Segmented assimilation is a theory that suggests different immigrant groups assimilate into different segments of society.

Through voluntary assimilation often occurs when people move to the United States from somewhere else. In America, for sample, English speaking Protestants are assimilated with the greatest speed and ease whereas non-Christians who do not speak English, have the greatest difficulty in being assimilated there, customs and beliefs are other cultural characteristics which can d or hinder assimilation. Assimilation takes place in other cases also. Often it can be hard to determine what the most important social sciences concepts and terms are, and even once you’ve identified them you still need to understand what they mean. Assimilation describes the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture.

The alien group not only contributes to the host culture but retain many of their own ways. Since assimilation is a social process, it is a characteristic of group life in general, and is not limited to particular kinds of groups. Similarly, immigrants in America or Europe usually begin to wear American or European style clothes almost as soon as they land and so on. Acculturation is the name given to the stage when one cultural group which is in contact with another appropriates or borrows from it certain cultural elements and incorporates them into his own culture, thus modifying it.

Assimilation. Sometimes immigrants who come in large numbers settle in compact colonies where they continue to practise their native folkways instead of participating in the life around them.

I tutor lots of subjects with Chegg but sociology is one of my favorites. In the United States, which has a history of welcoming and absorbing immigrants from different lands, assimilation has been a function of immigration. In unforced or voluntary assimilation the person or group takes on the characteristics of another culture of their own free will. And since they felt that this was now their land they wanted to convert these people to what was then European what they would now consider American. From the whites the American Indians quickly learned to use intoxicants and fire arms. Classic and new assimilation models The notion of the United States as a melting pot has been part of public consciousness for a century or more. © 2017 SociologyDiscussion - All rights reserved This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Assimilation definition, the act or process of assimilating, or of absorbing information, experiences, etc.

They believe in “cultural pluralism”. As we have discussed earlier, contact between two groups inevitably Defects both; though it is but natural that the culturally weaker group would do more of the borrowing from and would give very little to the culturally stronger group. People would pretend to convert to a different religion in order to avoid religious persecution for their own beliefs.

On the one hand, such a community by retaining many features of the traditional way of life enables the new comers to identify themselves with their fellowmen and adjust to the new conditions easily. The adoption of some of the dominant culture by another cultural group paves the way for absorption of the new cultural group with the dominant culture. It takes quite some time before individuals or groups once dissimilar become similar: that is, become identified in their interests and outlook. It is expected that the second generation will be more likely to live outside ethnic enclaves (Massey, 1985), to participate in elections (Skerry, 2004), to speak English well (Portes and Hao, 1998), and (the subject of this study) to marry outside their … According to Gillin and Gillin, factors favouring assimilation are toleration, equal economic opportunity, sympathetic attitude on the part of the dominating group towards the minority group, exposure to the dominant culture, similarity between the cultures of the minority and dominant groups and amalgamation or intermarriage. This allows more people to be actively engaged in numerous activities that go beyond employment.

Husbands and wives, starting marriage with dissimilar back-grounds often develop a surprising unity of interest and purpose.