Skip to Main Content

Americanization in the States: Immigrant Social Welfare Policy, Citizenship, and National Identity in the United States, 19081929

Online ISBN:
9780813039718
Print ISBN:
9780813033617
Publisher:
University Press of Florida
Book

Americanization in the States: Immigrant Social Welfare Policy, Citizenship, and National Identity in the United States, 19081929

Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson
Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson
Find on
Published:
1 July 2009
Online ISBN:
9780813039718
Print ISBN:
9780813033617
Publisher:
University Press of Florida

Abstract

In the first decades of the twentieth century, a number of states had bureaus whose responsibility was to help immigrants assimilate into American society. Often described negatively as efforts to force foreigners into appropriate molds, this book demonstrates that these programs—including adult education, environmental improvement, labor market regulations, and conflict resolutions—were typically implemented by groups sympathetic to immigrants and their cultures. The book offers a comparative history of social welfare policies developed in four distinct regions with diverse immigrant populations: New York, California, Massachusetts, and Illinois. By focusing on state actions versus national agencies and organizations, and by examining rural and western approaches in addition to urban and eastern ones, the author broadens the historical literature associated with Americanization. She also reveals how these programs, and the theories of citizenship and national identity used to justify their underlying policies, were really attempts by middle-class progressives to get new citizens to adopt Anglo-American, middle-class values and lifestyles.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close