Second Generation

Second Generation

Society is transforming every day. These changes are depicted through the passing on of generations. Generation is a word that has various meanings. Generation is used to refer to people of the same age or people who share experiences. It is also used to refer to the relationships based on the genealogy of kinships, such as the relationships between parents and children in the past societies and or children in the future generation. In addition, the word is also used in reference to the immigrations patterns. For instance, the first people to be born by the black’s immigrants in are referred to as first generation and this keeps moving on.

In society, people learn and often are assimilated to what the mainstream society is practicing. In the U.S for example, many of the immigrants have been assimilated, behave, and speak like Americans. Their cultures have been eroded by the context in which they live. Most people born in the U.S are referred to as second generation. By 2000, approximately 10 percent of the U.S population was “second generation”. This is because they have at least a foreign parent. However, they live in unity and are brought together by same cultures and behaviors. Most people have changed their way of speaking and have adopted the American accent. They do not have a second language rather than English despite their different generational background.

In a society where there are different people from different backgrounds, social problems are inevitable. These problems include, need to have a sense of belonging, which is manifested through ethnicity. People from groups and seek to uplift their own members in terms of access to employment opportunities, access to education and other social amenities. However, social mobility among these second-generation in the U.S has not been evident. Many immigrants from European and Asian countries perform even better than children from whites in terms of economic and social achievement. The second-generation immigrants are assimilating in the American society at a rapid state compared to the past immigrants. This is a manifestation of the changing society. “Second generations seems to be assimilating into American society more rapidly than immigrants of the past’ (p. 235). Therefore, this generation is more focused on ensuring that they develop without delving much on their ethnicity.

There is also references in relationships between generations, for instance, the first generation experiences were different from the current second generation. This is manifest through the changing lifestyle, roles in the society, and the relationships between parents and their children among many other notable differences.

Even though there might be differences with the way people of different generations behave, the most important thing is to respect each other’s ways of life and ideologies. Children from the second generations have the responsibility of respecting their parents even if they do not agree to their views. As the author notes, “second generation, they are not inevitably rebels or do they entirely abandon their parents’ (p. 238).

The immigrants may not be received well by the second generations but those that have the necessarily skills and competences in certain areas have higher opportunity of gaining into employments. Therefore, they can compete competitively with the second generations in areas of human capital. Furthermore, immigrants are accessing to educations and this is a demonstration of changing perceptions of people from different cultures.

Generational change has also led to acculturation and role reversal. Children have adapted to different cultures and in some occasions, they are required to direct their parents. For instance, children teach their parents on various changes that have occurred in terms of languages and generation lifestyles. In generational changes, races and social status play fundamental role in shaping the lives of the people. However, even with these diversities and differences, there is need for the second generation as well as the first generation to work together and promote growth in the society.