Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 11120151
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED068603 AUTHOR: Greeley, Andrew M.
TITLE: The Future of the Ethnic "Revival."
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1972
NOTE: 16 p.
ABSTRACT: Despite all its flaws, the American experiment in
pluralism has in many ways been an incredible success. We
have been so busy criticizing our failures, so busy
comparing ourselves negatively with Sweden and Great
Britain that we have not bothered to ask how the United
States of America has been able to absorb so much diversity
without tearing itself apart. Neither the melting pot nor
the cultural pluralism model is a particularly useful way
of looking at American society: we have a society of ethnic
groups. An ethnic group is defined as "a collectivity based
on presumed origin, which shapes to some extent the
attitudes and behaviors of those who share that origin, and
with which certain people may freely choose to identify at
certain times of their lives." What then is to be said
about the current emphasis on "militant ethnicity?" First,
the data we have collected at the National Opinion Research
Center make it clear that the "militant ethnic" approach
will only appeal to some people. Second, to the extent that
the strategy of militant ethnicity presumes a "pillarized"
society, it simply is inaccurate in its reading of the
social structure of the U. S. The society would be
pillarized only by such circumstances that the overwhelming
majority of Italians, for example, thought of themselves as
Italians most of the time and if being Italian became the
almost exclusive identity which they chose to predicate of
themselves. (Author/JM)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Acculturation-; Cultural-Influences;
Cultural-Pluralism; Ethnic-Relations; Immigrants-; Minority
Groups; National-Surveys; Political-Affiliation; Political
Issues; United-States-History
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Ethnic-Groups;
*Identification-Psychology;
*Political-Attitudes; *Social-Attitudes; *Social-Structure
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