Suffering and Assimilation

One of the themes repeatedly occurring in the literature of African American and Mexican American literature is past and present pain, and there is little expectation for the future. The pain represented by these people is related to lack of race, poverty, violence and opportunities. Another repeated theme is the integration of ethnic minorities into a white society. Ethnic minorities are undergoing social pressure to integrate them into the community they live in. They are subtlely recommended to be part of the "American Dream" of the United States. These two themes can also be found at Mango Street's house of Sandra Cisneros' James Baldwin's "Sony Blues".

People studying anabolism often distinguish socioeconomic, cultural and structural assimilation, and other categories, and several assimilation theories have been developed. Until recently, complete assimilation was considered a necessary condition for our economic and social success (Portes & Zhou, 1993). "Socio-economic status" refers to the "measurement of the relative economic and social ranking of individuals or families" (NCES, 2008). Three major indicators on socio-economic status in the United States include education, occupation, and income. Anabolic experts will refer to these measures when discussing the economic success of immigrants. In a society in which all immigrants are completely socially assimilated there seems to be little or no difference in socioeconomic status between immigrants and locally based individuals and families (Spain, 1999).

Assimilation is part of the mainstream culture of immigrants and reduces the difference between immigrants and American-born Americans. Research often distinguishes cultural assimilation where the national and cultural norms of previous countries are less common, and other factors such as socioeconomic success and educational equity are of the protection of structural assimilation Mentioned below. Assimilation, in particular cultural assimilation, is a controversial argument in US policy making and affects education, health policy and other areas. In the past many people believed that full assimilation is necessary for the healthy function of American society. Today, many people accept the theory of multiculturalism and segment assimilation, claiming that multiculturalism and unique national identity are more powerful than weakness.