribution of settlers within the country. In the year 2000, the population survey of America done by the Census Bureau particularly for determining the immigration studies showed that most of the immigrants occupy the states of California, New York, Texas, New Jersey and Illinois. The highest immigrants were known to be settled in California, accounting to be 30.9% of the whole immigrant population while the lowest in Illinois. The above mentioned six states account for about 70 % of America’s immigrant population but only around 39% of the total U.S population (Camarota 2). It is apparent from the above mentioned fact that minorities in America are not spread uniformly throughout the country and therefore cannot be considered to be homogenously mixed like a melting pot; instead they may be accurately defined as a salad bowl. In large cities like New York and Los Angeles, where it can be assumed that a melting pot may be formed due to different people living together and respecting one another’s culture but the truth remains that instead of a melting pot, a salad bowl is formed because people practice their own cultures and yet celebrate other festivals as well. Many scholarly researchers have proved that many small areas in large cities are segregated by minority groups who have protected their cultures from ages.  James Allen, a cultural geographer from California State University states, “the city of Los Angeles may be seen as a tremendously mixed society, but on the ground, racial homogeneity and segregation are common” (Booth). The latter quote refers to the ethnic segregation and neighborhoods which are formed by people who share similar cultures and social ideas. An example would be a black community in one neighborhood and an Asian community in a nearby neighborhood. Like this, one is bound to describe America as a salad bowl which contains colorful cultures but still do not homogenize evenly into one another. Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick are prominent sociologists who have done an immigration research on the city of New York. Their research was based on the number of immigrant groups forming segregated neighborhoods to live in. They, in their research found out demarcations and separations between various different immigrant groups. The groups included Blacks, Jews, the Puerto Ricans, Italians and many more. The city of New York whole heartedly welcomes any immigrants no matter how diversified their religion, culture or principles are but the city does not provide a base for amalgamating different cultures, rather a salad bowl is formed due to the segregation of minority ethnic groups (Glazer & Moynihan 310). Jim Blair describes that as a slice of tomato does not mix or blend with the other vegetables in a salad bowl, similarly, Germans, Jews, Africans, Chinese and other groups cannot amalgamate into one culture to produce a melting pot. Though, there have been a lot of inter-marriages between the different ethnic groups, these marriages have not completely been successful in developing one unique American culture. Different customs and languages still keep people apart (Blair). Different languages are spoken by different ethnic groups. For example, people who have immigrated from the subcontinent or Middle East mostly converse in their language called Hindi or Urdu. They though speak English but when amongst themselves, they prefer to talk in their own native language. This preserves their culture and their roots. When the Italians and the Asians interacted amongst each other, a new language came into form keeping their own ones intact. Moreover, there are many small towns, for example in the city of New York and in the state of Dallas which are segregated by people of an individual ethnicity like China Towns. When segregation of a community occurs, it prevents a homogeneous mixture of culture to form. Another example for describing America as a salad bowl is the ethnic poverty in the country. Urban sprawl has become a common problem in the country, which means that people are now moving towards the suburbs and the inner city is slowly becoming segregated with people who possess lower incomes. Many people believe in living in neighborhoods of equal status and away from poverty, thus one of the reasons for urban sprawl lies in this type of thought (Harrigan & Vogel 223). As people move away from the centre of the city to the suburbs, they leave behind the poor classes which share almost the same ethnicity. Thus, segregation of minority groups occurs plus ethnic poverty accompanies it. People who have moderate or higher incomes build up their houses permanently in the suburbs leaving the core of the city barren with high income residents; thus concentration of poverty in the central city grows. The issue explained has more to do than just ethnic segregation and ethnic poverty. It involves the issue of the higher class separating from the lower class due to which the minority groups are being avoided by the majority. Poverty is considered to be a burden on the poor than on the upper class and to be a minority group belonging to a different ethnicity and race from the majority usually means isolation from the society, and thus a concentration of one neighborhood by such groups (Rusk 107). Moreover, housing schemes also differ for minority and majority groups. For example, funds and assistance by the government differs between the whites and the minority. The minority groups are usually offered neighborhoods with highly concentrated ethnicity people. This further creates more segregation and unequal distribution of people in the country, thus making America look like a salad bowl (Rusk 123). Another example to support my thesis of America being described as a salad bowl is that there are many different types of occasions and festivals celebrated in the United States for which the government grants holidays. These include Jewish holidays, Halloweens and French holidays like Mardi. Many others are celebrated by demonstrating parades on the roads of various cities of the country. Saint Patrick which is originally an Irish holiday has also marked the calendar of the country. All these holidays represent diversified beliefs and cultures which eventually make a social impact on America, but at the same time, it keeps various cultures distinct and different from each other. America is also described as a salad bowl because there are many different types of clothes which are worn by different ethnic groups. These also indicate the different shades of colors which people prefer to wear. Bright color clothes are mostly worn by African women as it represents their culture while many wear their traditional clothes while Chinese women mostly wear long skirts which represent their culture. They also wear hats and boots to accompany their clothing. Moreover, Chinese women also wear embroidered clothes and batik while many whites refrain from wearing embroidered clothes. When a country posses different ethnic groups who prefer to wear such different clothes then it is evident that we cannot describe it as a melting pot. The present president of the United States of America has given a new look to America by contradicting the past explanations of America as a melting pot by stating in his inaugural address that America is a country of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews. Obama’s address has clearly shown that America should not be considered as a melting pot Christian nation, but instead, it should be described as a salad bowl of people. Moving ahead with the presidential address, it can be inferred that the individual religions retain their distinct identities and therefore can be considered as a salad bowl in which the cultures do not lose their color and taste. If in any case America was considered as a melting pot, then that would probably have been due to the bulk of the early immigrants which were very religious and tried to escape the rising tide of rationalism. They were in an urge to develop a Christian nation but they were actually divided amongst themselves into castes and groups. Looking closely, old America was not truly a melting pot because the white and the black never homogenized together to make one new culture out of the two. They always kept their cultures, languages and principles distinct. Over the past 50 years, immigrants from Latin America and Asia have converted United States into a salad bowl where every religion and culture is separate yet together (Jagannathan) In conclusion I want to state that I strongly describe America as a salad bowl for the reasons I have presented in the above paragraphs. Though people still describe America as a melting pot, but then they should be aware of the various facts related to ethnic segregation, poverty, clothing, cultures and languages. The diversified cultures cannot be homogenized and I therefore consider the country as a salad bowl where the cultures to not mix completely but instead retain their individual identities. WORKS CITED: Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American. 1984. Blair, Jim. America: melting pot or salad bowl? A letter to voice of the people of America. 1995 Booth, William. One nation indivisible: Is it history? 2003 Camarota, Steven A. Immigrants in the United States. 2000. Coan, Titus Munson. A New Country. The Galaxy Volume 0019 Issue 4. 1875. Dinnerstein, Leonard & Reimers, David M. Ethnic Americans: A History of immigration and assimilation. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. 1975 Rusk, David. Inside Game/Outside Game: Winning strategies for saving urban America. 1999 Glazer, Nathan & Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. Beyond the Melting Pot, second edition. Cambridge, London: The M.I.T. Press. 1970. Harrigan, John J & Vogel, Ronald K. Political Change in the Metropolis. 2003. Jagannathan, R. A salad bowl America. Daily news and analysis 2009. James, Henry. The American Scene. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1968. U.S News and world report. Stirring the melting pot. 1995. Read More