Judging from their common status in America, this paper will be addressing their common experience as they integrate into a new society. Another key issue to address is what is implied by the term assimilation. Milton Gordon in his book Assimilation in America, which was written in 1964, gives a multitude of definitions of assimilation as well as the different theories of assimilation that were held during that period. He points out that people define assimilation differently depending on what they view as the final goal for people immigrating into a new society. No matter how assimilation is defined, it implies some change in the traditional life of the immigrant in order to adapt to the society around them.
Immigrants migrate to America in the hopes of bettering their lives and the lives of their children.
Nicolas Kanellos in the Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States gives a broad perspective of the immigrant experience. He states that immigrants goals are to get a job, earn money, learn the language, and offer education to their children. Upon arriving in America, the immigrant is faced with many different barriers to integration into society. Thomas Sowell in Race and Culture explains that often immigrants attempt to make their settlement in a new place easier by clustering with familiar people who have had similar experiences. The role of the immigrant community in the politics and economics of the community is largely responsible for the continued presence of these communities after the initial immigration process.