Many Russian-speaking immigrants act, think and even look like Americans. They have achieved successes in all aspects of American life. But at the same time, many immigrants from the former Soviet Union stubbornly continue to live separately in their Russian, or rather Soviet, communities. They shop at Russian stores, go to Russian restaurants, take medications made in Russia that they purchase at Russian pharmacies, follow the latest trends in Russian culture (including cheap mysteries and TV series), and attend only concerts and performances by Russian stars. Also, they get their news only from the American Russian-speaking media – which is understandable enough – and from Russian media outlets like Komsomolskaya Pravda, Channel 1, etc.
That said, how many in the Russian community have become completely Americanized, and how many live in some kind of Russian (Soviet) ghetto? How quickly do we become Americanized? What factors determine our transformation from Homo Sovieticus to Americans? What hinders this process? What aspects of American life become part of our world view and which remain foreign to us?
We turn once again to Sam Kliger, director of Russian Community Affairs at the American Jewish Committee and chairperson of the Research Institute for New Americans (RINA), for answers to these questions.
Mr. Kliger believes that the process of Americanization has two aspects: adaptation and integration. Integration has linguistic, economic, social, political, and cultural aspects.
As a whole, Jews from the USSR-CIS become Americans much more quickly that Jews who came here 50 or 100 years ago did. The process of integration for people who came here 100 years ago took almost 25 years, so if an immigrant was 40 or 50 years old when he arrived here, he could die without becoming an American. For Jews who came here after WWII and the Holocaust, the process of integration took about 12 years, while for many Russians this period lasts six to seven years.
This decrease is due to the supposed shrinking of the world, the development of technology, and the fact that most Russian immigrants are well-educated.
According to Mr. Kliger, immigrants can be divided into several categories in accordance with their level of Americanization. These categories are known as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
“During the first stage, immigrants try to find a way to relate to the social structure of American society and find a place for themselves in it," said Mr. Kliger. "They study the language and find jobs, housing, and schools for their children. During the second stage, most immigrants generally work and their English becomes good enough to communicate with Americans and their co-workers. Sophomores rent nice apartments and some even buy houses. Their children attend schools and colleges. They no longer feel like outsiders. The process of adaptation essentially ends at this stage. The process of integration continues over the next stages.”
How long do these stages last for Russian immigrants? According to data from RINA, Russians spend about three years at each stage. Immigrants from the USSR-CIS who have lived in the United States less than three years are considered freshmen. Those who have lived here between three and six years are sophomores, and those who have been here between six and nine years are juniors. Anyone who has lived here over nine years is a senior.
Russian-speaking immigrants do not have any real difficulties with the linguistic, social and economic aspects of integration. Most juniors speak English well enough to converse with Americans, read American newspapers and watch American television.
Six to eight years after arriving in the United States, Russians confidently join the middle class and buy nice houses and apartments. They prefer to settle in safe neighborhoods with low crime rates and good schools, even though housing in these neighborhoods is more expensive than it is in less respectable ones.
Many buy homes in the suburbs or in small, idyllic towns on Long Island and in New Jersey. Some Russian immigrants, especially younger ones, are not afraid to move to other states where the cost of housing is lower and the quality of life is higher. They are convinced that they will be able to establish themselves in these places and mix with Americans as equals. They are not afraid of new surroundings and do not feel that they have to live among their own people. They become mobile and self-confident, like real Americans.
Russians are known for respect for work, economy, caution with regard to financial matters, and the ability to invest money properly. But Russians have much catching up to do with Americans as far as charity and volunteer work are concerned. The main impediments to this are the typical Soviet qualities of materialism, egotism and cynicism.
Russians integrate into political life relatively smoothly. They are active voters, especially in presidential elections. Sixty-two percent of eligible American voters participated in the most recent presidential elections, which is considered very high (usually turnout is not higher than 55 to 58 percent). But almost 75 percent of Russian immigrants who are U.S. citizens and who are eligible to vote participated. Turnout among Russians is about the same for local elections, particularly when one (or two) of the candidates are Russian speakers.
