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Intentional Assimilation
The paper Does the “Melting Pot” Still Melt? Internet and Immigrants’ Integration aligns with feedback I’ve often shared with immigrants who come to the U.S. for college or early in their careers.
I came to America in pursuit of opportunities that weren’t available to me in Argentina. These opportunities are not a fluke but a result of intrinsic properties of America, including its culture.
Culture and values tend to cluster. If we independently develop a value and then find a group that strongly expresses that value, there will be an expectation that we adopt a substantial fraction of their doctrine to be accepted into the group. This is why we find strong correlations across party lines, such as liberals being more likely to be vegetarian and professors being less likely to be conservative.
At first blush, this seems oppressive, and in recent years (writing this in 2024), it has led to unnecessary infighting within organizations that otherwise share a common objective. However, because science struggles to determine causality, it’s not clear whether any of these correlations are actually meaningful. So, if our goal is to emulate a certain group and achieve similar characteristics (wealth, education, happiness), we must be careful when cherry-picking values and behaviors.
Which brings us to being an immigrant. If we aspire to become representative individuals, the simplest behavior is to assimilate. This term might evoke unpleasant historical precedents, such as immigrants being persecuted for maintaining their religion. I’m referring to a more charitable interpretation of assimilation—one that’s not about forgetting who we are or what we care about, but about learning and adapting to a new environment.
I think it’s fairly uncontroversial to say that learning English improves our chances of success in America. Furthermore, the better our grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, the higher our chances of success. But there are more nuanced facets to this assimilation. Consider communication styles in professional settings. Argentina is far more informal, with important business communication often happening over unscheduled phone calls or interminable WhatsApp voice messages. In the U.S., written communication and calendar scheduling are emphasized. So, one could develop perfect language proficiency and still be perceived as unprofessional.
The nuance doesn’t end there. In fact, communication alone is an endless rabbit hole of behavioral cues that take time to learn. Anything from giving a wedding toast to succeeding in a professional interview fits inside an Overton window. This means that assimilation requires significant learning and adjustment. It takes time and becomes harder as we age, so it’s imperative to dedicate substantial energy to the process.
Unfortunately, immigration can be a lonely journey. Many recent immigrants fantasize about one day returning home. We miss our food, entertainment, and friends. So we read foreign news, actively participate in chat groups and social media, and keep up with foreign films and TV. We might also find a group of expats and spend much of our social time interacting within a microcosm of our culture and language of origin.
It’s reasonable to think socialization or personal relaxation is unrelated to professional development, but that would be a mistake. Reading local news, watching popular movies (with English subtitles), and having casual conversations with new friends or on dates are essential exercises. I bet a research study would convincingly show that faster assimilation leads to higher success rates across key metrics like wealth, happiness, and longevity.
This is hard feedback to give. It’s uncomfortable to tell someone they should consider stepping back from their past to embrace their new environment. It’s one of those topics where we carefully choose our words and watch the other person’s involuntary response. But it’s important, practical advice I share whenever a new immigrant asks for guidance.
Abstract: The global spread of the Internet and the rising salience of immigration are two of the biggest trends of the last decades. And yet, the effects of new digital technologies on immigrants—their social integration, spatial segregation, and economic outcomes—remain unknown. This paper addresses this gap: it shows how home-country Internet expansion affects immigrants’ socio-economic integration in the U.S. Using DID and event-study methods, I find that home-country Internet expansion lowers immigrants’ linguistic proficiency, naturalization rates, and economic integration. The effect is driven by younger and less educated immigrants. However, home-country Internet also decreases spatial and occupational segregation and increases immigrants’ subjective well-being. Time-use data suggests that the Internet’s impact on immigrants’ networking is part of the story. I also show the role of return intentions and Facebook usage, among other factors. These findings align with a Roy model of migration augmented with a choice between host- and home-country ties. Overall, this paper shows how digital technologies transform the immigration, diversity, and social cohesion nexus.