1、Unit Three American TrademarksChapter 7 MulticulturalismPRELISTENING B.Vocabulary and Key Concepts 1. I understand why a foreigner might react skeptically to U. S. culture, especially if the person comes from a more ethnically and racially homogeneous society. 2. It seems naive or even perverse to d

2、eny the existence of a culture that has such great impact on other cultures, for better or worse. 3. A melting pot, literally a pot in which metals like aluminum and copper are melted in order to blend them, is the traditional metaphor for the way the different groups of immigrants came together in

3、the United States. 4. Some people feel that the monoculturalist view of many nationalities blending together into an alloy of all the parts in it is a myth. 5. Opponents point out that many groups have at times been excluded from participating in U.S.society through segregation and discrimination. 6

4、. U. S. society probably did not assimilate new cultural input until the new immigrants were viewed with less prejudice. 7. The metaphor the multiculturalists use is the patchwork quilt, a mosaic of separate, autonomous subcultures. 8. Intermarriage and the adoption of children of another race make

5、a difference in how people in a family look at themselves. 9. The point here is that the ethnically and racially pure individuals implied by the multiculturalist view are more the.exception than the rule. 10. We inherit some of our culture from our families and absorb some of our culture unconscious

6、ly. 11. If assimilation does not take place in the first generation, it most certainly does by the second or third. 12. Monoculturalists fear a fragmentation, or even destmction, of U. S. culture, whereas proponents of the pluralistic view disagree. 13. It would be wrong to assume that the dominant

7、culture weve been speaking about reflects the culture of only one group. 14. Opponents of the pluralistic view of culture cite Latinos, especially Mexican immigrants, the single largest immigrant group since the 1990s. LISTENINGLECTURE：MulticulturalismForeigners from older cultures with traditions d

8、ating back hundreds and hundreds of years sometimes react with surprise and skepticism when the topic of U. S. culture comes up. Commenting on the United States, they sometimes say things like “But the United States has no culture.” People in the United States find comments such as this one amusing

9、at best, and sometimes downright infuriating. In a way, I understand why a foreigner might react skeptically to the United States, especially if the person comes from a more ethnically and racially homogeneous society. Or if the person comes from a society whose culture is reinforced by state instit

10、utionsgovemment, church, and schools, for instance. It would be hard for this foreigner to understand a multiracial, ethnically diverse country like the United States, whose institutions do not strongly reinforce the culture. However, it seems naive or even perverse to deny the existence of a cultur

11、e that has such great impact on other cultures, for better or worse. The clothes that Americans wear the food they eat, the music, films, and books they produce, and even to some extent the religions they practice influence how many people in other countries live and think. One may easily disapprove

12、 of the influence that mass American culture has on the world, but one cannot objectively deny that influence. In all fairness, I have to say that its understandable that foreigners have trouble identifying an American culture because not even the best minds in the countrywriters, educators, and pol

13、iticiansagree on the basic nature of U.S. culture. Today Ill try to contrast three ways that U.S. culture has been perceived over the years. Then perhaps you can decide which point of view seems the most logical to you. Well take a look at the older monoculturalist view；a newer, multiculturalist vie

14、w; and finally a third view, which Ill call the pluralistic view.First in, our discussion is the monoculturalist view of the United States as a melting pot. A melting pot, literally a pot in which metals like aluminum and copper are melted in order to blend them, is the traditional metaphor for the

15、way the different groups of immigrants came together in the United States. Now, theoretically, the result of many nationalities blending together is one big unified common culture, an alloy of all the parts in it. In other words, the result is a combination of all the different parts, which have mix

16、ed together and are no longer recognizable as separate parts. However, many people today feel that the idea of one common U.S. culture is a myth and has always been a myth. To support their view, opponents point out that many groups, notably, African, Asian, and Native Americans, have at times been

17、excluded from participating fully in society through segregation and discrimination. Furthermore, a trademark of U.S. immigration has been that the most recently arrived group, whether Irish or Italian or Chinese or Jewish, typically faced strong discrimination from those already in the United State

18、s. We know that all these groups haye made important contributions to the culture, that is not the point. The point is, given the climate of discrimination at different times in the past (and even now), U.S. society does not assimilate new cultural input until much laterafter the new imrnigrants are

