Immigration

Masses of people all over the world persevere to immigrate into America for the incentive of a free and prosperous life. During the previous decades, economic prosperity and increased opportunities have been the majority of reasons for the immigration incursion. Throughout the various cultural diversities that make up the great country of America, economic success does not always occur for those individuals who live from their previous civilization. One attribute that complicates the achievement of economic success for an immigrant is the language barrier that resides between an American Citizen, and a person who speaks from another country. In order to overcome the hardship immigrants usually face, they must integrate, or acculturate into the American culture. Acculturating into American society will provide the opportunity to achieve economic success.

People have immigrated to America from every part of the world for numerous reasons. Immigration, as defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary, is the act of coming to a foreign country and taking up permanent residence. Immigrants, often come to America because of poverty or political corruption in their former country of residence. For example, during the mid through late 1800's, over 7 million European immigrants immigrated to America because of famine, severe unemployment, and political unrest. Similarly, in the late 1800's through early 1900's, over 12 million more immigrants immigrated to America because of poverty and overpopulation (World Book 69). In the past few decades, the number of immigrants coming to the United States has accelerated and the countries from which they emigrate have changed, but the motivation for a better life has remained constant. Since the 1960's more and more Cubans have defected and emigrated from Fidel Castro's dictatorship. In the 1970's and 80's, thousands of Cambodians, Laotians, and Vietnamese flocked to America because of the Vietnam War and Communist takeovers. In recent years, even more Japanese, Chinese, and Korean immigrants have poured into the United States at astounding rates. In total, more than 10.5 million legal immigrants have entered the country in the past decade. As stated, these immigrants were running from poverty and political dictatorship. Basically, people have immigrated to the United States seeking prosperity and the American dream of hope, freedom, jobs, and a better life for their children (Costa 1).

Fortunately, most immigrants who come to America find work. Even though 21% of the immigrant households in America receive some type of social-assistance (e.g. cash benefits, Medicaid, or food stamps)(Borjas 60), the remaining immigrants earn at least a total of $240 billion a year, paying more than $90 billion in taxes (Mandel 114). These new Americans were able to succeed because they acculturated to the ways of the English immigrants who had paved the foundation of this country more than a hundred years before. Such acculturation, defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as the process by which one acquires the culture of a society, is necessary for immigrants to achieve prosperity.

The problem that many immigrants face today is that adapting has become more difficult. "Many immigrants are finding long-held customs and beliefs from the old country are now crashing head-on with the laws of the new world" (Costa 1). The culture that an immigrant brings with him or her may obviously differ from the culture of America. For example, the roles of the male and female in America are often different than the immigrants' perception of gender roles. In East Asian culture, and in many others, the woman as well as younger members of the family must be submissive to the man and obey him. "The male carries the cultural belief that a wife should be more respective of the male and the husband has the right to instruct, discipline, or control the female" (Costa 2). "When immigrant men, considered the breadwinners in the family, can't earn enough working - or can't find a job at all - in the land paved with hope, some may turn this frustration into anger. That anger can lead to family violence. His manhood is deteriorating. The woman finds a job and often she supports the family. The male gets frustrated. With that loss of self-esteem on the work front, coupled with the stresses of a new culture, some immigrants from male-dominated cultures may feel a sense of failure" (Costa 1).

Trying to succeed in America without adopting its culture can become quite a failure. This person can often be referred to as "hypercultured." The immigrant often develops a separated style of acculturation, dissociating himself from the American culture. Of a sample of immigrant parents, 47% of them adopted this separation style of acculturation (Pawliuk 115). This typically exists when there are other minorities to separate with. For example, an immigrant who has been exposed to the difficult task of acculturating can find relief with other immigrants who are going through the same problems. This form of separation is much easier for new immigrants. For example, the millions of Mexican immigrants often enter America through the Southern States. In these areas there are many other Mexicans to "separate" with. These separated immigrants can often form an ethnic group within itself, which are more commonly sought after by new immigrants. This is obviously not a financial benefit for these immigrants. The immigrants' ethnic group becomes less of a minority group. As a result, ethnic groups create their own communities. Such places like Chinatown and Little Italy were created from this. Signs in Flushing, New York are now predominately Korean. Los Angeles has become a mosaic of ethnic groups. Latin Americans, African-Americans, and east Asians are forming their own cities within these cities. Even though these communities often have some economic success, this prosperity is limited to just that community. Moreover, these communities hinder the racial integration, which the United States and immigrants should undergo. As demonstrated by the substantial amount of cultural dissociation, immigrants are finding it easier to separate from the American culture than acculturating into it.

This dissociation is an example of one of the four types of ethnic self-identification, which can occur among immigrants. These cultural responses describe how one can associate, or connect oneself to an ethnic group upon immigration (Merriam Webster's Dictionary). A study showed that ethnic identities were either affiliated with their ethnic minority group (dissociative/separative), the majority group (assimilative), their ethnic minority group and the majority group (acculturative/integrative), or