Nevertheless, Mr. Kliger states that there are still aspects of American political life that immigrants from the U.S.S.R.-C.I.S. have yet to master. “Many people, even those who are more Americanized than others, do not know how the U.S. political system operates," he said. "They do not understand what a political party is and what its members need to do. There are very few Russians in political clubs and even fewer Russian political clubs. The level of political donations from the Russian-speaking community is very low, possibly because donations cannot be written-off.
“Russian immigrants are equally passive in terms of drafting petitions. They are ready to break down the doors to the offices of their elected officials when their personal interests are at stake, but they are not prepared to stand up for the interests of society as a whole. To make matters worse, many people who would like to vote, especially the elderly, do not know how to register. This is something that our non-profit organizations need to address."
Matters are much worse in terms of accepting American culture. Sure, Russian immigrants watch American movies and TV shows and go to Broadway shows. But their attention does not extend to American literature, music, theater, or fine arts. Most Russians are not even interested in popular American literature (mysteries, romances) or popular music (rock, rap, etc.). They prefer Darya Dontsova [a popular mystery writer] and Russian pop stars.
Russian immigrants have the same attitude towards sports. They are not fans of baseball or American football, preferring instead the sports that they watched in the U.S.S.R. like European football, basketball and hockey.
Russian-speaking immigrants also take a long time to adjust to another very important aspect of American life: religion. Mr. Kliger calls the passivity of Russians in this respect “spiritual Oblomovism.”
“When RINA polled Russian-speaking immigrants on this subject, 55 percent of them said that they believe in God,” he said. “But when we went further and asked about synagogue attendance, involvement in charities, and morals, that number fell to 7 percent.
“Russian Jews love to have kitchen conversations about the origin of life and the mission of the Jewish people, but they do not deign to attend services at the synagogue on Saturday mornings. Americans, on the other hand, are some of the most religious people in the world. Ninety percent believe in God, and this belief manifests itself not only in words, but also in deeds. Even in cynical and liberal New York, synagogues and churches are packed on Saturdays and Sundays. There is also the huge amount of money that is collected for charity.”
Russian-speaking immigrants take almost as long to internalize some liberal American values like tolerance, respect for people of other races and nationalities, and recognition of the equality of women.
“Russians treat many other immigrant groups and African Americans with disdain and arrogance,” said Mr. Kliger. "I don't know of one Russian family that would be friendly with an African-American or Chinese family. They are closer to white Americans, American Jews and Italians, but even here they keep their distance."
According to Mr. Kliger, no immigrant can become completely American. Their world view and self-awareness will always remain mottled because they will always, to some extent, consider themselves immigrants from their native countries. The American component of their self-awareness will continue to grow until it reaches a certain level, and then it will stop. The higher this level, the greater the level of Americanization.
It is much more complicated for immigrants from the USSR-CIS to solve the problem of self-identification than it is for immigrants from other countries. After all, we are Jews, Soviet people and Russians (since the Russian language and culture were dominant in the USSR), as well as Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Georgians, Uzbeks, etc. Nevertheless, Mr. Kliger says that the increase in the American component of self-awareness among the different categories is encouraging. Among freshmen, this level does not exceed 10 percent, among sophomores it reaches 30 percent, among juniors it increases to 40 to 50 percent, and among seniors it jumps to 60 to 70 percent.
A barrier to the successful Americanization of Russians is the dominance of the Russian mass media that brainwashes Russian-speaking immigrants and forces them to keep looking back at the country that they fled. The growing popularity of these publications means that even completely Americanized businesspeople must advertise in them, however reluctantly. But Mr. Kliger stresses that the "Russian invasion" of America (unlike the Russian invasion of Israel) does not present a serious danger.
“America changed from a melting pot into a mixed salad a long time ago. We now welcome the fact that immigrants retain their distinctive identities,” said Mr. Kliger. “But I hope that Russian immigrants will have the common sense not to let the Russian component of their self-awareness outweigh other components, including the American one."
