Question

Mary and her brother, Patrick, are immigrants. They both speak English and have many American friends but Mary does well in school and gets a good job that pays a lot. Patrick does poorly in school and does not have a consistent job, making only minimum wage when he works. The two of them together are an example of ______

Answer 1

Answer: Segmented assimilation

Explanation:

Segmented assimilation arises to break with the idea of ​​the absence of factors such as social context, family, religion in the migration of Americans, that is, that people who are in another country do not have the influence of certain factors for its development. People who migrate to another place face a different society and that in one way or another will affect the way they behave and their development in general. Both internal and external factors play fundamental roles.

In the case of Mary and Patrick, you can see a good example of segmented assimilation. While it is true that both are immigrants and have command of the English language, other factors are key and come into play in the performance of each in the school. On the one hand, Mary has good grades and a good job, on the other hand, Patrick does not do well in school and only earns the minimum in his work. Within assimilation, each of them falls can be located in the various types of assimilation that exist. Mary is located in upward assimilation, where through her studies and work she has been able to achieve a better lifestyle and is integrated into the mainstream economy, while Patrick is in the downward assimilation, where he remains in the lower levels of social class.