Difference Between Ethnic Pluralism And Assimilation

Assimilation is when immigrants accept the dominant culture of the host country and start to attempt to integrate into mainstream society both economically and socially. Ethnic pluralism is
“sustained ethnic differences and continued heterogeneity” (Martin N Marger, Race and Ethnic Relations). Transnationalism is a reduction in the importance of boarders in terms of social or economic importance according to the lecture.
There is a stark difference between assimilation and ethnic pluralism. Ethnic pluralism and assimilation are essentially the opposite. Assimilation nearly requires people to suppress their ethnic, social, and cultural differences and to accept the dominant culture of their host country. Ethnic pluralism allows for people to retain their cultural and ethnic differences. …show more content…
Assimilation would suggest the opposite. There is a similarity in that assimilation and ethnic pluralism can both occur within the same economic or political systems. According to the lecture most countries expect the dominant majority culture to be a shared experience. Cultural assimilation speeds up the process of the dominant majority culture being shared while ethnic pluralism slows it down. I think living in isolated enclaves is bad for immigrants both economically and socially after the first years of their immigration, especially if they speak another language. I understand being drawn to live near people from your home country for the first couple years to slow down the transition from the home to host country. Doug Macey’s theory of spatial assimilation described in Assimilation chapter of The New Americans seems like the best form of assimilation. The idea is that by living closer to the good schools and suburbs, minority immigrants position themselves much