Comparison of the United States and Germany

Comparison of the United States and Germany

Reflections about Multiculturalism, cultural Similarities and Differences, Individualism and Collectivism, Social policies and Programs

During the past decade, there has been an increasing critical viewof the United States in Western Europe.However, before judging a culture it is important to understand the historical background and the underlying principles which make the United States so different from Western European countries like Germany. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to inform about selected issues out of the wide field of social structure by combining research facts with historical aspects and cultural background.The first comparison points addressed in this essayis the role of multiculturalism for both countries, which is more similar than usually expected. The second part compares social welfare of both countries, which deals as an example with the system of health insurance. The last section examines collectivist and individualist featuresof the United States and Germany.

Multiculturalism describes the ethnic diversity and the coexistence of heterogenic social and cultural entities in a society (Nünning 521).The United States is a nation of immigrants from all over the world. This ethnic variety shapes the American way of life by contributing to the diversity in terms of religion, customs, languages and moral values.In comparison to Germany, the United States has always been a country of immigration. The colonists and first immigrants mostly came from North, West and Central Europe. After 1880, most immigrants emigrated from Southern and Eastern Europe. The United States has therefore mainly been based on immigrationexcept for the African Americans who were brought to America in terms of slaveryand the Native Americans. Consequently, Americans of European origins have formed the American way of life. So, the United States has been a predominantly white country until the 1960s.

During the last 50 years, immigration from non-European regions, especially from Middle East countries Asia and Latin America have increased (Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the United States: 1850-1990, table 2).During the mid-1960s, many immigration laws were reformed. One of such reforms is the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. This Act transformed the texture of American society.

Various Civil Rights Movements in the 1950s and 1960s turned into ethnic pride movements. As a result, minority groups no longer only demanded justice, freedom and equality, but they also no longer wanted to be expected to assimilate. Consequently, many colleges and universities started to stress cultural diversity in the plural by offering ethnic studies of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans (Joppke 463).New York, which is one of the states with the highest rate of ethnic diversity and immigration, first started to revise school curricula in terms of inclusion in 1989, so that Students find themselves represented in the classroom and learn about ethnic minorities and their struggles in history (Joppke 463).In this way, racism and inequality should be prevented.Important to mention is also the existence of Affirmative Action, which was first introduced by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The Affirmative Action Law is the nation’s attempt to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education and business. This law tends to result in discrimination against members of the majority group. Therefore, I found it to be a widely disputed topic with Americans through personal discussions.

However, the “Statistical Abstract of the United States” as of 2000 the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that the population structure has changed towards an increased ethnic diversity and cultural pluralism. The biggest ancestry part of the population of the year 2000 was German ancestry (15.2%), which is followed byIrish descendants (10.8%),African American (8.8%) and English (8.7%). The next biggest groups are in descending order English, Italian, French and Polish. Nevertheless, a comparison of the languages spoken at home shows the rise of Latin American and Asian immigration: Spanish (or Spanish Creole) and Chinese are the second and third most spoken languages in 2003. This shows in particular that the idea of the melting pot and afusionof ethnicities is a myth. Therefore, arelatively new metaphor for the American society is a salad bowl instead of a melting pot (Spann 77).

Germany is originally not a nation of immigration, but the situation has changed within the past few decades.Between 1913 and the end of the Second World War, Germans were only considered to be German if their ancestors were German as well. From 1955 on, repatriates of German origin are allowed to enter Germany and to become a German citizen again. During the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, Germany hired migrant workers especially from Italy. This marked the beginning of Germany as a country of immigration. Later, immigrants started coming from Spain, Portugal, Greece, former Yugoslavia and Turkey.Most of those workers, whowere called with the euphemism “guest workers”, stayed in Germany.Today, referring to the Statistisches Bundesamt, most immigrants originate from Turkey (15.8%), followed by Poland (8.3%), the Russian Federation (6.7%) and Italy (4.7%). Out of 82 Millioninhabitants, 15.4 million are immigrants.

Despite of these obvious facts, politicians have been ignoring too long the fact that Germany turned into a country of immigration. Policies of integration have been obviously neglected and the undesirable consequences are visible today, such asdeficient participation of young immigrants in matters of education, a high rate of unemployment (Waleczek) and growing segregation in cities (Häußermann 235). From my personal experiences, this can also be seen in Mannheim.For example, Cem Özdemir, head of the Green Party, complains about the influence of the migration background on the decision for secondary schools. Nevertheless, integration has partly taken place considering the fact that citizen with a Turkish background, such as Özdemir or Aygül Özkan, take part in German politics(“Die Probleme kommen automatisch”).

Within the past years, a change in thinking and mentality started and politicians are aware of the problem that integration does not work on its own and first success is visible. Language education, for example, already starts in kindergarten. Referring to a study of the Essener Zentrums für Türkeistudien, immigrants recognize more and more that Germany as their new home country and their identification with Germany keeps growing. In comparison to the United States, Germany is in need of immigrants. Childbirth goes back and more senior citizens need to get taken care for financially. Additionally, the demographic problem is aggravated by the fact that Germany became a country of emigration. Referring to the Statistisches Bundesamt, 2009 wasthe first yearthat more people emigrated (738,000) from Germany than there were immigrants (682,000) (Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit. Wanderungen. p. 11).

Therefore, integration is one of the most important social tasks of Germany’s future. Different Immigration policies and a right of residence for a well integrated youth are necessary, even if their parents came illegally to Germany. In October 2010 Chancellor Merkel said that German multiculturalism has “utterly failed”. However, in my opinion multiculturalism has not failed since Germany is an ethnic diverse country. Therefore, rather assimilation and integration have failed.

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