Ethnic Differences: Schooling and Social Structure among the Irish, Italians, Jews, and Blacks in an American City, 1880-1935 (Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modern History)

"Ethnic Differences" explores how and why the Irish, Italians, Jews, and blacks of Providence, Rhode Island differed in their schooling and economic success. Drawing on new evidence from thousands of students recors of public, Catholic, and private schools, as well as on census manuscripts, city directories, and other sources, the book offers an integrated study of American ethnicity, education, and social structure. Joel Perlmann examines the extent to which differing career patterns, and reconsiders the relation between ethnicity and social class Frontmatter......Page 1 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 9 Introduction......Page 13 1.1 Providence and its schools......Page 25 1.2 The evidence......Page 31 1.3 Ethnic groups of the city: a closer look......Page 32 1.4 Schooling, social class, and ethnicity......Page 35 1.5 Jobs: social-class destinations......Page 42 1.6 Education and social destinations, 1880--1935......Page 48 2 - The Irish......Page 55 2.1 Patterns of schooling and occupational attainment......Page 56 2.2 Growth of the Catholic school system: Providence, Boston, and beyond......Page 76 2.3 Characteristics of Catholic high school students......Page 84 3 - The Italians......Page 95 3.1 Family background......Page 98 3.2 Patterns of schooling......Page 102 3.3 Patterns of occupational attainment......Page 108 3.4 Explaining the differences: other economic characteristics, remigration, and contextual effects......Page 112 3.5 Explaining the differences: the European cultural heritage......Page 124 4 - The Russian Jews......Page 134 4.1 The eastern European Jewish background and the debate about its importance......Page 136 4.2 Family background......Page 142 4.3 Patterns of schooling......Page 151 4.4 Patterns of occupational attainment......Page 166 4.5 Explaining the differences......Page 169 5 - The Blacks......Page 175 5.1 The social characteristics of black families......Page 176 5.2 Mother's work and child labor......Page 183 5.3 School attendance and grade attainment......Page 186 5.4 GPA, integration, and tracking......Page 193 5.5 Explanations of race differences in schooling: class and family structure......Page 196 5.6 Explanations of race differences in schooling: discrimination and culture......Page 200 5.7 Black occupational attainment......Page 205 Conclusion......Page 215 1 An overview of the research design......Page 232 2 Selecting the samples......Page 233 3 Obtaining additional information on family background......Page 236 4 Obtaining information on schooling......Page 238 5 Obtaining information on the male sample member's career......Page 248 6 The coding and classification of occupations......Page 255 7 The organization of the data collection and processing......Page 257 8 The use of regression analysis......Page 258 9 Assessing contextual effects: the case of the Italians......Page 259 Notes......Page 264 Index......Page 332 Ethnic Differences, first published in 1989, explores how and why the Irish, Italians, Jews, and blacks of Providence, Rhode Island differed in their schooling and economic success. Drawing on evidence from thousands of students records of public, Catholic, and private schools, as well as on census manuscripts, city directories, and other sources, the book offers an integrated study of American ethnicity, education, and social structure. Joel Perlmann examines the extent to which differing career patterns, and reconsiders the relation between ethnicity and social class. Providence had been one of colonial America's earliest settlements; by the time of the Revolution it had also become one of the larger settlements.