California's Diverse Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

California's Diverse Population - Essay Example A diverse population becomes the defining characteristic of modern day California. This acceptance results in people co-existing within the same environment harmoniously. Within the process of living together, certain elements of the cultures become shared and learned between the people. Assimilation has been described as the process through which cultures begin to resemble one another through shared values and behaviours. The culture which results from assimilation has been compared to a molten pot or a bowl of salad because of the various elements which are involved. The aspect of a bowl of salad does not fully fit into the description of assimilation since it only signifies the co-existence of different cultural backgrounds within the same region. The multicultural societies can be perfectly described by the concept of a salad bowl where assimilation has not occurred. The melting pot concept also does not clearly describe the element of cultural assimilation. This is because despite the cultural elements becoming mixed up, there are still traces of the differences which define each culture (Sunday Review, 2014). The resulting culture becomes something different from all the rest, but the practices of each culture are not completely eliminated. Cultural assimilation can be defined as a process through which ones cultural practices begin to resemble the practices of another culture. The concept of assimilation describes effect which the changes have on both cultural background and in most cases results in the development of a unique culture among the people. This new culture carries traces of both cultural backgrounds and sometimes it could become a stronger culture. These cultural changes normally occur gradually over a long period of time until there can be a clearly distinct culture within the society (Le, 2014). The adoption of cultural values normally occurs spontaneously as a result of perceived cultural superiority of one