American culture remains defined by white Protestant middle-class patterns.

Evidence

Building on Park’s model, the sociologist Milton M. Gordon identifies four stages that follow assimilation: structural assimilation; large-scale intermarriage; ethnic identification with mainstream society; and the end of prejudice, discrimination, and value conflict. Gordon’s theory tellingly acknowledges that American culture, which serves as a reference point for immigrants and their children, can best be described “as the middle-class cultural patterns of, largely, white Protestant, Anglo-Saxon origins.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 371

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Milton Gordon’s four assimilation stages and his characterization of American culture as white Protestant middle-class.
• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s Complaints About Immodesty article, where the reference culture for assimilation demands is white Protestant middle-class norms.
• ADDENDUM: Supports the immodesty article: the assimilation assimilating into ‘middle-class white Protestant’ norms is the backdrop against which ‘immodest’ dress gets flagged.