Analyzing the Assimilation Model of Diversity in Modern Society

This essay explores the assimilation model of diversity, focusing on its benefits and disadvantages within the context of immigration and multiculturalism. The assimilation theory suggests that immigrants' characteristics converge with those of the host society over time, facilitating economic and sociocultural integration. While assimilation can create a melting pot of cultures, its drawbacks include the lengthy time required for complete integration and the potential for second-generation immigrants to reject assimilation, leading to negative outcomes. The essay concludes that the assimilation theory is beneficial for both immigrants and the host society by fostering cultural exchange and adaptation.

Running head: ASSIMILATION MODEL OF DIVERSITY
ASSIMILATION MODEL OF DIVERSITY
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Author Note

1ASSIMILATION MODEL OF DIVERSITY
Multiculturalism refers to the final state of a natural or an artificial process of
immigration that might take place on a large scale within the various communities of a nation.
The following paper attempts a discussion on the benefits and the disadvantages of the
assimilation model of diversity.
The assimilation theory states that the characteristics of the host society and that of the
immigrants tend to resemble each other over the passage of time. This helps the immigrants to
follow economic as well as sociocultural factors present within the given society. This is known
to have been continuing over the several generations that would continue their residence within
the host country (Koopmans, 2016). The assimilation also helps in the creation of a melting pot
of the various cultures that are found to be present within the given area.
However, the model has a number of disadvantages as well. The major disadvantage of
the model lies in the fact that the complete assimilation of a certain immigration group takes a
huge amount of time. The complete assimilation of a certain group takes about almost four to
five years to be complete. Wessel et al. (2017) state that the second generation of the immigrants
who have taken part in the assimilation are at times observed to have been rejecting the
assimilation and adapting to the behaviors that are generally considered to be oppositional, this
might also lead to the negative assimilation.
Thus, from the above discussion, it might safely be concluded that the assimilation theory
is majorly beneficial to the immigrant as well as the host society as it exposes both to cultural
changes.

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References
Koopmans, R. (2016). Does assimilation work? Sociocultural determinants of labour market
participation of European Muslims. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(2), 197-
216.
Wessel, T., Andersson, R., Kauppinen, T., & Andersen, H. S. (2017). Spatial integration of
immigrants in Nordic cities: The relevance of spatial assimilation theory in a welfare
state context. Urban Affairs Review, 53(5), 812-842.