Theories of Americanization

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE COMMUNITY THEORY The 'Community' theory1 which is proposed as the constructive suggestion is in reality the formulation of a process already shaping itself among some of our immigrant groups as a result of the confluence of the ethnic will to live with the conditions of American life. To...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE COMMUNITY THEORY The 'Community' theory1 which is proposed as the constructive suggestion is in reality the formulation of a process already shaping itself among some of our immigrant groups as a result of the confluence of the ethnic will to live with the conditions of American life. To the writer the suggestion has come from the experience of the Jewish group; and, although there are many indications of this scheme of organization among other immigrant nationalities, the Jews have undoubtedly gone furthest in its development. In fact, it may be regarded as the response of the Jewish group to the problem of adjustment. While many among the Jews would differ with our .proposal or with some of its features, the tendency of Jewish institutional development would indicate that the 'Community' theory is the acceptable mode of adjustment for the Jewish group as an ethnic entity. Confidence in the validity of this plan should be the greater because it represents the resultant of many intricate social forces working slowly upon each other under democratic conditions. It will be apt to escape the basic unsoundness of an a priori plan built upon the interest of certain classes, the undiscerning emotionalism misunderstood as patriotism or the romantic imagination of sociological litterateurs. The formulation presented below comes after the process and is an attempt to build a consistent theory out of dissociated methods to the end that the further course of adjustment may be guided more directly in line with the ideal. Drawn from Jewish life, it will undoubtedly apply most closely to Jewish life. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the Jewish experience may form the basis of atheory of adjustment which will be applicable to all groups which desire to maintain their ethnic i...