Thomas Sowell’s Ethnic America is an excellent account of the socioeconomic rise of nine ethic groups that makeup part of the American mosaic. Although Sowell covers their histories before they reach America, his primary intension is not to write history. He uses history to find “factors that advance and retard the progress of groups.”
Sowell identifies three main patterns. First, emigration shows whether individuals intend to stay temporarily or permanently. And that decision results in varying degrees of contributions to American institutions and its unique culture. Furthermore, government immigration policies either adversely or positively impact those decisions, and consequently, results in unintended outcomes. Second, acculturation patterns are correlated with intended emigration goals. Among Mexicans, for example, the persistence of speaking a foreign language is higher than other ethnic groups. This reflects the different preferences of early and later generations in preserving their authentic Mexican culture. Third, family condition patterns foreshadow the level of community involvement and the extent that groups sacrifice to progress in society. For example, German Jews interacted with their surrounding community to much greater extent than Russian Jews who were more culturally self-restricted and isolated within an all-Jewish community.
Sowell shows how factors such as: culture, geography, education, discrimination, violence, age, birth rates, etc., impacted socioeconomic progress. Each group overcame obstacles to succeed. Japanese Americans endured decades of discriminatory laws and practices and the injustice of wartime interment camps, and yet today (time of publication) their median family incomes are 32 percent above the national average. Mexican Americans endured hostilities and massive waves of deportation throughout the decades, and still made great strides relative to other groups that started from an agricultural background. Numerous well-known Mexican Americans have emerged in sports and entertainment, while others have made progress in scholarship, science, and high-level professions. After enduring 200 years of slavery, Black Americans as a group have “moved from a position of utter destitution—in money, knowledge, and rights—to a place alongside of other groups emerging from the great struggles of life. None have had to come from so far back to join their fellow Americans.”
Ethnic America’s key takeaways are: One, in a sense America is a nation of immigrants, but the blanket term covers many important distinctions among the various peoples who came to America. Two, cultures are not “superior” or “inferior.” They are better or worse adapted to a particular set of circumstances. Three, rather than arguing over the advantages or disadvantages of diversity, the discussion should highlight its pervasiveness in American history and the way people have coped with its frictions and problems by putting physical and social distance between themselves. Fourth, inter-group hostility has usually been greatest among groups most alike in their social and economic conditions, and better relations have been more common among groups that are quite different.
The history of American ethic groups is a story of similar patterns and profound differences, of pain and pride and achievement. It is the story of the human spirit in different guises.
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