Introduction : ASSlmilatlOn and the Model Minority Ideology

The pomt of this book IS to bnng together experts from a variety of "mmorIty" backgrounds and from around the world to gIVe theIr learned and umque perspectIves on the most pervasIve ideology today, which 15 assImilatIOn on a global scale. The baSIC premIse of this book IS that both a developed country and a developed market are different from a developed community. They need not be mutually exclusIve, but neIther IS It assumed that they are necessarily consonant. IncreaSingly, even the behavIOral sciences are reducmg all human behaVIOr to sImple materIal exchange, evaluatIons of human behavIOr solely In terms of utilitarian "skills," such as "flexibility" and techmcal expertise. Thus we have the dommation of a new morality put forth by bourgeOIs POSItIvIsm. This book presents thirteen origmal chapters wntten specifically for this proJect. Each one offers answers to several QuestIOns, mcluding what It means to become a "global citizen" and what It means to be a "model minonty" in a global economy. Another Issue IS whether forced compliance m the name of reducmg uncertamty really makes a person happIer, more well adjusted, balanced, or evolved. The process of becommg a "mainstream person" Involves first being margmalized with the ImplicatIon that something 15 madequate about one's attItude , cognitive competence, and/or behaVIOr. The process of aSSImilatIon is manifested as varIOUS forms of enforced and/or rewarded acculturation. With the vast hllman mIgration from the agranan world to the urban world that IS currently under way, the notion of aSSImilatIOn has become a global phenomenon. What is occurnng is a global shift from village milieu to CIty lifestyle. This mIgration IS a polycentnc and global phenomenon whereby the "promIsed land" is nowhere In partIcular; mstead it IS a way of life and a mmdset-an urban lifestyle. This process IS far more than a SImple change In geography. Movmg from the village to xii IntroductlOn: AssimilatIOn and the Model Minonty Ideology the cItyscape Involves a mutation In worldview and self-identity. Additional issues these authors address Involve the persuaSIve assumptIOns that lead the world in this directIOn and what mIght be lost in the process. For tens of thousands of years humans organized theIr lives according to the pacmg, obligatIOns, and expectations of the Mesolithic hamlet. l:rom the pomt of VIew of globalism, the village IS a narrow experience functIonmg to retard the personal, economIC, and intellectual development of its mhabitants, But we ask …