Salad Bowl vs Melting Pot
Salad Bowl vs. Melting Pot There have been many to question and many so called answers to the merging of America and its different citizens. One cannot choose which term is better than the other; they both serve the same cause just in a different example. Along with this perspective, however, there is another expression that describes the diversity of people in America. It tends to be interpreted in the same way as the “melting pot,” but actually has a slightly different meaning with a different way of approaching and explaining American society. In comparison with the “melting pot” theory, there is the “salad bowl” theory. This idea demonstrates a complete separate perspective that the newcomers bring different cultures, where each of these cultures is kept as an essential part to make up the whole. Every distinctive culture or belief is considered to be one of the tastes or ingredients that contributes in forming the whole; therefore its original shape and characteristics are maintained. Whether to apply the term “melting pot” or the term “salad bowl” to the American multiethnic conditions brings about a large discussion and controversy. In a way, both serve as an effective and successful metaphor, despite their slight difference. Anyone who is accustomed to an extremely homogeneous society would be simply astonished after recognizing many faces with different physical features in America, and might praise the country by employing those two terms in topic. The ideas of the “melting pot” and the “salad bowl” in America both connote somewhat of an ideal to many people and are often admired. Having a close look at the reality of the country, such as the existing ethnic segregation, the fact of the white population fleeing away from the minority poverty, and the trend of the minority group forming an enclave, however, one can see that the “melting pot” theory is merely a myth, and despite its long fame, it is rather more suitable to label America as a