Thread by @Noahpinion

1/OK, it's time for a thread about multiculturalism and assimilation. I've been meaning to write this one for a while, and now it's time.

2/It's a common conceit on the anti-immigration Right that America doesn't "assimilate" immigrants like it used to, because of multiculturalism.

3/The idea is that in the past, immigrants were expected to conform to the dominant culture, but now, the liberal ideology of multiculturalism tells them to stick to their ancestral cultures, thus causing cultural balkanization.

4/I used to worry about this too. But then I thought about it a bit harder, and read more history, and I realized that it's probably a complete and total fantasy.

5/First, let's look at some facts. Multiculturalist rhetoric = words. What are people actually *doing*?

They're marrying people of other races. pewsocialtrends.org/2017/05/18/int…

6/Among the U.S.-born, 40% of Asian-Americans and a similar % of Hispanic Americans marry someone of another race. pewsocialtrends.org/2017/05/18/int…

Compared to recent immigrant groups in the past, that's very very high.

7/But maybe the people who are outmarrying are the ones who don't get indoctrinated with multiculturalist rhetoric on liberal college campuses?

Nope. Interracial marriage is HIGHER for the college-educated. pewsocialtrends.org/2017/05/18/1-t…

8/Now let's talk about history.

Were past immigrants to America expected to give up their cultures and customs?

No.

9/Religion, the most important facet of culture, was never a litmus test for assimilation.

Catholic, Jewish, and Orthodox immigrants were NOT forced to convert to Protestant denominations.

10/I mean, sure, some nativists TRIED to scare Catholics into converting: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelp…

But it didn't work.

11/How about language? That was different. Everyone had to learn English to get by.

But the present era is no different. Hispanics, for example, are adopting English just as fast as previous immigrant groups. washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…

12/So before we talk about what's really going on with multiculturalism, let's recap:

Today's immigrants are intermarrying heavily and adopting English. And past immigrants kept their ancestral religions.

So nothing substantive has changed.

13/So what's up with all the multiculturalist, anti-assimilation rhetoric?

My hypothesis: It's liberals' way of welcoming new ethnic groups into the mix.

14/Anti-immigration folks have a warped view of assimilation. They think it means newcomers copying the native-born and blending in like chameleons.

(That's a fantasy. That's never what assimilation has been like. But we'll come back to that.)

15/Newcomers are naturally scared by the specter of this fantasy of submissive assimilation.

They're scared they'll be forced not just to give up their traditions and identity, but to try in vain to conform to an impossible standard.

16/So liberals use multiculturalist and anti-assimilation rhetoric to tell the newcomers: Don't worry. We accept you for who you are. You don't have to change to be part of our gang.

17/This tactic is, generally, successful. Free of the fear of being held to an impossible standard of conformity, members of newcomer groups feel more at ease around natives.

They intermarry, form interracial friendships, etc.

18/The newcomer groups don't submerge their identities or engage in self-repressive conformity.

But for this reason, over time their culture blends with that of the liberal natives who welcome them into the fold.

19/The liberal natives' culture and the newcomers' cultures become more like each other. They merge over 2 or 3 generations into a new thing. An amalgam.

20/And THAT, my friends, is ACTUAL assimilation.

Not the nativists' fantasy of submissive conformity.

Rather, a process of INTEGRATION. Of cultural (and eventually, physical) blending into a new and unified whole.

21/Integration doesn't happen because anyone consciously pushes for it (except maybe the military).

It happens naturally. Without barriers to actively keep them apart, neighbors tend to become one people.

22/Meanwhile, the nativists who shout over and over that they want "assimilation" don't actually want the real thing.

They want a fantasy version (or, better yet, to simply kick newcomers out).

23/So all the nativists' worry over multiculturalist rhetoric causing cultural balkanization is WAY overblown.

But what WILL really happen is that for better or worse, native culture will change as it blends with that of the newcomers.

24/Integration - a better word than assimilation - is a two-way street. And it happens quite naturally. And multiculturalist rhetoric doesn't prevent it - if anything, it speeds it up.

This is the future. It's happening very rapidly.

(end)