Citation needed. Especially for the "generations". From your own example, you seem pretty well-integrated into mainstream American culture only one generation down.
My personal thesis is that some countries are really good at absorbing and integrating immigrants, and they see the benefits. America is exceptional at it, possibly the best in the world.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01651... ("Under this model, immigrants do not fully assimilate; rather, they transmit certain old-country values and behaviors to their descendants in the new country. Empirical support for culture transplant varies depending on the particular trait in question. Social trust, for example, shows strong evidence of transplant over different time periods and in many different countries.... the results suggest that a 'transplant' does occur in the U.S., as a strong relationship exists between individual savings and ancestral savings rates. The relationship is robust to a variety of specifications. In a midrange estimate, a 1 percentage-point increase in ancestral-country savings rates is associated with a 1 percent increase in retirement savings among second-generation immigrants.")
> From your own example, you seem pretty well-integrated into mainstream American culture only one generation down.
Only superficially, despite coming from a very westernized family in a former british colony. There's an enormous gap in "deep culture" between me and my wife's family and my wife and her family (who came here before the American revolution from Britain). You think you're well-assimilated until your kid wants to "express themselves" and you realize you abhor how Americans raise their kids, interact with their families, view the world, etc.
You were generalizing about a range of cultural behaviors, and for several generations.
> You think you're well-assimilated until your kid wants to "express themselves" and you realize you abhor how Americans raise their kids
There is no single "American method" for raising kids, even among populations that have lived here for many generations. Compare rural Utah to the Bay Area or to suburban Dallas and you'll likely find stark differences.
The article discusses other traits that are passed on, such as social trust (which is specifically discussed in what I quoted). Here’s a book on it: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=35594
Is the US actually better at absorbing immigrants than Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand? I’m unconvinced.
https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Transplant-Migrants-Make-Econ...