2.3 Immigration
Assimilation: Does the Government Regulate and/or assist Legal immigrants assimilation and should they even bother.
Beyond simply moving to the U.S. or obtaining a green card, one of the largest challenges that faces immigrants is understanding and finding their place in American culture. Though it may be counter-intuitive at first, taking this challenge and completing it on ones own or with their own family allows for immigrants to form much stronger connections to the U.S. which leads one to ask, what if anything does the government need to do more or less of to aid in naturalization.
To answer this question, it is important to know both the goal and current aid given in the naturalization process. As stated by Dr.Matthew Spalding from The Heritage Foundation, learning english is a large part of naturalization but is not its extent by a long shot. What is truly important about naturalization is that the immigrant and their family both understand American systems, political ideas, and morality; and find some economic or social success that fosters their own patriotism.
To be clear as to what is meant by culture Kai T. Erikson writes that it is defined as "those modes of thinking and knowing and doing that a people learn to regard as natural, those beliefs and attitudes that help shape a people’s way of looking at themselves and the rest of the universe, those ideas and symbols that a people employ to make sense of their own everyday experience as members of a society…." And so just as people find political parties or churches where people hold their same beliefs, first generation immigrants tend to form enclaves which is counter productive to assimilation.
While this may lead one to conclude that the government must need to assist assimilation, however in reality assimilation is expected to happen not in one persons lifetime but over the course of two to three generations. Whether you believe immigration its self should be made harder to complete, the assimilation process should actually be made harder to protect the American culture. Some may say this is a bigoted or exclusionary stance but as is pointed out by Rush Limbaugh in his Limbaugh Letter, the inclusionary or "Melting Pot" description that has come to define the U.S. is worth protecting. This is due to the fact that when assimilating one is not forced to relinquish their previous culture but simply to add America to their cultural repetoir making the American assimilation standard one of the most inclusive and diverse on the planet.
In conclusion the government doesn't have much to do with assimilation at all. The challenge is taken on by Immigrants and they are aided by the American people themselves.
Sources:
Erikson, Kai T.; ‘The Culture of Appalachia’, The Meaning of Sociology, A Reader, edited by Joel M. Charon. Prentice Hall Inc., 1987.
Beyond simply moving to the U.S. or obtaining a green card, one of the largest challenges that faces immigrants is understanding and finding their place in American culture. Though it may be counter-intuitive at first, taking this challenge and completing it on ones own or with their own family allows for immigrants to form much stronger connections to the U.S. which leads one to ask, what if anything does the government need to do more or less of to aid in naturalization.
To answer this question, it is important to know both the goal and current aid given in the naturalization process. As stated by Dr.Matthew Spalding from The Heritage Foundation, learning english is a large part of naturalization but is not its extent by a long shot. What is truly important about naturalization is that the immigrant and their family both understand American systems, political ideas, and morality; and find some economic or social success that fosters their own patriotism.
To be clear as to what is meant by culture Kai T. Erikson writes that it is defined as "those modes of thinking and knowing and doing that a people learn to regard as natural, those beliefs and attitudes that help shape a people’s way of looking at themselves and the rest of the universe, those ideas and symbols that a people employ to make sense of their own everyday experience as members of a society…." And so just as people find political parties or churches where people hold their same beliefs, first generation immigrants tend to form enclaves which is counter productive to assimilation.
While this may lead one to conclude that the government must need to assist assimilation, however in reality assimilation is expected to happen not in one persons lifetime but over the course of two to three generations. Whether you believe immigration its self should be made harder to complete, the assimilation process should actually be made harder to protect the American culture. Some may say this is a bigoted or exclusionary stance but as is pointed out by Rush Limbaugh in his Limbaugh Letter, the inclusionary or "Melting Pot" description that has come to define the U.S. is worth protecting. This is due to the fact that when assimilating one is not forced to relinquish their previous culture but simply to add America to their cultural repetoir making the American assimilation standard one of the most inclusive and diverse on the planet.
In conclusion the government doesn't have much to do with assimilation at all. The challenge is taken on by Immigrants and they are aided by the American people themselves.
Sources:
Erikson, Kai T.; ‘The Culture of Appalachia’, The Meaning of Sociology, A Reader, edited by Joel M. Charon. Prentice Hall Inc., 1987.
Spalding, Matthew, Ph. D. "Assimilation More Than Learning English", The Heritage Foundation. The Limbaugh Letter – Bonus Report, “Why Becoming An American Citizen Should NOT Be Easy”, Limbaugh, Rush, Premiere Networks, 2019.
Introduction to Cultural Appropriation, Rao, Pratima V. and Ziff, Bruce. Borrowed Power – Essays on Cultural Appropriation. Rutgers, State University Press, 1997.
It was really interesting to see a side of the topic of immigration without talking much about the government. This was short and to the point. I would link your sources within the writing so it's more clear where you got the research and it stands out as a source, but good work. I would add some pictures but other than those 2 things this is very well done.
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job of putting your reader in a new immigrants shoes and showing them what it feels like to have to assimilate in a totally new environment and what immigrants go through when trying to assimilate
ReplyDeleteHi Quinn!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I would like to say that you have a beautiful writing style. I know that's an odd thing to say, but I noticed it right away. You are missing the three pictures needed for this assignment on the other hand. I felt as if this post was only scraping the surface, and so I was wondering what YOU personally think the government could do even to help even a little bit will assimilation? Thanks!!
I liked how you included how culture is defined because this shows what immigrants have to go through in order to be considered "an American". This was really interesting, good job. My only advice is to add some pictures.
ReplyDelete