1.1 Strategies and processes of adaptation in immigration  (Page 6/11)

On the other hand, Richard White, working with the census data of 1980, believed to find clear signs of a progressive assimilation based on the increasing number of interethnic marriages: Americans of European origin who married outside their respective ethnic groups (Alba, 1981, pp. 86-97). It is necessary to warn, nevertheless, that such marriages usually take place within limits marked by social class and skin color. During the 80s, G. Collins (1985) provided evidence that Americans of Italian, Portuguese, European, and Jewish decent tend to marry amongst themselves, as long as they belong to a similar class and social status; whereas Blacks, Whites, and most of the Asian groups marry mainly within their own ethnic group and of the same social class. On the other hand, interethnic marriages do not imply the eradication of one or both ethnic legacies, as it has been shown in diverse studies (Aellen&Lambert, 1969, pp. 69-86).

Stefen Steinberg (1989) criticized assimilationist, as well as cultural pluralist perspectives. He opines that the relationships between the ethnic and the historical, socio-economic and political factors must be ignored, as if culture were independent of the other spheres of life. Trying to surpass this "cultural" approach, or rather, "culturalist,” Steinberg calls attention to the discrimination that ethnic minorities have suffered and will suffer, mainly Blacks, on behalf of the dominant society. He explained the persistence of their ethnic identity: "ethnic pluralism in America has its origin in the conquest, slavery, and the exploitation of foreign manual labor" (1989, p.5). If these minorities had enjoyed the same access to opportunities of the American way of life that dominant groups have, they would have integrated into society’s main current and their cultural differences would lack importance.

"new" immigrants, new theoretical approaches

Initially, the preceding theories (assimilation, melting pot, and cultural pluralism) used the migratory flows of Europeans as the main frame of reference. After World War II, however, immigrants were no longer necessarily longer white Europeans. Now, they are former citizens of third-world countries and, very specifically, of the Greater American continent. They represent another type of people: manual workers arrive mixed with professionals of diverse offices and races; they are industrialists, refugees, or political exiles. This greater diversity of origins and situations, next to all the differences derived from the historical moment, demands new conceptual and theoretical markers in order to analyze their incorporation into American society. See, among others: FONER, N. (ed.): New Immigrants in New York , New York, Columbia University Press, 1987. LEVINE, B. B. (ed.): The Caribbean Exodus , New York, Praeger, 1987. PESSAR, P. (ed.): When Borders don’t divide: Labor Migration and Refugee Movements in the Americas , Staten Island (NY), Center for Migration Studies, 1988. PORTES, A.&RUMBAUT, R. G. : Immigrant America: A Portrait, Berkeley (CA), University of California Press, 1990.