The Straight Line Assimilation Theory

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Assimilation is the process of adjustment and adaption by which individuals and groups of individuals acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of a particular cohort of people or group, ultimately resulting in the mixture of their experiences and memories, and instigation of their incorporation in a common cultural life (Lecture, 2/15). The degree of assimilation is often measured along five lines: socioeconomic status, spatial concentration, language adaption, intermarriage and political incorporation. Together, they form the primary means by which different Theories attempt to assess the actuality of assimilation of immigrant streams. Straight-Line and Segmented Assimilation are two major theories which attempt to illustrate the process …show more content…
Here, you see a shift from strong personal attachments to one’s own culture and society to a similar attachment to the host society’s social norms (Gans 1979). Immigrant groups lose their “original identity,” culture and social ties and replace them with that of the host society. It argues that each succeeding generation will inevitably show upward social mobility, become more integrated into the host society mainstream and show fewer ethnic distinctiveness including language use, intermarriage patterns, and residential concentration. The theory does not distinguish among ethnic groups, but rather among generations, assuming that all ethnic groups face the same homologous process of …show more content…
“The history of immigrant first generation, the pace of acculturation among parents and children and its bearing on normative integration, the barriers, cultural and economic, confronted by second –generation youth in their quest for successful adaption, and the family and community sources for confronting these barriers” all play important roles in influencing assimilation outcomes among immigrant minorities (Portes and Rumbut, 2001, 45-47). It postulates outcomes, including upward assimilation, downward assimilation or a combination of upper mobility with persistent biculturalism, based on the interactions between immigrants and structural factors. There is not a “straightforward path”, but rather is affected by several variables and subject to numerous
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