Relationship of Race and Ethnicity Essay

Former President Jimmy Carter at a time said, We check grow not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different stack, unlike beliefs, divers(prenominal) yearnings, different hopes, different dreams (iCelebrateDiversity. com). The United States has large to be a country of immigrants fill with different beliefs, cultures, faiths, and heritages. Therefore, there is a divers(a) societal people among the people of America.Theories render to apologize why hearty distinctions argon made in the first place, why some heathenishal groups discriminate against others, why prejudice exists, why some ethnical groups remain identifiable, and why others melt into the paramount culture. Many different theories exist concerning ethnic relations (Aguirre and Turner 32). My racial and ethnic personal identity element operator comes from what these theories or theoretical perspectives hurt to say. There are two theories that tint to my racial and ethnic identity. The first is cal led the enculturation speculation.Milton Gordon (1964) emphasizes, it is to the middle class cultural patterns of white, Anglo-Saxon culture that immigrants to the United States open had to accommodate (Aguirre and Turner 33). What he is saying was that all ethnic group that has immigrated to the United States has had to intensify their customs and ways to adapt to the white, Anglo-Saxon culture. There are different degrees in which the different ethnic subpopulations had to make maturate in adjusting to the Anglo-Saxon culture.Cultural mixerisation occurs when the values, beliefs, dogmas, ideologies, language, and other systems of symbols of the plethoric culture are adopted (Aguirre and Turner 33). All the ethnic groups have been culturally assimilated to the Anglo-Saxon culture. on with cultural societalisation comes structural assimilation. morphologic assimilation occurs when migrant ethnic groups become members of the primary groups inside overriding ethnic su bpopulations like their families, close friends, cliques within clubs, and groups within organizations (Aguirre and Turner 33).It is harder to accomplish structural assimilation than cultural assimilation because it involves access into interacting and associating with the dominant ethnic groups. Members of ethnic groups may inadequacy more(prenominal) primary and personal connections with members of dominant ethnic groups even when they enter more secondary and formal structures like schools, workplaces, and semipolitical arenas. The social identity theory, also know as the psychological theory, is the most bragging(a) psychological approach to ethnic relations. 1 level of the psychological theory, called the utilisation identity, is the identity that each human be has of themselves in certain roles like being a father, mother, worker, student, and so forth. The second level of identity is self-conception and involves emotions, cognitions, and evaluations that people make of their whole self. A third level, and the one most applicable to ethnic relation, is social identity and it emerges when people see themselves as members of a social category vis-a-vis other social categories (Aguirre and Turner 37).For example, one kind of social identity is being male or female or being African American or Latino. Once social identities are formed, they take on a life of their own. Individuals are born into families whose members bind these identities, with the result that the young are socialized in to the prototype of beliefs, norms, and behaviors appropriate to this identity (Aguirre and Turner 38). Socialization moves past the family to friends and organizations if they have a high rate of interlocking with non-family members who hold this same identity.The race of my family is Asiatic and the ethnicity is Vietnamese. Since I am the first generation of my family in the United States, I would be Asian-American. These theories I have talked about explain a lot about what my racial and ethnic identity is. The assimilation theory talks about being mantled into the middle-class Anglo-Saxon culture. I forecast that my family has done well into adopting and mixing the Anglo-Saxon culture with our own Vietnamese culture. I was born and raised in a middle-class rural area where the population is heavily filled with white Anglo-Saxon people.I went to grade, middle, and high school where ein truthone roughly me was white and I was the only or among a few Asian students. To reap along with the society around us, my family and I had to change up some customs and beliefs in order to associate decent with the white Anglo-Saxon people. Some changes my parents have made was learning to speak and keep English, learning how to cook and eat American food, and learning how to live and communicate freely since Vietnam has many restrictions.I have been very fortunate to have a replete(p) range of diverse friends and been able to heart and soul sp orts teams and clubs during school. The psychological theory has created identities that make me remarkable from the people around me. Some role identities that make me who I am are being a student, son, brother, cousin, friend, and worker. Some self-conception roles I have attained are being grateful for what I have in front of me, being generous and unselfish to others, having good manners, and standing up for myself when Im disrespected.My social identities include being male, Asian-American, Vietnamese, Pennsylvanian, and Catholic. The psychological theory has helped me determine who I am and where I belong. It also has communicate me that being Asian has made me think at some(prenominal) the differences and similarities between the Asian and Anglo-Saxon cultures. In conclusion, these theories have unfeignedly helped me understand my racial and ethnic reach spectrum. They have allowed me to recognize how my family and I transitioned to the American way of life.Since Im As ian-American, I can have the best of both worlds the Asian music and food and the American way of spiritedness and freedom. I am very fortunate to be living in a country with so many different people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and custom. Works Cited Aguirre, Jr. , Adalberto, and Jonathan H. Turner. American Ethnicity The kinetics and Consequences of Discrimination. Sixth. New York McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. , 2009. Print. Diversity Quotes. iCelebrateDiversity. com. Web. 2 Oct 2009. <https//www. icelebratediversity. com/CorporateDiversity/diversity_quotes. htm>.