Cultural Assimilation

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Before the word integration came into existence, what existed was assimilation. Assimilation is an unreasonable course of action, in which immigrants and their offspring give up their culture and become accustomed wholly to the society they have migrated in to. The policy of assimilation occurred in the United States where by, the foremost cultural group called WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) forcefully made others immigrants to adopt the language, culture, and social structure of the American people, restricting them from using their own cultural artifacts. Another example was in the French policy of assimilation in her colonies in West Africa like Senegal during the late sixteenth century. The French colonial masters made them to work and think like French men. However, with the development of spirit of nationalism, and the laws on human rights, seeking a rise in confidence and cultural dignity of minorities, the policy of assimilation was banned. Then, leading to what is now called integration today.
Farley (1982) argues, “There is no doubt that the dominant norm in the United States through nearly all our history has been cultural assimilation. That is, the prevailing cultural group in the United States has been the so-called WASPs: White Anglo Saxon Protestants. This group has the influence on American culture. And many social scientists describe the cultural pattern of the United States as Anglo-conformity: All other groups in America have been expected to