Melting Pot Metaphor And Popular Culture
Response Paper 2: The “Melting Pot” Metaphor and Popular Culture
People commonly describe America as a “melting pot” because it consists of a variety of cultures that all mesh together to form a cohesive, united whole. However, the analogy can prove to be problematic and inaccurate to describe American society when looking at the big picture. The problem with comparing American culture to a melting pot is that “it has never adequately captured the diverse experiences of exclusion and adjustment of non-White migrants with strong ethnic ties, or many immigrant groups who have lived in the United States for generations” (Sorrells, pp. 107-108). This means that the melting pot does not take into consideration that some immigrants do not easily adapt to the American culture. The ingredients of the melting pot do not simply form into one final result, but rather, form into a final product with some uncooked components. Not every migrant is going to be willing to conform to the cultures practiced in U.S. society, especially those with strong cultural and ethnic roots. …show more content…
Pluralism serves as a challenger to the melting pot ideology, as it strives to illustrate the inaccuracy of the metaphor and focuses more on accepting other cultures other than the White culture practiced in American society. I believe a more suitable metaphor to describe the mixing of cultures in American society would be “salad bar.” When you think of a salad, you think of lettuce, tomatoes, dressing, and other vegetables all mixed in together. In a melting pot, you have a mixture of items all “melting” into one final product. With a salad, you have different ingredients that can be mixed and enjoyed separately, as well as together. This salad bar metaphor can also be used to illustrate the main objective of
People commonly describe America as a “melting pot” because it consists of a variety of cultures that all mesh together to form a cohesive, united whole. However, the analogy can prove to be problematic and inaccurate to describe American society when looking at the big picture. The problem with comparing American culture to a melting pot is that “it has never adequately captured the diverse experiences of exclusion and adjustment of non-White migrants with strong ethnic ties, or many immigrant groups who have lived in the United States for generations” (Sorrells, pp. 107-108). This means that the melting pot does not take into consideration that some immigrants do not easily adapt to the American culture. The ingredients of the melting pot do not simply form into one final result, but rather, form into a final product with some uncooked components. Not every migrant is going to be willing to conform to the cultures practiced in U.S. society, especially those with strong cultural and ethnic roots. …show more content…
Pluralism serves as a challenger to the melting pot ideology, as it strives to illustrate the inaccuracy of the metaphor and focuses more on accepting other cultures other than the White culture practiced in American society. I believe a more suitable metaphor to describe the mixing of cultures in American society would be “salad bar.” When you think of a salad, you think of lettuce, tomatoes, dressing, and other vegetables all mixed in together. In a melting pot, you have a mixture of items all “melting” into one final product. With a salad, you have different ingredients that can be mixed and enjoyed separately, as well as together. This salad bar metaphor can also be used to illustrate the main objective of