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4. Assimilation processes in the USA.

Assimilation is the process by which many various ethnic groups have been made a part of a common cultural life with commonly shared values.

There are different opinions of scholars about the degree of assimilation in the USA. Some have described the USA as a “melting pot” where various racial & ethnic groups have been combined into culture. Others call the USA a “salad bowl” where various groups have remained distinct & different from one another identity while living in the same country.

An enormous amount of racial & ethnic assimilation has taken place in the USA, yet some groups continue to feel strong sense of separateness from the culture as a whole. The only group of whites belonging here are American Jews. At the same time they have a strong sense of being part of the largest Am culture in which they have achieved competitive success in almost every field. Unlike other groups of white Americans, the Jews have a feeling of being separate which remains as strong as the feeling of being assimilation into the larger am culture.

To be easily assimilated immigrants should possess several characteristics: English speaking, Western-European (in terms of values) & Protestant or at least Christian middle class. Immigrants who possessed these characteristics were accepted. But a large number of immigrants with significantly different characteristics tended to be viewed as a threat to basic Am values & the Am way of life.

The government policy in terms of racial assimilation is that the government promotes rich racial diversity, it enforces race mixing through media, the anti-discrimination laws were established (“fair housing”), and there is prosecution of any hint of hate speech against minorities.

Assimilation process faces some problems, such as: the majority of immigrants are non-white, so today even exists the problem of anti-white racism (reverse discrimination). Very often whites view immigration as an assault against Western culture. Racial prejudices of whites towards non-white minority (Whites can abandon the places if they live nearby the blacks). The attitude of some minorities to assimilation is clearly not to adopt Am culture, but instead that America should assimilate theirs.

The lg problem also exists in the USA.

There are solutions to the mentioned problems:

1. to offer citizenship classes to teach immigrants some basic Am rules & beliefs.

2. to take care of some practical problems (e.g. professional training courses, arranging of housing/accommodation; giving some welfare benefits until immigrants settle down).

3. provide E. lg courses for adults & bilingual ed-n for children