What is the opposite of melting pot?

Answer 1

The opposite of a melting pot is something called a salad bowl.

In a bowl of freshly tossed salad, all the ingredients are mixed together. Yet they never lose their shape, form or identity. Together, however, the ingredients make up a unity. In a sense, all the ingredients of a salad contribute to the finished product. They may be covered with the same dressing, but the green vegetables, tomatoes, lettuce and eggs can all be seen for what they are.

From this point of view, America is very much like a salad bowl where individual ethnic groups blend together, yet maintain their cultural uniqueness. They may work together during the day at similar jobs and in identical companies, but at night they may return to their ethnic communities where the flavor of their individual culture dominates their way of life. This is why perhaps there is so much diversity within America. Each ethnic group has its own special interests, language, food, customs and traditions to protect and defend. This idea of the salad bowl is referred to by sociologists as cultural pluralism. It simply means that American society is a collection of many cultures living side by side within one country.