Assimilation vs Integration

There has been a lot in the media, including the local newspaper recently, suggesting ways to deal with newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. Some advocate integration, others assimilation, while a good number of people are left scratching their heads wondering how the two concepts differ.

In my view, assimilation and integration are two ways in which minorities try to associate with the majority culture in a society. It’s easy to regard assimilation and integration as synonymous. However, there are subtle differences between the two concepts.

Assimilation
Assimilation is a process of absorbing minority communities into the value system of the majority culture in a multicultural society. This absorption takes place in a one-way direction with the majority community requiring the minority communities to give up their own customs and traditions or modify them in favor of those of the majority community.

Integration
On the other hand, integration is a two-way process where there is give and take between the majority and the minority cultures. It allows minorities to retain their identity and values while the majority culture retains theirs. Both parties agree to interact on civic duties as equal partners, working for the well-being of the society in which they live.

My own experience
My own experience puts me on the side of integration. I’ve lived half of my life in the USA and the other half in Sweden. According to my definitions, I am integrated in Sweden, not assimilated. I hold two passports, celebrate the USAs National day and Thanksgiving as well as celebrate Valborg, Sweden's national day, Midsummer and Lucia. I have been active politically in Säffle. When it comes to language, I prefer my mother tongue. But I speak Swedish – very poorly. Ask anyone who knows me.  

I grew up in the 40s and 50s on the eastside of St. Paul, Minnesota. The eastside then was a community consisting of Swedish, Polish, and Italian neighborhoods. Although each ethnic neighborhood had its own shopping area, church, and community activities, they lived peacefully alongside each other.

Because I attended a grade school in the Swedish part of the eastside, it wasn’t until I got to John A. Johnson High School that I got to know kids from the Polish and Italian parts of the eastside. It was then that Anderson and Peterson and Lundstrom and I sat in classrooms, ate lunches and played sports together with people with names such as Anzevino, Ferrozo, Londino, Jasinski, Majewski and Gonsowski.

There were also kids from a lot of other ethnic groups at Johnson – Irish, Norwegian, Greek, Jewish, Danish, Chinese and Mexican. And we all were hyphenated Americans. I was a Swedish-American. Others were Polish-American, Danish-American, etc. In spite of Swedes, Italians, and Poles dominating, the eastside was truly a multicultural mixture.

Johnson won the Minnesota high school hockey championships in 1947, 1953, 1955 and 1963. The players on these teams had the same ethnic background as the school in general. They were a multicultural collection of hard skating, victory hungry kids. They worked as a team without being conscious of any ethnic or cultural differences. The coaches were Reuben Gustafson and Louie Cotroneo. And the teams they coached won. Teamwork requires integration.

Someone else eloquently put it another way: “Integration is like a watch. A watch has small components inside. Each component by itself cannot be called a watch, although they may function individually. However, when all the components are arranged in an orderly fashion the watch works perfectly.”