Assimilation is a process in which minority immigrant groups come to adopt the dominant majority culture and become socially incorporated into majority society. Pluralism can be defined as conditions that produce sustained ethnic differentiation and continued heterogeneity. Ethnic pluralism never entails an absolute separation of groups. Transnationalism represents any social process that occurs across national borders. Transnational migrants are migrants who constantly cross national borders and are not staying in one particular country. There are different types of migrant transnationalism, including economic transnationalism, and political transnationalism.

The processes of assimilation, ethic pluralism (multiculturalism) and transnationalism are all connected with the globalization, but they imply some specific features, which make the difference between these processes significantly noticeable. In his work "Race and Ethnic relations" M. Marger points out, "Like assimilation, pluralism entails several dimensions and forms. In all cases, however, the retention or even strengthening of differences among ethnic groups is presumed. Thus, in general sense, pluralism so the opposite of assimilation" (Marger, 172).

The similarity between ethnic pluralism and transnationalism is expressed in the fact, that both of them, though in different ways, are tending to show the erosion of central elements of the national state. The concept of multiculturalism emphasizes growing heterogeneity of population, as the result of migration. This calls into question the traditional program of the nation state: the formation and reproduction of the cultural homogeneity on its territory. Transnationalism focuses on the stable social structures and relations, which arise because of migration flows and extend beyond the boundaries of nation states. It is in this sense, the social