7. The future of assimilation

Though American institutions and societal processes have been shaped historically around accommodating diversity, and have largely been successful in doing so, as in the past, some Americans believe that the economic circumstances and the racial and cultural character of today’s immigrants are making that increasingly difficult. Persistent questions have arisen about whether immigrants, especially Mexicans, are being propelled into the mainstream, and hence whether American institutions are equal to the task of assimilating immigrants into the civic culture on which democracy depends. This pessimism is deepened by the uncertain position of the United States in the contemporary global economy. Through comparisons with the successfully assimilated immigrants of the past, this chapter evaluates this contemporary pessimism, and concludes that it is, as in the past, overdrawn. On the other hand, optimism about immigrants should not blot out the need to address the socioeconomic crisis of poor and working-class African Americans.