The coming darkness of late-generation European American ethnicity

Abstract

This paper hypothesizes about what is happening to the ethnic structures and cultures of the fourth-, fifth- and later-generation descendants of the European immigrants who came to America between about 1870 and 1924. The paper's main hypothesis is that late-generation European ethnicity is disappearing, although vestiges will probably always remain. However, immigration researchers have done little to study these late-generation populations, and the paper therefore describes some of the studies that could and should be undertaken.

Keywords:

• late-generation ethnics
• ethnic identity
• ethnic practices
• ethnic organizations
• symbolic ethnicity

Acknowledgements

Richard Alba made helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Eight comments on this article written by Herbert Gans follow, contributed by leading scholars who have worked in this area, followed by a concluding reply from Herbert Gans to his critics and suggestions for further research. The Editors are keen to encourage discussion of these issues in the REVIEW. The Editors invite responses of not more than 500 words from interested readers, which should be directed to the ERS Editorial Office, giving the name and institutional affiliation of the writer. A selection of comments will appear in the next issue of the REVIEW

Notes

1. Alba (1990) found that almost 85% of the immigrants in the Albany New York region that he surveyed were intermarried.

2. Travellers to Spain or Latin America occasionally encounter Catholics and others who light candles on Friday nights as a family tradition, unaware that they may be carrying on Jewish practices of their Spanish ancestors who were forcibly converted many hundreds of years ago.

3. Informal fieldwork suggests that the cooks in many Manhattan ethnic restaurants, whatever their ethnic menus, are currently Mexican or other Latino immigrants.

4. Endowed tenured professorships in ethnic studies, especially ethnic history, may outlast every other ethnic institution.

5. Remember that the boundaries of many of today's European nations differ from those existing at the turn of the last century, and some had only recently become nations when their emigrants left for the USA.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Herbert J. Gans

HERBERT J GANS is Robert S. Lynd Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Columbia University.