出刊年月/Date of Publishing

1995.12

所屬卷期/Vol. & No.   第25卷第4期 Vol. 25, No. 4

類型/Type                 研究論文 Research Article

篇名/Title
When Families Came to America: Adaptation of Italian and Chinese Familial Traditions in New York City, 1890-1970
紐約市意大利和中國移民家庭傳統的比較研究

作者/Author
王心揚 Xinyang Wang

頁碼/Pagination
pp. 1-26

摘要
儘管移民史是美國歷史上的一個主要問題，至今還没有人做過歐洲移民和亞洲移民之間的比較研究。本文通過比較意大利和中國的家庭傳統被移植到紐約以後所發生的不同變化，證明移民在美國的適應過程不單單是舊世界文化傳統的延續，也不完全是在新環境下憑空產生出來的東西，而是舊傳統和新環境之間相互作用而產生的結果。意大利人在移民美國以前所重視的是核心家庭，他 (她) 們到了紐約以後，面對的就業機會也比較好，因而没有必要用家庭模式去組織自己的經濟和社會活動。相比之下，中國人很重視延伸家庭和家族，又有用家庭關係去塑造其他社會關係的習慣。移民到美國以後，受到嚴重的種族歧視，不但就業機會十分有限，而且排華法又不許他 (她) 們接家眷到美國來。於是他 (她) 們便利用自己最熟悉的模式和符號——家庭——去組織自己的經濟和社會活動。像姓氏公所這樣的組織——同姓但不一定有血緣關係的人所組成類似大家庭的組織——就是舊傳統和新環境相互作用的產物。

Abstract
Despite the importance of immigration as a topic in American history, until now, there has been no comparative research of European and Chinese immigration to the United States. This paper compares the transformation of familial traditions that occurred when Italian and Chinese families arrived in New York City. These transformations prove that American immigrants did not simply continue old world traditions and also did not completely metamorphosize into foundationless products of the new environment, but instead were the product of cultural interaction between old traditions and new circumstances. The Italian immigrant community placed high value on the nuclear family in their home country. After arriving in New York, they faced comparatively more job opportunities, and as a result, did not need to rely on family organizations for personal, economic and social activities. By comparison, the Chinese community placed high value on the extended family and the broader family group, and used family relationships to construct a social network. Chinese immigrants to America faced not only strong discrimination and limited job opportunities, but also anti-Chinese legislation that prevented them from bringing their families with them to the U.S. Consequently, they made greater use of the social-cultural modes and symbols most familiar to them, i.e. family, to organize personal, economic and social activities. One primary manifestation of this process was the use of family name associations, in which groups of people bearing the same family name would organize themselves into cohesive social groups, thereby, grafting their old traditions onto a new social context.

關鍵字/Key Word
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DOI
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學門分類/Subject
史學 History