19、 viewed with less prejudice. Lets move on to another view of U.S. culture. The second view of U.S. culture that well look at today is the multiculturalist view. The multiculturalist view focuses on the many subcultures that make up the U.S. populationall the different ethnic and racial groups we tal

20、ked about in a previous lecture. Now, each group brought its own distinct culture when it immigrated to the United States. The multiculturalist view does not see U.S. culture as a melting pot; rather, the metaphor that multiculturalists often employ is the patchwork quilt, a bedcover made of numerou

21、s pieces of different-colored material. (Have you seen quilts like these on beds?) The metaphor of the patchwork quilt is appropriate in that the multiculturalists see the United States as a mosaic of separate, autonomous subcultures, each one distinct from the other. U.S. culture, in this view, is

22、a sum of the distinct parts, with little or no mixing of subculture. Opponents of this view, those who disagree with it (and there are many wno do) say that the multiculturalist view ignores the characteristic mixing of groups, both ethnic and racial, that has been common in the United States. Ameri

23、cans of European background have always intermarried. Many people are a combination of four or more ethnic backgroundsand often of more backgrounds than they can keep track of. I do not want to imply that the United States has overcome its race problemsfar from it. But recent census statistics give

24、two indications of somewhat more mixing than previously. First, one in fifteen U.S. marriages is now interracial. An interracial marriage would be any combination of white, black, Asian, and Native American spouses. Admittedly, there are many more marriages between Asians or Native Americans and whi

25、tes than between blacks and whites. Second, of the 1.6 million children who are adopted, l7 percent make their families multiracial because of the adoption of local children of another race or of children from abroad, especially from Asia or Latin America. Intermarriage and adoption of children of a

26、nother race make a difference in how people in a family look at themselves. The point here is, the ethnically and racially pure individuals implied by the multiculturalist view are more the exception than the rule. Take, for instance, an African American man married to a Filipina, whose two sons mar

27、ried white woman. Where in the patchwork quilt do the grandchildren of the African American former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall belong? This is an extreme example, but I think it shows that Marshalls grandchildren share many subcultures；they do not represent just one square on the quilt.

28、For this reason, many people prefer anotherr more satisfactory, view of U.S. culture. The last cultural view well discuss today, the pluralistic view, is a combination of the first two views. The pluralistic view says that individuals have a number of cultural influences, some of which they share wi

29、th others and some of which fire different from one person to another. These cultural influences have three distinct sources：we inherit some of our culture from our families；we absorb some of our culture unconsciously from living in the culture (television figures importantly in this unconscious abs

30、orption)；And third, we choose some cultural influences that we find attractive from the many subcultures in the United States. In this way, the population shares a large portion of common culture. But people also have individual cultural characteristic that make them different from others. The plura

31、listic view of culture recognizes the strong role of assimilation, becoming part of the larger group. In assimilation, one becomes part of a larger, dominant culture by accepting much, if not all, of the culture. The pluralistic view differs from the monocultural view in that pluralistic assimilatio

32、n does not mean that immigrants must deny, their original cultures or that they must forget them. But in all likelihood, immigrants become a little less Mexican, Chinese, or Arab as they assimilate parts of the new culture. Assimilation is not required by the dominant culture, but we do know that it

33、 occurs regularly among immigrant groups. If assimilation does not take place in the first generation, it most certainly does by the second or third generation. Opponents of the pluralistic view of culture cite Latinos especially Mexican immigrants, the single largest immigrant group since the 1990s

34、. These opponents say that instead of assimilating as other goups have, Mexicans maintain strong ties to neighboring Mexico through frequent visits home. As a result, opponents fear a fragmentation, or even destruction, of U.S. culture as we know it. On the other hand, proponents of the pluralistic

35、view point out that even Latinos follow the pattern of previous immigrants; indeed, a fifth of Latinos in the United States intermarry. If this seems like a small number, I think we could safely predict higher intermarriage rates in future generations. It would be wrong to assume that the dominant,

36、or common, culture weve been speaking about reflects the culture of only one ethnic or racial group that makes up the United States. At the same time, if U. S. society is an open one, as Americans like to believe, it would be hard to deny the changing nature of U.S. culture. It has always reflected the cultures of its immigrants and will likely continue to do so. If we accept this premise, the continuation and possible increase in Latino immigration will change the character of the U.S. culture somewhat. Not as drastically as monoculturalists fear, I think, but a