Cultural Determinants of Naturalization

Abstract

7NTRODUCTION. In these days of increasing worship of the myth of race it is especially important to ask what are the real determinants of naturalization. Defenders of our Anglo-Saxon heritage, both the well-meaning and the masked night-riding varieties, are prone to believe that mainly the Nordic strain of peoples seeks to become naturalized. The lesser breeds are alleged to be content to remain aliens, except when forced by economic pressure and the need of qualifying for certain jobs. The relative percents naturalized of the various foreign-born groups in the United States are pointed to in support of this theory. And the inference is drawn that normal interest in naturalization is generally determined by race; hence the Nordics, such as the Germans, English, Scotch, and Scandinavians, are innately better material for American society than the non-Nordics, such as the Russians, Italians, Poles, and other South Europeans. At first glance these assumptions appear correct. The fifteenth census of the United States, taken in I930, reveals that the North European foreign born have larger percents naturalized than the South European, ranging from 53.5 of the Scotch to 70.5 of the Germans for the former group, and, for the latter, from 44.7 of the Greeks to 62.2 of the Russians (or 63.0 of the Austrians, if we follow the census arrangement and list them as South European). But these figures are not conclusive, omitting as they do any consideration of time spent in this country. Obviously, the Germanslong resident here, have had more time for adjustment, assimilation, and naturalization than have the Italians, whose group-residence has been much shorter. And the records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as yet unclassified, can afford no evidence one way or the other. a Sample Study of Naturalization. From a sample study of the foreign born made by the writer under the auspices of Yale University it is possible to derive a definite indication, however, that the determinants of naturalization are cultural and not racial in nature. The study was based on a scientific sampling of the popula-