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Multiculturalism - Coggle Diagram
Multiculturalism
Skepticism and the reality of American culture
Surprise from older cultures claiming the United States has no culture
Difficulty for foreigners from homogeneous or state-reinforced societies to understand U.S. diversity
Inarguable global impact of mass American culture:
Clothing styles and fashion
Food habits and choices
Media production including music, films, and books
Religious practices and trends
Ongoing lack of agreement among domestic writers, educators, and politicians regarding basic cultural identity
The pluralistic view: shared and individual influences
Core concept: individuals possess multiple cultural layers from three distinct sources:
Inheritance from family traditions
Unconscious absorption from daily life, especially through television
Personal choice of attractive traits from various available subcultures
Approach to assimilation:
Recognition of strong, regular assimilation into a dominant culture over generations
No requirement for immigrants to deny or forget their original heritage
Natural shift toward becoming less tied to the origin country by the second or third generation
Debate surrounding Latino and Mexican immigration:
Concerns from opponents regarding lack of assimilation due to close geographic ties and frequent visits home
Fears of cultural fragmentation or destruction
Defense from proponents pointing out that a fifth of Latinos intermarry, following historical patterns
Future outlook:
Constant evolution of common culture to reflect new immigrant inputs
Prediction of a future common culture that retains its core identity but takes on a noticeable Latino flavor
The monoculturalist view: the melting pot
Metaphor definition: a large pot where different metals blend into a single new alloy
Theoretical goal: blending multiple nationalities into one unified, common culture
Objections and challenges:
View of a common culture considered a myth by opponents
Historic exclusion of African, Asian, and Native Americans through segregation and discrimination
Continuous pattern of strong prejudice faced by the most recently arrived immigrant groups
Delayed assimilation of new cultural inputs due to societal prejudice
The multiculturalist view: the patchwork quilt
Metaphor definition: a bed cover made from separate, distinct pieces of colored material
Theoretical goal: viewing society as a mosaic of autonomous, separate subcultures with little mixing
Objections and challenges:
Failure to account for the historic mixing and intermarriage of ethnic and racial groups
Statistical evidence of increasing mixing:
One in fifteen marriages in the United States is interracial
Seventeen percent of adoptions create multiracial families due to local or international adoptions
Complex family backgrounds making pure ethnic categorization difficult
Example of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's grandchildren sharing multiple subcultures