VII Recreation 33. What social affiliations have the various members of the family? Do any of them belong to clubs or societies-church, settlement, fraternal, political, or other? What forms of recreation do the family enjoy together? What separately? How does each member employ his leisure time? VIII Environment 34. Does family occupy a whole house? If so, has it a yard? A garden? If not, on what floor do they live? At front or rear? How many rooms? Name and address of landlord or agent? 35. Are the rooms adequately lighted and ventilated? What are the toilet and water facilities? The general sanitary condition of the house? 36. Are the rooms comfortably furnished? Are they clean, or sordid and dirty? 37. What is the character of the neighborhood? Has it undesirable physical or moral features? How many other families in the house? Their general character? 38. How long has family lived at present address? At what previous addresses has family lived? When and how long? Character of each neighborhood and house? IX Relations, If Any, with Social Agencies 39. Have any social agencies or institutions had relations with the family? If so, of what kind and with what results? If first contacts have been with the wife, is the husband known also, or vice versa? To what extent has the family received charitable aid, if at all? X Basis for Treatment 40. What are the family's plans and ambitions for the future? What moral and temperamental characteristics and what aptitudes of each member can be reckoned with as assets or must be recognized as liabilities in the shaping of that future? T CHAPTER XXI THE IMMIGRANT FAMILY HE RECENT immigrant has been mentioned a number of times in these chapters in connection with such topics as the "funded thought" of peasant witnesses, the attitude of the alien toward our social agencies, the search for data in foreign birth records, in immigration records, etc. These comments will not be repeated; they can be readily referred to with the aid of the index. Passages in earlier pages bearing upon topics discussed in the chapters which follow are made available in the same way. In dealing with foreign clients, the case worker finds himself in danger of falling into one of two errors: he may think of them as members of a colony or of a nationality having such and such fixed characteristics, or he may ignore national and racial characteristics and try to apply to them the same standards of measure that he would apply to his fellow-countrymen. He is liable to surprises if he adopts the latter course. Before long, he will have learned that he cannot ignore national characteristics altogether. But only extended experience will teach him to be as discriminating in ascribing such characteristics to others as he would wish his own adviser to be were he a stranger in a strange land and in difficulties. Generalizations about Americans, applied to himself in such a case, might strike him as beside the mark. Let us suppose instead that he is suddenly transferred from service in one of our city districts or in a town that happens to have few foreign residents, to a crowded immigrant quarter where he is made responsible for shaping the child-protective activities or the family case work of the neighborhood. In addition to the obvious duty of studying the quarter as he finds it, he will be confronted with the further one of trying to acquaint himself with the old world background of his neighbors-not merely the characteristics of their native country as a whole, but those of the different provinces and localities from which they came. I. STUDY OF THE GROUP Only general suggestions are possible here as to how such a study might be undertaken. Following the questionnaire plan already adopted, a list of queries has been prepared relating to the group background and another list relating to a family of recent immigrants. The latter is given further on (p. 387); the former follows here. Its questions should be understood to apply to native country, province, and town. From this, a student of the subject may be able, after omitting those questions that obviously do not fit either the particular group in mind or his own individual needs, to make a modified outline which will serve as a starting point for his reading and thinking. I Characteristics of the Inhabitants 1. Are they thrifty and industrious? Are they as a whole law abiding? What is their attitude toward the courts? Does the character of the laws or the manner of their enforcement explain any criminal tendencies in the community? Are there any community customs which are popularly recognized as substitutes for law? Where is the line drawn between fellow citizens and strangers? 2. Are the people stolid or excitable? Warlike or submissive? Jealous? Hottempered? Given to intemperance? Superstitious? Suspicious? Are there any superstitions which in any way affect their life in this country? Are family relations affectionate? How deep a hold has religion? 