Melting pot theory

DEFINITION: The idea that immigrants to the United States would be fused into one culture

SIGNIFICANCE: An idealistic view of cultural assimilation that was forced upon groups of immigrants during the early twentieth century, the melting pot theory was later discredited as more realistic perspectives concerning immigration prevailed.

The concept of the “melting pot” originated in the English-Jewish dramatist Israel Zangwill’s play The Melting-Pot, which was first performed in Washington, DC, in 1908. Zangwill’s play advanced the idea that a special social and cultural integration of immigrants occurred in the United States. In its reprocessing of William Shakespeare’s sixteenth-century play Romeo and Juliet, The Melting-Pot depicts a pair of lovers from feuding Russian families who immigrate to the United States, where they find themselves and their families in a “crucible” in which all old antagonisms fall away and they become “refined” in their new American identities.

Assimilation Pressures

Inspired by the notion that different cultural groups would be combined and blended to form a new composition, like metals being melded at great heat to become stronger alloys, the melting pot theory was enormously popular. It portrayed the United States as having been transformed repeatedly by earlier waves of immigrants, who, as loyal, patriotic Americans, contributed to the nation’s progress. To facilitate this end, immigration laws were passed in the 1920s that restricted the immigration of members of ethnic groups that were deemed to be more difficult to assimilate—those who, it was felt, would not “melt” together with Americans of western and northern European heritages.

American expectations of immigrants included a commitment to all things American. There was little tolerance of “hyphenated Americanism,” such as “German-Americans.” Immigrants were expected to learn to speak English and to divorce themselves completely from the countries of their birth. This “melting” into an American identity was embraced by many European immigrants who, fleeing from poverty and prejudice, proclaimed intense loyalty to the United States in World War I and renounced their own ethnic identities.

The federal Immigration Act of 1924 severely restricted the immigration of Asian people, people of southern and eastern Europe, and Jewish people, ensuring that future immigration would come mostly from northern and western Europe. Consequently, the American identity that resulted from the so-called melting pot through the first half of the twentieth century retained an essentially white face. After World War II, however, federal immigration policy became less restrictive, allowing new ethnic variations.

Attitudes concerning assimilation had also modified, with more people supporting the idea of cultural pluralism that was first advanced by Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne in 1915 to 1916. Cultural pluralism, in which smaller ethnic groups band together within a larger nation, allows members of the smaller groups to take pride in their own ethnic identities while remaining loyal to the host nation. Later, other assimilation theories appeared, including the “salad bowl” theory, in which the lettuce is the host country, and the other ingredients represent various ethnic groups being mixed in with the dominant group while still retaining their essential nature.

After 1965

Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which legally ended discrimination against members of racial minorities in public accommodations and other areas, and the expanded Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Americans began to develop more tolerant attitudes toward other ethnicities and to take a more negative view of the melting pot idea. Indeed, many prominent Americans came to denounce the “Americanization” of immigrants. Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan made a major contribution to the national perspective with their best-selling book Beyond the Melting Pot (1963), which argues that the melting pot had “never really happened.” To support this argument, the book cites the ethnic enclaves in New York City.

The 1965 immigration reform act, which abolished immigrant quotas and established a new focus on family reunification, led to a drastic increase in the number of immigrants and an extreme shift in their countries of their origin. During the late 1960s and 1970s, immigrants began coming in huge numbers from Latin America, the Philippines, and Asia—regions whose immigrants had, in the past, been restricted from entering the United States. Assimilation has continued to occur in some form, although it is less forced than it was during the early twentieth century, despite the resistance of some immigrants to being absorbed.

Among the factors that influence the rate of assimilation of immigrants are their education levels and the resources they bring with them. Not all who come to the United States are impoverished, uneducated, or persecuted. While the formal schooling of many Latin American immigrants is typically between eight and nine years, many immigrants from Asia have doctoral and medical degrees that permit them to move quickly into scientific and entrepreneurial positions. Korean immigrants have ranked high in ownership of independent businesses. However, regardless of education, rates of assimilation can vary depending on the region the person moves to, their career path, and the amount of immediate family of the same culture they reside with.

Multiculturalism, a controversial idea based on the idea that all cultures are of equal worth, has not been totally embraced by all people in the United States. This has been particularly true since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, orchestrated by Islamic extremists. Much of the American public has also become increasingly concerned about the influx of Spanish-speaking Latin Americans and immigrants along the US-Mexico border. During the twenty-first century, the issue of immigration again became a contentious one, with some writers and politicians denouncing multiculturalism as a barrier to a return to the melting pot idea and its insistence on the continuity of American beliefs and values.

However, regardless of personal feelings or the contention surrounding multiculturalism, it is worth noting that multiracial populations were the fastest growing demographic group in the United States between 2010 and 2020, increasing by 276 percent. Across the country, public schools have recognized more religious and secular holidays and months celebrating diverse groups. While these changes have been contentious at times, they have brought attention to the changing demographics and the interest of many to celebrate those changes.

Bibliography

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Jacoby, Tamar, editor. Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It Means to Be an American. Basic Books, 2004.

Maqsood, Zofeen. “More US School Districts Acknowledging Ramadan and Eid.” The American Bazaar, 24 Mar. 2023, www.americanbazaaronline.com/2023/03/24/more-us-school-districts-acknowledging-ramadan-and-eid-453013/. Accessed 4 Sept. 2024.

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Sanabria, Robert. Stewing in the Melting Pot: The Memoir of a Real American. Capital Books, 2001.

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Susser, Ida, and Thomas C. Patterson, editors. Cultural Diversity in the United States: A Critical Reader. Blackwell Publishers, 2001.