Failed assimilation attempts convert reformers into exclusionists
Evidence
The dissolution of the movement left 100 per centers with a sense of failure and disillusion. Had they not tried their best to bring the great mass of newcomers into the fold? Did not the experiment prove the incorrigibly unassimilable nature of the material on which they had worked? America’s task, 100 per centers now realized, was much simpler. Instead of struggling to transform the foreign-born, nationalists must concentrate on keeping them out. Thus, while the movement for the redemption of the alien ebbed in 1920, the old drive for the rejection of the immigrant passed all previous bounds. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1583
Categorization
- XREF: Underpins reader’s question about professed conviction vs actual bias and rational correction backfiring — the failed good-faith effort itself produces the harsher policy. — connects to: Conversion stripped medieval minority institutions yet preserved social exclusion — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1100; Both sides preferred separation over genuine assimilation after forced conversion; Failed immigrant assimilation can cleave a country into opposed civilizations — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 845 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Conversion stripped medieval minority institutions yet preserved social exclusion
#exemplifies(0.78) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1100 - Both sides preferred separation over genuine assimilation after forced conversion
#exemplifies(0.75) - Failed immigrant assimilation can cleave a country into opposed civilizations
#exemplifies(0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 845 - National identity transition moments breed new exclusionary racisms
#exemplifies(0.70)