Do "these groups" still matter?

I'm not sure if this great nation and great city of ours are "melting pots" or "stews"...or neither. I am curious as to what happens to any group that stays in nation (and a city) so diverse and with the ability to mix over a period of time. Can the qualities of such a group be retainedd...or are they inevitably lost? I'd like to examine some of the main stream groups that were the bedrock of Chicago's massive European migration that extended throughout the last part of the 19th century and into the 20th. To me, some fo the leading groups of European immigrants that so affected Chicago that I would like to examine here are: • Irish • Italians • Poles (excluding the present wave of Polish immigration) • Jews (culturally, not religously; excluding the present wave of Russian Jewish immigration) • Germans With the passage of time, when we look at these groups: Do they retain any significatn part(s) of their heritage or, for all intents and purposes, have they faded into that general category of being Americans far removed from their ethnic roots, something akin to the British roots that preceeded the revolution. Are these European ethnics totally mixed into a society that is now in the process of making accomodations and a comfortable fit with an immigration wave that is largely Hispanic and Asian, not European? So where do these five significant groups of Chicagoans (Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles, Germans) fit in in modern Chicago and modern Chicagoland? Is what they brought with them from Europe still significant or has it been virtaully all "main streamed"? In an attempt to clarify what distinctions I made above, let include the following: Jews are viewed in an ethnic sense here due to their inability to feel a part of so many European nations in which their ancesters lived. Both Poles and Jews were affected greatly by nearly a century of communism in eastern Europe. Thus today's groups of Russian Jews and Polish immigrants are vastly different from those who came to our shores a hundred years ago. Communism changed culture. Jews among the five groups listed have the added component of religion and ethnicity being the same group. While this may have slowed Jewish assimilation and intermarriage down compared to other groups, Jews have totally "caught up" in this discriptor....thus while Italian, Irish and Polish Catholics were intermarrying earlier in their immigrant experience, Jews were not....but that trend has been vastly altered since WWII. So what does it mean to be Irish, Italian, Jewish, Polish, or German in Chicagoland today? Does it extend beyond ethnic restaurants, a river dyed green, festive Italian weddings, Jewish country clubs, German delis and bakeries in Lincoln Square, cheering for European soccer teams, loving a Polish pope, supporting Israel? So the basics here...how long does it take for ethnic minorities (as the five used as examples here in Chicagoland) before they totally "blend in" and intermarry to a point where their roots become a minor part of their American persona? (And whatever the answer, it would probably give us insight into what will happen with today's Hispanic and Asian immigration waves in the next few generations)>