Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups?
In the period 1917–1923, several US states barred foreign languages from their schools, often targeting German explicitly. Yet rather than facilitating the assimilation of immigrant children, that policy instigated a backlash. In particular, individuals who had two German parents and were affected by
these language laws were less likely to volunteer in WWII; they were also more likely to marry within their ethnic group and to choose decidedly German names for their offspring. These observed effects were greater in locations where the initial sense of German identity, as proxied by Lutheran church influence, was stronger. These findings are compatible with a model of cultural transmission of identity, in which parental investment overcompensates for the direct effects of assimilation policies.
A paper by job market candidate Vasiliki Fouka.
18 Responses
When repression backfires: Germans in the USA: Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? In… http://t.co/inZvomeI9U
When repression backfires: Germans in the USA http://t.co/R590jaB9t3
RT @cblatts: Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? http://t.co/TiyPJx73il
NEWEPS ftw! RT @cblatts: Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? http://t.co/aidE9UMSVA
When forced assimilation policies backfire: great and interesting JMP on Germans in the US post-WWI http://t.co/tMvloQyL5K HT @cblatts
You can’t force immigrants to integrate… http://t.co/g3dBLfHaJL
RT @cblatts: Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? http://t.co/TiyPJx73il
RT @cblatts: Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? http://t.co/TiyPJx73il
Can forced assimilation policies integrate immigrant groups? http://t.co/TiyPJx73il
The German experience in the US shows that repression tends to strengthen in-group identity. http://t.co/SwN46H9J59
When repression backfires: Germans in the USA http://t.co/J4af57hjda
RT @matthias_somers: Lijkt interessant: “The Unintended Effect of Language Prohibition in US Schools after WW I.” http://t.co/8Seoe1HoGp ht…
RT @matthias_somers: Lijkt interessant: “The Unintended Effect of Language Prohibition in US Schools after WW I.” http://t.co/8Seoe1HoGp ht…
RT @matthias_somers: Lijkt interessant: “The Unintended Effect of Language Prohibition in US Schools after WW I.” http://t.co/8Seoe1HoGp ht…
Lijkt interessant: “The Unintended Effect of Language Prohibition in US Schools after WW I.” http://t.co/8Seoe1HoGp http://t.co/PDd3y9rbBI
Quantitative evidence that integration doesn’t work like conservatives like to think it does: http://t.co/ef49rgpPx9 ht @cblatts
What happened when US states barred foreign languages from schools: “When repression backfires: #Germans in the USA” http://t.co/aPmvjoh5dR
RT @cblatts: When repression backfires: Germans in the USA http://t.co/mc31SmmJ9L