The ideal community is composed of several elements. First, you need the right type of people. To me, the people need to be caring of others and aware of the neighborhood. People should want to contribute to the community in whatever way they can, either socially or culturally. Second, an ideal community should have adequate places for activities. Places such as parks, playgrounds, libraries, and other places. A community also needs a town hall type area for all citizens to meet and discuss important issues such as town politics, laws, and other important community issues. By having such a place, the citizens of the community can properly vocalize subjects that would have an effect on the community as a whole.
Immigration Film Clip
This is a short clip from the movie "An American Tail." The movie is about a Russian mouse family that immigrates from Russia to America to escape the persecution they face from the cats in Russia. Though it is a cartoon movie and is meant for children, Fievel's push factors include escaping persecution from the cats and widespread poverty found in Mouse-Era Russia. The pull factors in America ensure Fievel's family toleration (of all kinds), the promise of good paying jobs, and plentiful amounts of cheese.
From There to Here
Seminar Midterm
Describe, discuss and give examples of assimilationism, cultural pluralism, and multiculturalism. Which is most common today?
Assimilation is formally defined as “the practice or policy of assimilating or encouraging the assimilation of people from all races and cultures.” In our terms, assimilationism call You can spot these people easily. In Bay Ridge, if I see Arabic teens dressed in the current popular fashion, I know they want to assimilate into the culture. Rather than keep the values they grew up with, these people would rather adopt mainstream and popular ideas of dress and speech, since they know these ideas are acceptable and appropriate.
Cultural pluralism refers to when small groups of people, living inside a much larger population, choose to keep the values and ideas of their culture. Again, in New York City, we can see this everywhere. For example, on Canal Street and Broadway in Manhattan, we find ourselves in the middle of Chinatown. Rather than assimilate to the American culture, Chinese immigrants chose to set up shops that cater to Chinese traditions. For example, you can find many groceries and supermarkets that carry products only found in Chinese dishes and delicacies. By having such stores, Chinese people who immigrate to New York City have an area they can go to and buy certain goods they could only find back home. This allows them to keep their old world traditions alive and continue a trend of cultural pluralism.
Multiculturalism is a state where in a group, multiple cultures are equally embraced and not one of them dominates the population. In such a society, emphasis is placed on preserving and exposing all the ethnic groups in order to support diversity. In New York City, we have a couple of policies that support multiculturalism. The City has set aside certain days of the year as heritage parades. We have the Caribbean parade, St.Patrick’s Day parade, the Puerto Rican Day parade, and the Norwegian Day parade. By setting aside specific days to allow these events to take place, the city is celebrating the culture of a portion of its inhabitants.
In New York City, the most common one seems to be cultural pluralism due to the abundance of languages spoken in Queens (over 200), the fact that NYC is considered the most diverse city in the US, and due to all the different culturally-themed areas we have, such as Chinatown, Little Italy, and Spanish Harlem.
From Berger: Describe, discuss and give examples of two different neighborhoods. Compare and contrast them.
When comparing the neighborhoods of Midwood and Bensonhurst, we can see some similarities. First, each has been debated by a major group of people for an extended period of time. In Midwood, it is the Orthodox Jews, and in Bensonhurst, it is the Italians. In both neighborhoods, the dominant groups cater to their needs. For example, in Midwood, when a crab was spotted in the water system, a huge uproar was created among the Orthodox community about the cleanliness of the water and whether it passed kosher standards or not. As a result, some Jews opened water filter stores and installed filters in Orthodox homes to help filter against the water contamination. Also, many restaurants began to advertise the fact that they served filtered water to customers in an effort to gain more business, and to show the restaurant’s ability to easily conform to new kosher standards. In Bensonhurst, there are Italian specialty stores (like in Chinatown) that cater exclusively to Italians and sell food items specifically designed for Italian culture. For example, there are many bakeries that sell cannolis and other Italian pastries, and there are pork stores that specialize in different types of Italian ham and sausage.
