Hopelessly Alien: The Italian Immigration Experience in Chicago Heights (Suny in Italian/American Culture)

Hopelessly Alien is an in-depth study of Italian immigration to Chicago Heights, Illinois, between 1910 and 1950. Drawing upon oral histories, interviews, historical documents, and census materials, Louis Corsino examines the critical concept of hope, which most immigration studies have cast in privatized, psychological terms as the motivation to emigrate in search of a better life. This investigation offers a more contentious, sociological perspective, depicting hope as both an ideological lure to recruit and manage the "foreign element" and as a resource immigrants employed to purchase acceptance and avoid a disparaging label as a "hopelessly alien" stranger. These dialectical processes are illustrated through the Italian immigrants' pursuit of occupational mobility and homeownership, and the appropriation of their children's hopes. Each became forms of cultural capital that demonstrated a public commitment to the American ethos of "joyful striving." Each provided measures of success, but these individual pursuits came at the expense of upsetting the necessary tension between individual and communal hopes. Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction Hope in a Sociological and Community Context Hope and Classical Sociological Thought The Community Context Chapter 1 Hope, Cultural Capital, and Habitus within an Italian Community Social Spaces, Cultural Capital, and Habitus Habitus, Social Practices, and Italian Immigrants Resignation as Social Practice Dissent as Social Practice Hope as Social Practice Hope and the Incorporated Body Hope and the Objectified Environment Hope and the Institutionalized World Conclusion Chapter 2 Drawn into the Social Spaces of Hope: The Italian Social Journey from Italy to America Entering the Social Spaces of Immigration Settling into the Social Spaces of Immigration Living Arrangements Working Arrangements Geographic Arrangements Institutional Arrangements Conclusion Chapter 3 Purchasing an Acceptance in American Society: Occupational Mobility as Cultural Capital Occupation Mobility as a Practical Investment The Dialectics of Occupational Mobility and Hope Conclusion Chapter 4 Purchasing an Acceptance in American Society: Homeownership as Cultural Capital Homeownership as “The Will to Possess” Homeownership as “The Center of Sunshine and Scenery” Conclusion Chapter 5 Purchasing an Acceptance in American Society: Children as Cultural Capital Appropriating the Hopes of Children Setting Hope Adrift in the Prewar Years Conclusion Conclusion Individualized Hope and Communal Hopes Notes Index