“Americanization” and the Cultural Prospect

Horace M. Kallen

1924

I

That the image of these United States as a “meltingpot” might be a delusion and its imputed harmony with democracy a snare was not an idea which, prior to the Great War, seemed even possible to Americans, whether of the philanthropic or the academic or the business community. The spontaneous invincible egotism of the group was too impenetrable…

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Creator Bio

Horace M. Kallen

1882–1974
The social philosopher Horace M. Kallen was born in Silesia, the son of a rabbi, but came with his parents to the United States in 1887. He was educated at Harvard and taught there, at Clark University, and at the University of Wisconsin. In 1919, he helped to found the New School for Social Research in New York City, where he taught for the rest of his life. His best-known contribution to American thought was his theory of cultural pluralism. Rejecting Israel Zangwill’s vision of the United States as a melting pot, he compared American society to a symphony orchestra, to which each immigrant group contributed its own distinctive sound. He opposed efforts to force the homogenization of American society and urged immigrants to cultivate and take pride in their national origins. Not surprisingly, he was a supporter of Zionism.

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