The difference between Midwood and Bensonhurst seems to be in the population shift. According to a study done, Midwood’s Orthodox population is increasing. In 1991, only 172 yeshivas with 58,959 students could be found throughout the city, while in 2001, 221 yeshivas and 68,604 students could be found (p.133). This shows a positive population growth of Orthodox Jews (in Midwood and in NYC). In Bensonhurst, we have an opposite pattern. The number of Italians is dwindling. Many of them, at this point are third-generation or more, and they have accumulated enough wealth at this point that they can move to better neighborhoods, such as those in Long Island and Staten Island. The homes left by the Italians are replaced by Russian and Chinese families eager for a place to live among the growing Russian and Chinese population in Bensonhurst. Soon enough, the Italian presence in Bensonhurst will drop below the point it’s currently at, and the Italian dominated Bensonhurst that we all know simply wouldn’t be around anymore, due to the basic trend of increasing wealth every generation until a family can afford to move elsewhere.
From Glazer and Moynihan: Pick one group and describe its assimilation process. Did this group really melt into the pot? Describe, discuss and give examples.
One group with a fascinating immigration and assimilation process are the Italians. Italians are known for keeping their values and traditions intact, and very much live as if they were still in Italy. The group that followed this mentality the most was the first generation Italians. They believed in a strong family, and keeping together family ties. This is how Italian neighborhoods such as Bensonhurst developed. Italians, since they value staying together and close, immigrated to the US in large groups. When they settled in a neighborhood, other Italians found out what neighborhood that was, and moved there to be with other Italians. This slowly grew and grew until Italian neighborhoods formed.
The belief in strong family ties caused conflict between first and second generation Italians. Since the first generation immigrants (parents) already had an established life and upbringing, their kids (second generation) went to American schools and were exposed to the American idea of living life. This idea basically said that people should go off alone, achieve their dreams, and be a part of the “American Dream.” This conflicted with Italian families since they urged their children to stay close with the parents and to make sacrifices and not leave the family.
With this, another conflict arises. Italians are encouraged to do whatever they can to help the family. Though it isn’t necessarily preached, this rule can cross over into doing immoral and illegal things such as stealing and ripping people off in deals as long as the family benefits. In addition, since so much emphasis is placed on helping the family become rich and well-off,, many Italians don’t pursue higher knowledge since they want to start working as soon as they can. As a result, many of the Italian family-owned businesses have been successfully run by several generations since there are few places to work without a college degree.
From Foner: Compare the old and new immigrants. Which have been more successful? Describe, discuss and give examples.
When comparing the old and new immigrants, we find few similarities. Basically, like in the old days, due to their lack of education, language skills, and the willingness to take up any job, immigrants old and new still work low-paying, unglamorous jobs, and, to an extent barely make ends meet. Also, due to their willingness to work, many work for illegally low wages since the owners know the worker is glad to have the job in the first place.
The differences between old and new immigrants are much more apparent. When compared to the old immigrants, new immigrants are much more educated and possess the capability to work more important and skilled jobs. When old immigrants reached the US, they quickly scrambled to grab whatever job they could, no matter what it was. Today, many immigrants come with some form of a college degree, and are therefore less inclined to do unskilled labor. Also, many people have a generally higher view of immigrants than before. People used to see immigrants as poor, uneducated, and unskilled. Nowadays, they are seen in a better light because some (but nowhere near all) have a college education and seek jobs other than unskilled labor. Another difference is the type of jobs available. Back then, old immigrants had a plethora of unskilled jobs to pick from. Many of them ended up working in factories for low wages. In today’s world, things have changed. Many jobs today are more sophisticated then they were several decades ago. Thus, by being an uneducated immigrant, you are at a disadvantage. Since many of these jobs require technical training and skills, the pool of unskilled jobs is no longer as big as it used to be, making it harder for new immigrants to find jobs.
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