Immigrant Group Sociology

The book has as its principal thesis the consideration of race as “a folk classification, a product of popular beliefs about human differences that evolved from 16th to 19th centuries” (Smedley, 2007, pag.24). The book also specifies three characteristics that distinguish the racial ideology in America: the absence of a category for biracial people, the homogenization of the black or African American Americans, and the impossibility to change a person’s race. (Smedley, 2007, pag.7)

Daniels, Roger. Not like Us: Immigrants and Minorities in America, 1890-1924. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997.

In Joel Spring’s, “Deculturalization and Struggle for Equality”, he argues that during the construction of the new world (contemporary United States) nonwhite racial groups were created by elitist in order to have them deculturalized and maintain a system of racial superiority. Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Blacks and Asians were each subject to systematic oppression in regards to racial formation, deculturalization, segregation and nation building. These dominated groups share the struggle of equality in this nation where “All men are equal” brought upon them by educational policies contrary to their socioeconomic interest and appealing to Euro-Americans.

Immigration through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s created nativism throughout the United States. Millions of immigrants flocked to the United States trying to find a better way of life to be able to support their families. Industrialization in the United States provided a labor source for the immigrants. Native born Americans believed immigrants were a “threat to the American way of life” (ATF chapter 11) Social and economic fault lines developed between natives and immigrants, through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, going unnoticed until the late 1920’s when the Sacco and Vanzetti case brought awareness of issue to much of the United States.

The White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) have been at the top of the social hierarchy ever since they arrived to America in the 1600s. The first wave of immigration consisted of the Germans, Irish and Chinese. The WASPs created a way to measure the success of each immigrant group. They acknowledged four factors of success that would show them whether an immigrant group was successful or not. The first factor of success was how much money an immigrant had when they came to America. The more money they came to America with, the more successful they were. Another factor of an immigrant’s success was how large the group they came with was. The larger the group, the less respect and

How race determined who was in and who was out. As Dickerson states “if race is real and not just a method for the haves to decide who will be have-nots, then all Europeans immigrants, from Ireland a to Greece, would have been “white” the moment they arrived here. Instead, as documented in David Roediger’s excellent Working Towards Whiteness, they were long considered inferior, nearly subhuman, and certainly not white” (69). This shows how race wasn’t about common culture or history but a concept to decide what race is good enough to be consider “white” or better than others. Even though the Europeans where the same race or color of the other people who considered themselves Americans or “white” they were still discriminated for being different and immigrants like everybody else. But soon they realized that identifying them self as being white gave them some sort of hierarchy. It gave them more class compared to the other races. As Debra Dickerson said, “If you were neither black nor Asian nor Hispanic, eventually you could become white, invested with enforceable civil rights and the right to exploit-and hate-nonwhites” (69). Being identify as white gave the power to have privileges that non-whites will never have since they are not the same color. Non- whites are treated unfairly compared to the white people in many ways. Discrimination not only took place between people of different races but

Between the 1830 and 1860, over three million and a half Irish and German immigrants entered the US. During this time of political turmoil, the Irish and Germans brought their own answers and problems to the voting world, education world, and workforce. Although the Germans and Irish left their respective homelands for similar reasons including the overpopulation of Europe and famine, along with bringing their own liberal ideals to politics and supporting ideas such as public education and the abolition of slavery, the Germans and the Irish led very different lives and varying parts of the country and were received differently by the American population. As America’s population increased between the 1830s-1860’s, so did Europe’s population,

Since its inception, America has been called the land of opportunity, but around the late nineteenth century the United States started limiting the entry of European and Chinese immigrants. These closed door policies for European and Asian immigration in the 1920s were a result of increased racism in the United States. People living in the United States began to redefine and selectively narrow the amount of ethnicities that the word white included. The book Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant stated that the white race can be broken up into superior and inferior races. According to Grant, people who were of Nordic descent made up the superior upper class, while the other European immigrants and Jews were considered low class and inferior. Grants novel defined who is considered to be white which subsequently led to the mistreatment of the inferior white race in America.

In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in American society. Industries had started to realise that it was not as simple as it was before to abstract the immigrants. As the country developed and became more successful it attracted outsiders who were searching for chances. During the 1920¡¯s the United States began to confine immigrants due to cultural and economical purposes. The immigrants faced several afflictions such as: racism and religious oppression. The examination of immigration expressed an important

In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and

Since its creation America has been called the land of opportunity, but around the late nineteenth century the United States started to become more exclusive by limiting the entry of European and Chinese immigrants by closing the doors to immigration from Europe and Asia in the 1920s. At that time, individuals that have been in America for a number of years started to narrow down the amount of ethnicities that the word white included. The book Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant stated that the white race can be broken up into superior and inferior races. Grant calls the pure Nordic race the superior upper class, while the other European immigrants and Jews were considered low class and inferior. Grants novel led to a separation and limitation of who is considered to be white, which led to the inferior whites being treated differently in America.

The group I decided to read was that of the White ethic Americans, being the Irish Americans and the Italian Americans. Both sets of immigrants came to America in large scale movements due to the Irish were “driven out or “reduced to slave-like status” (Marger 2015, p.283) in their native country and the Italians of the South were “impoverished, backward area, subject to constant economic and political exploitation by the region’s ruling groups.” (Marger 2015, p. 296) thus making America a place for an opportunity to flourish. Both groups were hindered in America because of their Catholic beliefs. “Those groups composing the New Immigration-overwhelmingly Catholics and Jews- were therefore described in racial terms, that is, as morally

Since I've been living in Barcelona, I've been drawing attention and I have carefully observed those spaces where immigrant communities meet each other in different city areas.

Intergroup processes refers to how people in either the same, or different groups, behave and relate towards one another (Hogg, 2007). Group identity signifies the relationships that individuals form with each other based on descriptive and demographic characteristics such as race, gender, and religion (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). Forming such links with similar individuals’ can provide a source of self-esteem, provide solutions to problems, and also enforce norms (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). However, the relationships that are formed through intergroup processes and group identity, may also rationalise showing derogative behaviour, such as prejudice, towards individuals’ who are not part on the group (Weber, Johnson, & Arceneaux, 2011). Prejudice can be defined as the unfavourable attitudes that individuals’ have in regards to a social group or its individual members (Singh, 2015). Prejudice is often directed towards immigrants, which include any person who has left the country that they were born in, and currently reside in another country, where they are frequently rejected from becoming part of society, and are instead faced with demands that they return to where they came from (Singh, 2015). There are various theories and explanations for why group identity and intergroup processes impact peoples’ prejudice towards immigrants. Such theories and explanations include the social identity theory, realistic conflict theory, belief congruence theory, and the

Can you imagine living in the midst of uncertainty, relying on a civil servant to make crucial decisions for your child? I can and so can all the immigrants that come to this great country of ours to try to make a better life for themselves and their families. All we want is someone to guide us in the right path. Instead find ourselves guided in the opposite direction, that of receiving a good education . Welcome to the American Public System. A system that produces half baked graduates, who are not globally competitive. I ponder the question, how long will this trend continue to affect our immigrant community and my answer is obvious. For there to be any hopes of change, it must start within the individual. This is where my journey began within public service.