The Assimilation Myth: A Study of Second Generation Polish Immigrants in Western Australia

105 Pages·1969·3.357 MB·English

by  Ruth Johnston (auth.)

THE ASSIMILATION MYTH
PUBLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
FOR EUROPEAN MIGRATION PROBLEMS
XIV
Editor:
Dr. G. Beijer, 17 Pauwmlaan
The Hague, Netherlands
THE ASSIMILATION MYTH
of
A Study Second Generation Polish Immigrants
in Australia
~stern
by
RUTH JOHNSTON
THE HAGUE
MARTINUS NI)HOFF
1969
© Copyright 1969 by Martinus Niihoff, The Hogue, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-0467-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-7750-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-011-7750-4
ToR.
PREFACE
This book is a logical consequence of a book published in
1965 under the title Immigrants Assimilation - A Study of
Polish People in Western Australia. In the original study, adult
Polish immigrants were asked, amongst other things, about
their attitudes to their children's assimilation to the culture of
the Australian society. Needless to say, some parents were
eager for their children to remain Polish, whilst others express
ed a desire for them to become Australians. Naturally, it seem
ed practical to investigate the children's attitudes to their own
assimilation. The present study is therefore mainly concerned
with these attitudes.
Much has been written about second generation immigrants
and a lot has been of a speculative nature, since nobody has
yet gone into the homes of immigrants and asked them and
their children about the way they feel regarding a culture
which is new to them. The present study is unique in this sense
because it fills a vital gap by studying assimilation of two
generations of immigrants belonging to the same family.
Second generation immigrants have occupied the attention
of many writers in the sociological and psychological litera
ture. Vital social phenomena such as delinquency, mental
breakdowns, and marginality have been ascribed to the second
generation immigrants on account of their status as midway
people between two cultural milieus. Some of these phenome
na are traced in the present study. It is generally accepted that
second generation immigrants suffer from severe culture con
flict because of their parents' strict adherence to the ethnic
culture, while they themselves are eager to assimilate to the
dominant culture. The theme of culture conflict is also the
subject matter of this book.
Assimilation myth seems to be a suitable name for the
book, since it is universally believed that second generation
PREFACE
immigrants assimilate regardless of any obstacles from their
parents, and immigration countries perceive their second
generation immigrants as fully 'arrived' citizens. The myth in
the title suggests that the contrary prevails. Repeated talks
with parents have indicated that their children are not fully
assimilated, as the receiving community would like them to be,
and later interviews with children have confirmed parents'
opinions. In all, the book intends to shed new light on the
problem of second generation immigrants, who have been
generally misunderstood and misinterpreted by other writers.
The body of the book is divided into a number of sections.
The first section gives an overview of the literature on the
assimilation of second generation immigrants. The next section
is concerned with the attitudes of parents to the assimilation of
their children and the children's own attitude to their assimila
tion. The problem of culture conflict is discussed and its inci
dence within the immigrant families is shown. The last section
of the book deals with the problem of delinquency amongst
the immigrant children. Lastly, conclusions are drawn from
the study as a whole.
Unique as this study may be, it could never have been con
templated without the overwhelming generosity of the Polish
immigrants in Western Australia. Not only did they permit me
to search their souls on matters relevant to their own assimila
tion, but they also allowed me to use their children, who
proved as rewarding subjects as their parents. I render my
warm thanks to both myoId and young respondents.
I am truly grateful to my colleagues J. Carlin and B. Martin
both of the University of Western Australia. They performed
the painstaking task of reading my manuscript, offering advice
and guiding me logically from one point of thought to anoth
er. I fully appreciate their selfless assistance. To my daughter
Anne I wish to express my deep gratitude for the hard work
she put into making this book a reality. Her constant and
readily available advice was a true inspiration in times of diffi
culty. Finally thanks are due to many editors, who granted
permission to use in this book material from my articles pub
lished in their journals. Ruth Johnston
The University of Western Australia,
Nedlands, Western Australia August, 1966.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE ....•.....•.•...•....••.•.••••.•••.•.• VII
LIST OF TABLES ...•......••.••••.•.•••••••..•••.• X
CHAPTER I - SHORT REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ......... 1
CHAPTER II - ASSIMILATION AND IDENTIFICATION ........ 5
The Meaning of Assimilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Concept of Identification .......................... 6
Identity and Identification ............................ 8
CHAPTER III - SAMPLE AND METHOD OF DATA COLLECTING 13
The Sample ..................................... 13
The Method of Data Collection ........................ 20
CHAPTER IV - THE ASSIMILATION RATE OF POLISH CHIL
DREN AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THEIR PARENTS' AS-
SIMILA TION .................................... 23
a. The Area of Food ............................... 26
b. The Area of Language ............................ 32
c. The Area of Social Contacts ......................... 39
d. Overall Assimilation .............................. 46
e. The Assimilation Myth ............................ 54
CHAPTER V - CULTURE CONFLICT AND CULTURE TENSION .. 62
a. Culture Tension in the Immigrant Home ................ 68
b. Culture Tension and Delinquency ..................... 76
SUMMAR Y AND CONCLUSIONS ..•••.....••..•.•.•..•••.. 86
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...•..........•.•.•..•.........•... 90
LIST OF TABLES
Page
1 & 1a The age distribution of males and females. . . . . . . . . . . .. 14
2 & 2a The occupational grading of males ................. 15/16
3 & 3a The occupational grading of females ............... .. 17
4 & 4a The level of education for males and females ............ 18
5. The age distribution of the children .................. 20
6. The external and subjective assimilation of parents in the
area of food ................................. 26
7. The attitude of assimilated and not assimilated parents to
the assimilation of their children in the area of food . . . . . .. 27
8. The external and subjective assimilation of children in the
area of food ................................. 29
9. Polish and English language usage by assimilated and not
assimilated parents .............................3 3
10. The attitude of assimilated and not assimilated parents to
the assimilation of their children in the area of language .. .. 34
11. The external and subjective assimilation of children in the
area of language ............................... 35
12. Preference for language usage by age of children .........3 8
13. The external and subjective assimilation of parents in the
area of social contacts ...........................3 9
14. The attitude of assimilated and not assimilated parents to
the assimilation of their children in the area of social
contacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
15. The external and subjective assimilation of children in the
area of social contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
16. Intercorrelations between parents' attitudes to the assim-
ilation of their children in the three areas . . . . . . . . . . . . ..4 5
17. Intercorrelations between children's attitudes to their
own assimilation in the three areas ................. .45
18. The attitude of assimilated and not assimilated parents to
the overall assimilation of their children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
19. The overall external and subjective assimilation of children .. 50
20. The attitude of children to the Polish group by sex ........ 52
21. Children's perception of the attitude of Australians to-
wards Polish immigrants ....................... .. 53
22. The subjective assimilation of children by age ........... 56
LIST OF TABLES
Page
23. The distribution of the subjectively assimilated and not
assimilated children within three different types of home .... 57
24. The amount of tension in the area of food in the not
assimilated, mixed and assimilated homes by the rate of
the children's subjective assimilation .............. . ..6 9
25. The amount of tension in the area of language in the three
types of home by the rate of the children's subjective
assimilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
26. The frequency of tension in the area of language as suffer-
ed by boys and girls ......................... . . .73
27. The amount of overall tension in the three types of home
by the rate of the children's subjective assimilation . . . . . . ..7 4
28. The amount of tension as suffered by young and old children