Rethinking Assimilation

In practice, assimilation has proven to have major shortcomings, and these are critically discussed in this chapter. The assumption that under all conditions increased contact between minority and majority group members would necessarily result in improved relationships between people is too simplistic, because it neglects the conditions set out by Gordon Allport. Despite the claims of some researchers, these conditions still apply in practice. There are also limits to the benefits of people becoming more similar to one another, as there is also a need for some level of distinctiveness. Also, research shows that differences between groups can be objectively trivial, and yet still result in intergroup bias. At the same time, becoming more similar within the ingroup has been accompanied by a greater emphasis on differences between nations. Very importantly, assimilation fails to address an important source of intergroup inequality and injustice: the concentration of material wealth and greater group-based inequalities in resources.