Melting Pot

In cultural anthropology, the metaphor of the melting pot is used to describe a society in which the mixing of heterogeneous peoples leads to a common culture; that is to say, the various elements of different cultures ‘melt’ into one culture. The melting pot metaphor was traditionally used to describe American society and the assimilation of a diverse range of immigrants into one cultural group. In recent years, however, the concept of the melting pot has been contested, with critics arguing that cultural variation within a society should be preserved. Proponents of multiculturalism have thus proposed the alternative metaphors of the “salad bowl” and the “mosaic” to highlight the juxtaposition of differing components and cultures in society.