The Myth of the Melting Pot
August 14, 20242:40 PM
INIR 2024/3 INIR Papers
by
Jason Richwine
August 14, 2024
In the decades following the American Civil War, millions of white Southerners moved away from the old Confederacy and settled in other parts of the United States, especially the border states and the West. These migrants made a lasting cultural impression. In fact, research shows that the greater the percentage of white Southern migrants in a non-Southern U.S. county in 1940, the more likely that county is today to oppose abortion, build evangelical churches, listen to country music, and even favor barbecue chicken over pizza.
Clearly, Southern migrants were not assimilated into the pre-existing cultures of their new homes outside the South. Instead, they transplanted their own culture, sharing it with non-Southern neighbors and transmitting it to the next generation. For analysts of immigration, a natural question arises: If culture persists among domestic groups as they move around within the same country, isn’t it likely that culture will also persist among immigrants who move to new countries from abroad?
The answer is yes. Contrary to the promises of immigration advocacy groups, immigrants and their descendants do not completely assimilate to the cultures of their new countries, nor do they blend into an undifferentiated “melting pot.” Decades of empirical evidence instead demonstrate the persistence of ancestral culture, affecting fundamental values and behaviors such as trust, civic engagement, savings, and even political views.
https://inirnet.org/article-written-for-inir/the_myth_of_the_melting_pot
