The Acculturation of the Italo-Americans in Norristown, Pennsylvania, 1900-1950

In this text the author studies an emigrant community of Italians settled in Norristown, Pennsylvania over a period of 50 years. Initially, Dr. Ianni discusses the meaning of acculturation and assimilation and the changes time has brought to their usage. He points out that the first immigrants under study were less Italian in a nationalistic sense than members of more local units in a recently and only superficially united kingdom. He prefers to call these Italians an ethnotype in an effort to distance them from such stereotypical assumptions as common national origin, distinctive cultural patterns and social system, etc. Some expected qualities endure this investigation and redefinition; particularly loyalty to the family, though even this bastion gets modified, especially when it encounters American social institutions like the school. Ianni also discusses the Italian involvement with organized crime and sees it as an avenue out of the poverty and powerlessness of minority status ... Finally, the author demonstrates that communal change is due to elements of time and place and their combinations.