Italian American Cultural Values Based Off Hofstede 's Value Orientation

Southern- Italian was the largest group to migrate to the US during the late 19th century and early 20th century follow by the Portuguese and Spanish. More than 5 million Italians from Sicily and poor southern Italian province settle on the east coast in the US. They created their own little town called little Italies due to hostility in America. More than one- quarter people migrated from Spain since 1820 and settle in California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona Florida and Louisiana. The other half migrated to the Us in the 19th century due to economic depression.

In the late 1800s, millions upon millions of Europeans made their way to America for a variety of reasons. For the citizens of Italy, those reasons included poverty and political hardship. For many Italians, farming was their livelihood, however the antiquity of their tools did not allow for maximum efficiency. As a result, approximately 5 million poor Italian farmers made the trip across the Atlantic to America. While most settled in New York and the surrounding states, some journeyed elsewhere to states like Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Once they arrived, they would take the vacant positions of workers on strike making up to ten times the salary they would have made in their homeland.

Immigrants began moving to the United States in the 1850s in search of new freedoms and opportunities. They were soon viewed as threats by the American people because they could potentially take away job opportunities from native born Americans. Additionally, the morality and capabilities of these foreign people were unknown. As a result, new social and economic policies that favored “real Americans” were enforced. These affected a large group of foreigners, including Jews, Catholics, Italians, southern Europeans, and the Chinese. (Fry 1)

As a larger number of immigrants began to move to the United States from eastern and southern Europe, cities began to increase. Due to these patterns of global migration, between 1870 and 1900, cities increased by at least eleven million people from these immigrants (p.507). While the idea of a growing city benefits big businesses in hiring low-waged workers, this opportunity for work in large industries opened the flood-gates for multiple waves of immigrants. The first wave, those known as the skilled workers “…criticized the newcomers. One Irish worker complained, ‘There should be a law…to keep all the Italians from comin’ in and takin’ the bread out of the mouth of honest people’” (American

The details on how my family arrived in America have been passed down by various members of my family. The accuracy and detail of these memories have diminished with every retelling. Some of my family arrived in America so long ago that all that remains of their experiences are rumors and stretched truths. As a story gets retold over and over it loses much of its accuracy. While much of my family history relies on this kind of storytelling, there are some in my family who were alive and experienced the challenges faced by immigrants. Though born in the United States, my maternal grandfather, Sebastian Passantino, was very familiar with the hardships of being an immigrant.

In addition to this major shift from rural to urban areas, a new wave of immigration increased America’s population significantly, especially in major cities. Immigrants came from war-torn regions of southern and eastern Europe, such as Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia, Croatia. This new group of immigrants

The United States’ population surged between 1870 and 1924. Immigrants were flooding into the country from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and other countries. They saw America as a great land of opportunity that fulfilled their necessities. The majority of the immigrants settled in the major cities, as their was an abundance of job opportunities, and easy access to transportation. John Radzitowksi’s essay describes the Polish agricultural colonies in Minnesota. It also depicts how immigrants adapted to American life. The first document shows how some immigrants found it difficult to adapt and settle in a new land, and it shows that this was true for Irish immigrant Sam Gray. The second document is a story of Rocco Corresca, a poor

Italian American and Greek American parents are devoted to raising their children, and caring to them well into their adult years. While the Irish American culture allows their children to move out, prepared or not, the Italian American and Greek American cultures would not do this willingly. The Italian American and Greek American cultures believe that they will not have as much an impact or closeness, and their children could venture into trouble if not advised everyday of their lives. With that being said, Italian American and Greek American children often live in their parent’s homes well into their adult years. What might be surprising to other cultures, especially the Irish American culture, is that even newly married couples are welcomed to live in their in-laws home until they find, or until they can afford, their own home. The Italian American and Greek American cultures are even big on assisting their relatives in finding employment, and this ties into the importance of family businesses, where they will hire and keep their success

Gradually, at the turn of the century, there once again was a large exodus of people. In 1900 many Italian immigrants made a bee-line for the US because of hard times and epidemics in Italy (Doc. 1). One of the largest peaks in immigrants from 1830 to 1920 was the US Industrial Expansion(Doc. 1). This gave so many opportunities for poor

It is stated that during the early 20th century the Italians received white received much lower wages than the average American. What can you observe from this? According to me you can tell that the immigrants were victimized against society. Eventually the Italians were accepted into American society. The Americans started to conceive that the Italians were no threat towards them or their society.

In its 63 years of existence (1892 to 1954), the Federal Immigration Station on Ellis Island processed over 12 million immigrants from many different countries. Out of all the different countries Ireland, Italy, and Germany were the three countries most represented at Ellis Island. Out of these 12 million immigrants 4.5 million were Italians who came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1900. Then in the years 1900 to 1914, the number increased to 5 million. Currently, about 25 million Americans trace their ancestry to Italy and in todays culture are very accomplished in many ways. This wasn’t always the case however, Italians faced many issues in both Italy as well as in the United States. Some of these issues are highlighted in both

Italian immigration became very prevalent during the time of 1880 to 1899 as 900,000 immigrants fled to America because Italy suffered from overpopulation, poverty and natural disasters. In the 1870s, “Italian birthrates rose and death rates fell” (Digital History). In the poor southern provinces of Italy, over population became severe. By the late 1890s, the illiteracy rate in southern Italy raised to 70 percent, which was ten times the rate in England, France, or Germany. “The Italian government was dominated by northerners, and southerners were hurt by high taxes and high protective tariffs on northern industrial goods.

The old stock Americans weren't used to the immigrants and for this reason they thought less of them and oppressed them.  The Italians and other immigrants were blamed for many of the nations problems.  For example, the government led raids on immigrants’ houses because they feared the immigrants were communists.  This was evidenced in the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, when two Italian immigrants were convicted for murder and the prosecution had no real substantial evidence.  They were convicted mainly because of their beliefs, not their actions.  Religious beliefs also brought the immigrants problems.  The KKK was openly anti-Catholic and most of the Italians were catholic.  The immigrants and Italians also helped to bring on prohibition.  The Americans didn't approve of their drinking habits; therefore the prohibition amendment was made for this and other reasons.  Job competition was also a major reason for the racist feelings of the Americans.  Native white workers saw the immigrants as competitors for the jobs that they felt they should have.  A good example of this competition was “birds of passage.”  These were Italian workers who came to work in the U.S. but later returned to Italy with the money they earned in the U.S.  From 1899-1924 3.8 million Italians came to the United States, but 2.1 million left to return to Italy during the same

The documentary “The Italian Americans: La Famiglia” explains the circumstances that led to early Italians migrating to America. In the mid-1800s, the people who lived in the southern part of what would become Italy were living in abject poverty. The citizens there could not prosper because they did not own their own land and they were mistreated by the rich (Maggio, 2014). However, there appeared to be hope for the southern Italians, in the 1860s, when Garibaldi fought for Italy to become a nation. Sadly, once that happened the peasants were then forced to pay taxes that they already could not afford.

Concentration of immigrant populations was highest in four of America’s largest cities; New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Five out of every six Irish and Russian immigrants lived in a city. Three out of four Italian and Hungarian immigrants came to America with very little money to buy farms or farming equipment. Others settled in cities because farming in America was very different from that of Europe. Some immigrants, such as the Slavs, simply came to America too late to acquire land. Jewish and Irish preferred the city because it provided a chance to worship with other Jewish or Irish without persecution.