3. If there are peculiar and striking characteristics which are puzzling to Americans, is there anything in the history or traditions of the people to explain them? II Occupations and Recreations 4. What are the chief occupations of the place? Agriculture? Manufacturing? Fishing? What stage of development have industries reached? Are there many skilled workmen? A large professional class? Is there only one means of livelihood in the community? Is there any marked discrepancy between wages and the cost of living? If so, what is their in 5. Do the women engage in wage-earning occupations? Do they carry on home 6. What are the national songs and dances, the special holidays and fête days? What are the favorite recreations and sports of the community? Do they develop the team spirit? Are games of chance prominent? III Education and Culture 7. What opportunities for education are accessible to the peasant? What is the percentage of illiteracy in the country? Among the peasants? Is education secular or religious? Public or private? Is it given in the native language? Is it compulsory? To what age? How many weeks comprise the school year? Are there trade schools? Is there any legally established apprenticeship system or other system of trade training? What training are the women given, at home or at school, in sewing, knitting, weaving, lace-making, embroidery, etc.? 8. How do the attainments of the educated class compare with those of other countries? Have there been notable literary achievements? What are the national arts? To what extent do they form part of the life of all classes? IV Religion 9. Is there a dominant church, politically? Is it a large factor in the social and community life of the people? Does it figure chiefly in ceremonials or does it influence the thought and life of the people? V Family Life and Woman's Position 10. What is the relation of parents and children? Does the father have any patriarchal authority over his family? Is the tie of kinship particularly strong or weak? Does it extend beyond the immediate family? To relationships by marriage? Is intermarriage of relatives common? 11. What is woman's position in the home? What is the customary age at marriage? What amount of freedom do women have before marriage? After marriage? How is the marriage arranged? What are the dowry customs? 12. What is the general attitude toward irregular relationships formed by young girls? By married women? Is betrothal equivalent merely to engagement, as in the United States, or is it regarded as a sort of trial marriage? VI Community Customs 13. What are the usual living conditions among the peasants as regards housing, sanitation, cleanliness, etc.? What are the peculiar customs of dress, cooking, etc.? 14. Is there a strong community feeling? If a family is in need, how is it usually relieved? By relatives, friends, public assistance, private organizations? What is the popular attitude toward medical agencies, toward institutional care, toward outdoor relief and begging? VII Laws and Government 15. Is the land held in large estates or small holdings? 16. Is the country (or was it until very recently) under a liberal government? An oppressive government? Is taxation heavy? To what extent is the community self-governing? Is national patriotism strong in the community? Local patriotism? What are the government's requirements regarding military service? 17. How progressive and competent is the government in its handling of sanitary and health matters? 18. What is the nature of the laws regulating labor-wages, hours, equipment of factories, etc.? Are there laws prohibiting child labor, and how well are they enforced? 19. What are the most important legal regulations relating to the family? What legal rights do women have? Are both civil and religious marriage ceremonies required? Is divorce or separation permitted? What is the legal status of the illegitimate child? What are the laws of inheritance of wife and children? Of trusts for minor children? 20. What governmental provision is there for old age, unemployment, sickness, accident? For dependents, for delinquents, for defectives? VIII Emigration 21. Has the emigration from this community been a recent development? What causes have led to it-racial, religious, economic (necessity or experimentation), political? Has the desire to escape military service contributed? Is exile used as a substitute for imprisonment? 22. Has emigration been unduly large? Has it drained the community of the ablebodied? What effect has emigration had on standards of living and wages in the community? Do members of the community receive much money from America? Has the emigration been mainly directed toward one destination? If so, what? Answers to these questions will not be found in any one place. Some will be in books, some can be learned from people, and a few of the most important of those remaining unanswered will come gradually in the course of one's daily work. No one way of proceeding can be urged, but if the writer found herself suddenly responsible for social work among a foreign group, she would be eager to get well in mind the history of their nation in the last hundred years. During that period there have been momentous political changes the world over, and it would be necessary to understand those that had most closely touched the particular group with which she was dealing. Sometimes the clearest understanding may be had from the "life and times" of a great national figure. No one who has read Thayer's Life of Cavour, for example, can ever forget the strikingly dissimilar characteristics of the natives of the different Italian provinces, or forget the background of oppression and anarchy that is only half a century away from the Neapolitan or the Sicilian of our own day. Another view of a given foreign group may be had from whatever native poetry and legend best illustrate folk ways. Some of their modern fiction too would be illuminating, though much of it would be of no 1 Thayer, William Roscoe: Life and Times of Cavour. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1911. |