REPORT ABOUT CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
THE “MELTING POT” IN THE UNITED STATES
In two concepts: independence and interdependence.
The United States is a mix of many different cultures and ethnic groups combined which is defined as “American culture”. The US’ cultures were built by Western immigrants coming from the Europe, especially the Dutch and the British. Besides, the cultures of Germany, Ireland and Scotland have influenced a lot to those of the US. Moreover, American also exposed to Mexican in the late of 19th century and the early of 20th century. The US witnessed a huge number of immigrants coming from Asia, especially from Latino countries, which also caused big influence to America’s culture.
As a result, in terms of immigrants to the United States, the "melting pot" process has been equated with Americanization, that is, cultural assimilation and acculturation. In an another new concept, the US is considered as a salad bowl mixed by all kinds of vegetables, spices in which all the immigrants and their later generation can maintain their distinctive features.
As can be seen in these clips, when the Indian came to Europeans for studying and living, they had to change all their lifestyles and cultures to adapt to the host cultures. In contrast, when people come to the US they also bring their lifestyles and it diversifies the cultures of the destination. There is some evidence to clear that statement:
The Asian community considered as interdependent community which means each member is mutually dependent on the other. Citizens may be emotionally, economically, ecologically or morally reliant on and responsible to each other. When Asians come to the US, they still live together in some certain places, such as the China Towns or a huge number of Vietnamese living in California so they together make decisions and share responsibilities for each other. To be more specific, in Asian family, the wife should not earn more money