Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 11120150
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED068604 AUTHOR: Greeley, Andrew J.; McCready, William
TITLE: The Transmission of Cultural Heritages: The Case of
the Irish and the Italians.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1972
NOTE: 36 p.; Paper presented at the Seminar on Ethnicity at
the Academy of Arts and Sciences, October 27, 1972
ABSTRACT: This paper begins with a very simple theoretical
question: Do the cultural heritages of the Old World
persist among children and grandchildren of the immigrants
from the various European countries? Two ethnic groups--the
Irish Catholics and the Italians--about whose country of
origin there exists something of an anthropological and
sociological literature are chosen for study. From this
literature are derived a considerable number of hypotheses
about their respective differences in the Anglo-Saxon
American norm and from one another. To the extent that
these hypotheses are sustained by the available evidence,
one is able to assert that there is a persistence of
diversity of cultural heritage within the United States,
predictable on the basis of the culture of the countries of
origin. Also, the fact of ethnic cultural diversity in the
United States is thereby established, a fact which many
social scientists are not yet prepared to concede. An
ethnic group is defined here as a large collectivity, based
on presumed common origin, which is, at least on occasion,
part of a self definition of a person, and which also acts
as a bearer of cultural traits. On the basis of the
evidence presented, it can be safely said that it would be
very difficult to understand the present behavior of
American immigrant groups without knowing something of the
cultural heritage from which the groups came. (Author/JM)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Cultural-Awareness; Cultural-Education;
Cultural-Influences; Cultural-Pluralism; Family-Attitudes;
Immigrants-; Individual-Characteristics; Italian-Americans;
Moral-Values; Political-Attitudes
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Cultural-Background; *Cultural-Traits;
*Ethnic-Groups; *National-Surveys; *Socialization-
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