Cultural assimilation, or 'assimilation' for short (but that word also had other meanings), is an intense process of consistent integration whereby members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority groups, are "absorbed" into an established, generally larger community. This presumes a loss of all or many characteristics which make the newcomers different. A region or society where assimilation is occurring is sometimes referred to as a "melting pot". It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Emigration. ... A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. ... Alternate meaning: crucible (science) The melting pot is a metaphor for the way in which heterogenous societies develop, in which the ingredients in the pot (iron, tin; people of different backgrounds and religions, etc. ...

Degrees of choice

Assimilation can be voluntary, which is usually the case with immigrants, or forced upon a group, as is usually the case with the receiving "host" group. Immigration, as held by some, is often thought to be in the interest of the politically and economically powerful elites more than in the interest of the weak (usually motivated by individual 'no choice', not collective goals). Where national groups are strongly urged to assimilate, there is often much resistance in spite of the use of governmental force.

If a government puts extreme emphasis on national unity and identity, it may resort, especially in the case of minorities originating from historical foes, to harsh, even extreme measures to 'exterminate' the minority culture, sometimes to the point of considering the only alternative its physical elimination (expulsion or even genocide).

Sometimes there are two contradictory tendencies at work. When a numerical minority and/or less developed culture achieves political power, usually by military conquest, it is in a formal position to impose elements of its culture on the counterpart, which usually happens at least at the start and in 'public' domains such as administration, but often this is more then compensated by a natural tendency for the older, richer culture and/or the law of numbers to see itself imitated by the new masters, e.g. the victorious Roman Republic adopted more from the Hellenistic cultures then it imposed in most domains, except such Roman specialities as law and the military. See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance...

Immigration

Socially pressured to adapt, the immigrant is generally the one who takes the steps to integrate the new environment he is in. Learning the language of the country or region, making new friends, new contacts, finding a job or going to school is all that is needed. The adaptation is made more difficult when the immigrant does not speak the language of his or her new home. Host, or "majority", cultures adapt by accepting newcomers as their own, and often giving them preferential treatment over themselves. Many times large scale immigration causes political unrest in societies which permit meaningful elections.

Minority cultures

Assimilation can have negative implications for national minorities or aboriginal cultures, in that after assimilation the distinctive features of the original culture will be minimized and may disappear altogether. This is especially true in situations where the institutions of the dominant culture initiate programs to assimilate or integrate minority culture. The assumption of integration, the making into one society, lies behind efforts for affirmative action. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...

Assimilation is or has been the official language policy of many countries around the world. Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. ...

Assimilation for the individual

While it is widely held that a given ethnic group may assimilate to its host culture over a period of time, rhetoric espoused by the host culture rarely takes into account the difficulties for the individuals involved. In fact, the question may be asked "is it possible for an individual to assimilate at all, and if so, till what age is it impossible?"

Children born in host countries to ethnic parents who have regular association with non-ethnic people rarely have trouble assimilating. The problem with this point is that seeing that the child will receive most of its social stimulus from the host culture, the process can hardly be described as "assimilation".

It may be argued that past occurrences of assimilation are really only occurrences of compatibility of cultures. It is hard to distinguish between situations where a given ethnic group has assimilated and situations where said group has merely become a contributing sector of society.

Named cases

The terms used for such processes usually derive from a name for the group the minority is supposed to be blended into, rather symbolically, e.g.

• Americanization
• Anglicisation
• Arabization
• Finnicization
• Germanization
• Hellenization
• Italianization
• Magyarization
• Polonization
• Romanization (cultural)
• Romanianization
• Russification
• Sinicization
• Thaification
• Ukrainization

Anglicisation (CwE) or Anglicization (NAE) is a process of making something English. ... Arabization is the gradual transformation of an area into one that speaks Arabic and is part of the Arab culture. ... Finnicization is the changing of ones personal names from other languages (usually Swedish) into Finnish. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Magyarization or Magyarisation is the common name given to a number of forced assimilation policies applied by the Hungarian authorities at different times in history. ... Polonization (Polish: ) is the assumption (complete or partial), of the Polish language or another real or supposed Polish attribute. ... Romanization was a gradual process of cultural assimilation, in which the conquered barbarians (non-Greco-Romans) gradually adopted and largely replaced their own native culture (which in many cases were quite developed, like the culture of the Gauls or Carthage) with the culture of their conquerors - the Romans. ... Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily or not) by non-Russian communities. ... Sinicization, or Sinification, is to make things Chinese. ... Thaification is the process by which groups at the fringe of the Thai state become (or are made) more similar to the Central Thai heartland. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Religious assimilation

Assimilation also refers to the (often forced) conversion or secularization of religious members of a minority group, especially Judaism. Until the mid-19th century, most Jews were forced to live in small towns and were restricted from entering universities or high-level professions. The only way to get ahead in the host culture was to abandon their identification with co-religionists and become "assimilated Jews." Well-known assimilated Jews of this period include Moses Mendelssohn, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud, all of whom rose to prominence because of their dissociation with Orthodox Judaism. In the 20th century, rampant assimilation in the form of Jewish-Christian intermarriage decimated the ranks of Orthodox Judaism even further. Jewish law (Halakha) does not recognize children of non-Jewish mothers as Jewish, and further, the children of intermarriage may not be raised with a strong Jewish identity and tend to intermarry themselves. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Moses Mendelssohn. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Sigmund Freud, 1907 Sigmund Freud, around 1921 Sigmund Freud (IPA: []) (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Orthodox Judaism is the stream of Judaism which adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmud (The Oral Law) and later codified in the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law). It is governed by these works and the Rabbinical commentary... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Intermarriage normally refers to marriage to a person belonging to a different religion, tribe, nationality or ethnic background. ... // Headline text Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ...

See also

• Acculturation
• Ethnocide
• Cultural imperialism
• Hegemony
• Intercultural competence
• Language shift
• Linguicide
• Media and ethnicity
• "More Irish than the Irish themselves"
• Integration

Pocahontas, in England, as Mrs John Rolfe, 1616: engraving after Simon Van de Passe Acculturation is the obtainment of culture by an individual or a group of people. ... Ethnocide is a concept related to genocide; unlike genocide, which has entered into international law, ethnocide remains primarily the province of sociologists, who have not yet settled on a single cohesive meaning for the term. ... Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another. ... Hegemony (pronounced ) (greek:ηγεμονία) is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. ... Intercultural competence is the ability for successful communication with people of other cultures. ... Language shift is the process whereby an entire speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. ... Linguicide is a little used term describing the intentional causing of the death of a language. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... More Irish than the Irish themselves was a phrase used in the Middle Ages to describe the phenomenon whereby foreigners who came to Ireland attached to invasion forces tended to be subsumed into Irish social and cultural society, adopted the Irish language, Irish culture, style of dress and a wholesale... Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). ...

Sources, References and External links

• Asian-Nation: Asian American Assimilation & Ethnic Identity
• From Paris to Cairo: Resistance of the Unacculturated