1. We often use the term \'melting pot\' to describe America. However, I have he
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Question
1. We often use the term 'melting pot' to describe America. However, I have heard people discuss whether this analogy is slightly ethnocentric because it promotes the dominant culture. Instead they say we should be a tossed salad with common foundation (lettuce) but lots of unique subcultures (carrots, cukes, etc). So let me ask...Should we be a melting pot or a tossed salad?
A melting pot is where all the cultures assimilate into a blended culture where all groups share the same basic culture.
A tossed salad is where there is a basic shared culture (lettuce) and then each group maintains their ethnic diversity (tomatoes, cukes, carrots, etc).
What do you all think? Should we be a melting pot or a tossed salad?
2.Let's turn to another American core belief...The American Dream. What are the chances of a person being able to move up the ladder into a higher class? In other words, how much social mobility is there in American Capitalism? Part of the imagery of the American Dream is that anyone can work their way up to the top of the ladder; in other words, theoretically, we have open social mobility. But do we have open social mobility in practice? And to answer this question, you MUST do research. Use the power of Google to search for 'social mobility in the United States' and tell us what you find.
What are the chances of someone born at the bottom moving up to the top?
Explanation / Answer
1. In my opinion, America must be called as a tossed salad. Salad because each of it its ingredient is important and each has its own uniqueness. If some ingredients is missing, it will impact the taste of the whole salad, therefore, in America there may be a conglomeration of people belonging to various cultures, but they have not lost their true identity or culture specific traits. The whole is always more than the sum of its parts, therefore, in America, the whole or the one unit is more of combination of various cultures, yet each element is important.
2. Yes, in America each individual has the right to move ahead in the social ladder, what better example of this could be other than that of the ex-President, Mr. Barrack Obama. But the fact is that this American dream is farfetched. There are widespread differences in the economic and social conditions which are not very conducive for this social mobility.
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