12-U2D1 - Describe situations where a public agency should blend in (melting pot), maintain a distinct cultural identity (salad bowl), or actively embrace and leverage differences (mosaic). SEE DETAILS BELOW
MELTING POT VERSUS SALAD BOWL
W h a t t h e E x p e r t s S a y A b o u t t h e M e n u
I N T R O D U C T I O N
"Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (speech April 21, 1938)
How Americans view immigration and their own sense of self has evolved along with the growth and
maturation of our nation. To explore some of the perspectives on this issue, click the continue button.
P O L I T I C A L N A T I V I S M ( E T H N O C E N T R I C I T Y ) :
Definition: Political Nativism is a term used by scholars to refer to ethnocentric beliefs about relating to
immigration and nationalism. In particular, it may refer to 19th and 20th century political movements in
the United States, such as the Know Nothings in the 1850s and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Political
nativism favors native-born inhabitants over immigrants (with the obvious exception of Native
Americans).
Prior to 1890, most immigrants to the United States were from Northern and Western Europe and were
primarily Protestants. In the early 20th century, immigration from southern, central, and eastern Europe
caused "old" immigrants to perceive a significant threat to democratic traditions and U.S. civilization. This
created the concept of nativism among native born Americans.
"New" immigrants struggled to prove their loyalty. In an effort to survive both socially and economically,
many moved to assimilate as quickly as possible by adopting American traditions, English as the
predominant language spoken in the home, and embracing the American dream.
"Racial affiliations are not severed by migration. The Japanese race is an enemy race and while many second - and third-generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become 'Americanized,' the racial strains are undiluted"
John L. DeWitt, 1880-1962
Army General in charge of the defense of the Western part of the United States
Report recommending Japanese internment to his superiors, 1942 C U L T U R A L A S S I M I L A T I O N I S M ( M E L T I N G P O T ) :
Definition: The Melting Pot model envisions each successive wave of immigrants to the U.S. blends into
general society. This was the ideal, but this model is no longer widely accepted. Nonetheless, the melting
pot was the symbol of assimilation for generations of American immigrants.
While the concept had been long accepted, the term "melting pot" was coined by Israel Zangwell in his
1908 play, The Melting Pot. First performed in Washington, D.C., play's dénouement occurs when the
immigrant protagonist declares:
"Understand that America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where
all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! … [H]ere you stand in your fifty groups, your fifty languages, and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries. But you won't be long like that, brothers … into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American."
In the early 1900s, the Chicago School of Psychology proposed that there were phases in the melting
process: contact, competition and conflict, accommodation, and finally, assimilation. Shared history,
experiences, and attitudes were required for assimilation. Assimilation has occurred when the minority
has the same access to benefits as the majority and cannot be differentiated in terms of attitude.
The motif has been used by numerous administrations (Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson) as
well as by Martin Luther King, Jr., who applied assimilationist principles applied to Blacks in America. As
the melting pot declined in favor, the term African American reflected the nation's transition to cultural
pluralism.
What then is the American, this new man? He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. ... Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of man, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.
J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur
Author of
Letters from an American Farmer ,(from "Letter III," 1782)
C U L T U R A L P L U R A L I S M ( S A L A D B O W L ) :
Definition: Salad Bowl model posits each wave of immigrants retaining their individuality and making a
unique contribution to society. The salad bowl model strives for a better means of achieving a just, equal
and accepting society. Each group of immigrants retains their cultural values and traditions.
In the early 20th century, the rights of immigrants to maintain their identities began to be recognized.
Proponents of cultural pluralism recognize that all ethnic groups have a right to maintain their unique
cultures and institutions, with each contributing to and enriching society.
The salad bowl model grew out of the clear lack of "melting" of southern, central, and eastern European
immigrants. Ideological struggles between nativism and cultural pluralism lead to the Immigration Act of
1917, which required a reading test to enter country, though it did not reduce immigration, and the
Immigration Act of 1924, which limited the number of immigrants from specific countries such as Poland,
Greece, and Italy. Ultimately, however, pluralism in America assumes that while members of different
cultural traditions retain their cultural identity, they also take on the primary identity of being an
American. "The metaphor of the melting pot is unfortunate and misleading. A more accurate analogy would be a
salad bowl, for, though the salad is an entity, the lettuce can still be distinguished from the chicory, the
tomatoes from the cabbage."
Carl N. Degler
Author of Out of Our Past (1959)
C U L T U R A L P R E S E R V A T I O N I S M ( M U L T I C U L T U R A L I S M ) :
Definition: Cultural Preservationism or multiculturalism holds that each immigrant is unique based on his
or her cultural, ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, gender and individual differences. Differences come from
social class, acculturation, time in the U.S., and generational aspects rather than a focus on assimilation
or lack thereof. One of the ways multiculturalism is differentiated from cultural pluralism is that in
multiculturalism different cultures are not simply tolerated, as in pluralism, but are encouraged.
The desire for cultural preservation drove concept of identifying oneself as what some critics refer to as a
"hyphenated American," such as an Italian-American, German-American, or African-American. The
significant element is that both identities – the Italian, German, or African and the American identity are
both acknowledged.
Those who subscribe to multiculturalism believe that the unique traits and characteristics of cultural
identification would enrich the United States and should be considered gifts, not elements to be
absorbed or suppressed.
"Our nation has been called a melting pot. I think of it more as a mosaic, one to which many groups make
their own distinct contributions."
Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States (Democrat, GA)
Speech, Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner, New York City, October 1976
C O N C L U S I O N :
Anglo-Saxon values and behaviors were considered the norm, and all other ethnic characteristics had
greatly reduced influence. Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture remained dominant force in social, economic
and political institutions. Despite forces such as political nativism and an emphasis on assimilation, the
Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture produced the structure and framework of government as we know it in
the United States. As a result, concepts of human rights, participatory democracy, separation of church
and state evolved and created a structure wherein all cultures have equal rights under the law.
Oscar Handlin's The Uprooted (1951) – "Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America.
Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history."
CREDITS Subject Matter Expert:
Interactive Design:
Instructional Designer:
Project Manager:
Yvonne J. Kochanowski, DPA, MBA
Tara Schiller
Felicity Pearson
Kyle Huppert