Cultural Migration and Change
It is very common for sub-cultural and mainstream cultural groups to co-exist. Often their cultural traits and traditions spead back and forth between one another. Cultural diffusion is when certain aspects of one culture are spread to another culture.
An example in the U.S. is the consumption of salsa. According to Wolfe and Ferland (2000), salsa was rarely consumed in the U.S., but in the mid 1990's salsa consumption surpassed ketchup consumption and remains in the lead today with over $1 billion in annual sales. Salsa is a food traditional to the Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations of the Americas. It's move northward coincided with shifts in immigration patterns including more Mexican, Central, and South American immigrants to the U.S.
Interestingly, ketchup is still consumed as much as it was in the past. Salsa was added to the American diet, rather than adopted as a replacement to ketchup.
Food is only one area where cultural diffusion can be readily observed. Clothing, music, television shows, movies, cars, technologies and many other aspects of cultures spread throughout the world today, diffusing cultures to a great extent.
Cultural leveling is the process in which cultures of the world become similar.
There is not a world-wide mainstream culture, but you can see influences of other cultures on the landscape.
In the United States, we have many different types of ethnic restaurants. Likewise, many American companies like McDonald's and Coca Cola are found throughout the world. McDonald's is in over 100 foreign countries, and Coca Cola can be found in more than 200.
Consider the cultural changes that occur with immigration. What happens when an adult migrates to a different country? Can they hold onto the culture of their homeland?
Before we answer this let's dispel the very entrenched myth that the U.S. has a melting pot of cultures.
The Melting Pot Theory is an ideology which suggested that all the diverse people coming to the U.S. as immigrants would blend biologically and culturally in order to form a new unique breed of "Americans."
The U.S. has never had a melting pot. Those who have migrated here (numbering 10s of millions) have usually found themselves pressured to accept the Anglo-Saxon (western- European) version of the main stream culture.
Acculturation is the process by which immigrant people adjust and adapt their way of life to the host culture.
The map to the right shows the major migratory routes of many immigrants to the U.S. over the course of U.S. history. Once in a new country, immigrants realize they have to make some adjustments in order to experience success in their daily interactions with members of the mainstream society.
Assimilation is the process by which people from different cultures are acculturated and ultimately absorbed into the mainstream culture.
Current U.S. immigration policy is considered in favor of non-European immigrants being allowed to migrate here, so much of the assimilation process is voluntary and considered permissible.
Cultural imperialism is where those in power in the mainstream refuse to allow immigrants to maintain their various cultures.
It is interesting to consider the assimilation and acculturation process of adult migrants to the U.S. who then have children born in the U.S. You may have friends who fit this example. In these cases, the adults and children assimilate very differently. Many adult immigrants hold dear to their homeland cultures and because of this, they experience marginalization.
Marginalization is the tendency for adult immigrants to be rendered powerless in comparison to native-born adults because they live as a half citizen not fully capable of realizing the individual opportunities often found available to average native-born adults.
In some cases, U.S. born children to immigrants find themselves living in a culturally transitioning family structure. The parents are more like permanent tourists here while the kids become fully "Americanized." One social institution that attributes to this process is the school system. The public schools are tremendous socialization agencies which effectively acculturate most children into the mainstream. These children often serve as cultural liaisons to their parents and the mainstream culture.
There are three other levels of consideration for assimilation for adults who immigrate to the U.S.:
- Cultural (acculturation into the host culture)
- Marital (vast intermarriage between mainstream members and newcomers)
- Structural (large scale entrance into the various parts of the social structure including clubs, religions, workplace, schools, etc...).
