EX TENEBRIS CRESCIT FLOS
ASSIMILATION
Should People Conform to Society's Expectations?
January 20, 2005
Assimilation. It strikes me as a rather ugly word, with connotations of
sameness and oppression. Given my background, my general answer to the
question in the subtitle of this article will come as no surprise to anyone,
but a deeper consideration of the subject will reveal that this is not a
black-and-white subject; it has a great many nuances which deserve to be
explored in detail.
My first inclination is to respond emphatically that individuals should not be
expected to assimilate to society's norms. Certainly, I find the standard
expectations and beliefs of American society to be rather oppressive in certain
areas. It will come as no shock to anyone that I find society's gender norms
to be oppressive. My distaste for society's expectations also runs into
religion, politics, economics, family, and innumerable other areas. Many of
my beliefs, actions, and lifestyles run far out of the ordinary and I have no
desire to give anything up in order to be perceived as "normal". Furthermore,
I fervently believe that people have a basic human right to be different and
that this should be encouraged in the interest of promoting diversity,
creativity, and flexibility within the society.
But the other shoe eventually has to drop. If no one is willing to
assimilate to any basic expectation of society, no matter how minor, anarchy
is the inevitable result. In order to maximize the conditions in which
freedom and individuality can thrive, some constraints are necessary. People
in a society must be willing to conform to a very basic set of rules in order
to preserve opportunities for all people. Basic criminal laws that protect
people from each other need no explanation here, but is there another level?
Are there general standards to which people should be expected to conform, but
which cannot or should not be legislated? I believe that there are.
An issue which has been especially vigorously debated in recent years is
language. The United States has seen waves of immigration throughout its
history, and there is currently a wave of immigration from Spanish-speaking
Latin America. This has serious implications for society. Numerous
people, many of whom do not currently speak English with great proficiency,
have moved to a predominantly English-speaking country. Naturally, this
causes communication problems. Should these people be expected to quickly
assimilate in this regard (learn English) and abandon Spanish, or should
society accomodate them, allowing them to keep their original language and
make all sorts of services available to them in Spanish? What does society
have the right to expect of these new immigrants? And beyond language, what of
their cultural traditions? There is no easy answer. To force English on the
new immigrants through draconian legislation and denial of services would make
their lives incredibly difficult, but to place no language expectation on them
could cause many of them to become isolated and marginalized, unable to
communicate with others outside of the immigrant community. In keeping with
my basic philosophy, I believe that a balanced approach makes sense. Society
should encourage new immigrants to learn English and to familiarize
themselves with the cultural traditions of their new country, while also
encouraging them to value their own traditions. The United States is a
multicultural country, and it should welcome the influx of new cultures.
While some basic services should be available in Spanish (and other languages
for that matter), ample educational resources should be made available.
English instruction should be readily available to all non-English-speaking
immigrants, and these people should be strongly encouraged to sign up. Without
a good working knowledge of the "lingua franca" of the society, a person can
have little hope of doing well in this country. On cultural issues, people
should be encouraged to hold onto their traditions... to a point.
Destructive cultural institutions (such as intolerance) which can cause
serious problems for people adjusting to a new society, and which can create
problems for the society, must be left behind in the old country.
The previous paragraph gives but one example of a tough issue on the subject of
assimilation. There are many others. But are there examples of current
situations of forced or encouraged assimilation which are oppressive and must
be curtailed? Certainly.
American society has traditionally forced people into well-defined gender roles.
While this has been gradually breaking down over the years, and many legal
barriers to gender equality have disappeared, society continues to be plagued
by arbitrary and capricious gender-related expectations which are enforced
through peer pressure or quietly encouraged by powerful institutions. These
expectations force people to deny their emotions, reject certain career paths
to which they may actually be well-suited, cause people to avoid friendships
across gender lines, restrict people's choices of sexual partners, and result
in physical violence against visible non-conformists. The catalog of abuses
that stem from unreasonable social expectations could fill an encyclopedia.
Is there any logical reason why a boy should be discouraged from playing with
dolls, or why a girl should be discouraged from taking advanced math classes?
Why shouldn't a man be a nurse or a woman be an engineer? For that matter,
what is so bad about a man putting on a dress and walking down the street?
Maybe he will look a little funny, but is he really hurting anybody? I am
just scratching the surface here, and I am sure I will explore this further in
future articles. But I believe this is a prime example of assimilation gone
wrong. It is hurting many individuals, and it is hurting society through the
tragedy of unrealized potential. Allow people to be themselves, and they
will do great things.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that enforced or encouraged assimilation to
social norms is damaging to individuals and society in most cases, but there
are some areas in which conformity is necessary and there are a few gray areas
which deserve more thought and consideration. Our laws have moved
considerably in the right direction in the last few decades, but public
acceptance has not necessarily kept up with these laws. We have a long way
to go.
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Heather Harrison. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to accredited
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