Cultural displays: An illustration from American immigration

Drawing upon Durkheim's analysis of solidarity ceremonies in primitive societies, this piece identifies a class of events called cultural displays in modern societies. Cultural displays are contrived ensembles that serve to dramatize basic cultural values, thereby contributing to the socialization of participants and encouraging political loyalty and social cohesion. Immigration procedures include the cultural display of naturalization ceremonies, media portrayals of immigrants, and government brochures disseminated to potential immigrants. After describing the cultural displays associated with immigration in the American case, I suggest that cultural displays play an integrative part in secularized liberal democracies but their success remains open to question.The whole universe is harnessed to men's attempts to force one another into good citizenship. Mary Douglas,Purity and Danger, 3.