Socialization to class, ethnicity, and race in the New Haven area during the 1950s

Abstract

■ I was raised in the New Haven suburb of Hamden and attended the town’s public schools during the 1950s. This article discusses the differences of class, ethnicity, and race as I encountered them in my neighborhood and schools and the understandings of these differences that I developed. At the time, the region centered on an industrial city, and its class and status order revolved largely around the rankings of occupational roles in an industrial society. Yet, the system of stratification was being transformed both by the rising prosperity of the working class and by the efforts of second and third generation immigrant ethnic groups, principally Italian Americans, to gain recognition as the equals of other groups, including Protestants of old New England backgrounds. Lifestyles were modest compared with today, and yet the distinctions between groups and strata were clear and strongly defended.