African Americans and Immigrants in Northern Cities: The Effects of Relative Group Size on Occupational Standing in 1920

Prior to World War I millions of immigrants arrived from Europe to work in northern plants and factories. During and after the war the African American populations of northern cities grew rapidly as southern migrants moved north. This article examines the effects of the relative sizes of these two p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 2001-12, Vol.80 (2), p.573-604
Main Author: Tolnay, Stewart E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American studies
African Americans
African cultural groups
Black American people
Censuses
Cities
Cities and towns
Comparative Analysis
Demographic aspects
Effects
Ethnic Groups
European Cultural Groups
European people
Europeans
Factories
Group size
History
Immigrant populations
Immigrants
Immigration
Intergroup Relations
Internal Migration
Labor market
Labor markets
Labor Migration
Migrants
Migration
Migration, Internal
Minority Groups
Noncitizens
Numbers
Occupational Status
Occupations
Population Density
Population growth
Population size
Social aspects
Social assimilation
Social status
Socioeconomics
Sociology
Sociology of work
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
U.S.A
United States of America
Urban Areas
USA
War
Wellbeing
Work groups
Working population. Employment. Women's work
World War I
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Summary:Prior to World War I millions of immigrants arrived from Europe to work in northern plants and factories. During and after the war the African American populations of northern cities grew rapidly as southern migrants moved north. This article examines the effects of the relative sizes of these two population groups on the occupational standing of African Americans and immigrants in 1920. The results show that the occupational standing of African Americans was unaffected by the relative sizes of the black and immigrant populations in their labor markets. In contrast, the occupational fortunes of all immigrants were more favorable in labor markets with proportionately larger black populations. For new immigrants a curvilinear relationship also existed between individual occupational standing and the relative size of their population in the labor market, with the negative relationship observed at lower levels of immigrant concentration turning positive in areas with proportionately more immigrants.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1353/sof.2001.0112