Black/White Theory Of Assimilation

Milton Gordon is stating in Assimilation in American: Theory and Reality that assimilation can happen in a linear fashion with the end goal is for the minority to become like the majority. In America that means becoming protestant and middle-class and adopting Anglo culture while forgetting their own ethnic culture. This was blatant with the forcing of Americanization onto minorities during World War I. Many non-white eastern and southern Europeans were allowed to become white by essentially forgetting the culture and adopting that of America.
This lead to the melting pot theory where cultures were blended together in a strong cohesive society and that the process would beneficial would be good for all involved. This was considered acceptable

Asians have transcended be being thought of as the “model minority” but Mexicans who are less discriminated then blacks are still less able to assimilate. Along with the Black/White model there is the segmented assimilation model where assimilation is based on how the minority is perceived. Assimilation takes three different avenues reactive, symbolic, and selective assimilation. Reactive assimilation is essentially where a minority fulfills their approach into assimilation based on their perception by the majority. Selective assimilation allows for the minority to maintain their culture but to move into the

Mexicans tend to either be incorporated into the mainstream or set aside as disadvantaged minorities. Those who are marked as disadvantaged minorities tend to follow a downward assimilation where they fight against the assimilation in a oppositional manner because they are set on a path of poor mobility.
In Waters, the standard measures used to gauge assimilation are immigrant gateways and immigrant replenishment. Especially immigrant gateways as they are starting to be areas in which immigrants do not normal inhabit. This gives sociologist a new perspective on assimilation. The level of immigrant replenishment also affects the way that we visually see how minority assimilation is examined. For example with the constant influx of Mexicans it is seen that they do not assimilate as quickly as other minorities.
It was interesting to thing that immigrant replenishment was affecting assimilation of Mexicans as much as it is and to see that minorities are not coming to former immigrant gateways as frequently. I live in Escondido where it seems to me that there is a large population of Latinos, possibly Mexicans, and it is more likely that there isn’t as many new immigrants because they are probably going to another city with more labor