The Dynamics of Kin in an Industrial Community

Abstract

This essay examines the role of kinship in the process of migration and the adjustment of immigrant workers to industrial conditions. It focuses on three interrelated areas of kin activities: first, the recruitment of im? migrant workers to the textile industry through the services of kin?a process which joins migratory origin and destination into one social sys? tem; second, the role of kin within the factory, particularly in hiring, job placement, and the control of work processes; and third, overlapping both processes, the general function of kin in critical life situations, most notably during periods of unemployment and insecurity. These three areas are explored empirically in a case study of French-Canadian immigrants in an American industrial community, Manchester, New Hampshire, from 1880 to 1930, a period encompassing both the peak of Man? chester's industrial development and its subsequent decline. The essay interprets these empirical findings in the context of sociological theories of kinship. In doing so, it points to those areas of research where socio? logical theories have influenced historical analyses of kinship; and conversely, it suggests the extent to which historical findings can reorient