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Cities and Social Change Scio me nihil site Socrates The urban city and its function in society cannot be understood without studying its structure as a city of immigrants, their newcomer families and friends and the ties that connect them. By overlooking the social culture and networks of the city's immigrants, the study of the urban centre is at best a futile effort. Several characteristics of immigrant settlement in urban Canada have been studied. Perhaps the most frequent focus in the literature is on ethnic residential segregation. The findings from census and survey data indicate that Northern European groups are least likely to be residing in ethnically segregated neighborhoods in Canadian cities, Eastern European groups are more segregated, and South European and Asian groups are most segregated.
Several explanations have been developed to account for the outline of ethnic residential segregation. A higher level of ethnic residential segregation is related to a strong maintenance of institutional completeness, and it characterizes an opposite to assimilation. Another reflection is ethnic residential segregation as an indicator of ethnic cohesiveness. Ethnic residential segregation is also indicator for related to the social distance which members of the dominant group maintain for various ethnic groups, and that the ones which are kept the furthest social distance are most likely to be segregated.
A survey of university students and their immigrant parents, which indicated that more "stigmatized" immigrant groups composed of Caribbean blacks and Chinese perceived themselves to be more disadvantaged and were more likely to support an orientation that emphasized working with others in the same ethnic community than less stigmatized groups made up of Greeks and Italians. Arguments to the existence of ethnic residential segregation in areas where residents had higher socio-economic status, albeit in a weaker degree challenged the interpretation of ethnic and immigrant segregation as based on socioeconomic differences alone. Social tendencies and particularly social residential segregation are areas of examination than cannot be neglected if we are to understand the individual and group experiences that ultimately influence urban growth. It is therefore important to carefully explore these areas so that insight into the underpinnings of the urban metropolis is achieved. Looking at Canadian urban centers from 1850 - 1920, specifically the city of Toronto, I will examine the issue of social residential segregation and its significance to the urban centre. I will attempt to prove that this phenomenon is a consequence of social concentration in particular industries resulting from ethnic networks and socio-economic inequalities present within society.
Furthermore, the existence of these vibrant yet segregated social communities does not imply that assimilation is failing to occur. Consequently, standard assimilation frameworks, which assume that proximity to the majority group increases with socio-economic gains, must be re-evaluated. Urban and historical geographers have become increasingly interested in studying residential segregation through the context of changes in the industrial workplace. A number of industries like clothing, textile, iron and steel have employed large proportions of immigrant workers. Toronto is no exception.
Early immigrant settlers came to North America in search of a 'better' life and increased economic opportunities and Toronto's economic ambience appealed to them. 1850 's Toronto saw increased prosperity with expanding enterprises, jobs and especially railway building. By the 1860 's, when this first rail construction boom had faded, the city blossomed into a regionally dominant railway centre with track access throughout the province, into adjoining Montreal, Detroit and New York. Another height in understanding the development of ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods with a degree of institutional completeness is to focus on the Jewish, Italian and Greek communities in Toronto. They ethnic and immigrant groups do not duplicate existing services for the sake of segregation, but only develop its own organizations when special needs exist and when the group is excluded from full participation in the mainstream agencies offering the services. And the state maintains formal support of ethno-cultural communities as a means to secure their support of state policy. A related question to the pattern of ethnic residential segregation has to do with whether immigrant and ethnic groups which maintain a high degree of institutional completeness or community attachment are more likely to become marginal to Canadian society.
Sociologists found that except for South Europeans, little relationship exists between job status and ethnic group ties among North European, South European, and Chinese. Focusing on Canadians of German, Italy, Jewish, and Ukrainian origin, they presented strong evidence to reject the hypothesis that suggests a strong ethnic identity and attachment to one's ethnic community retard social mobility. Their findings confirmed an earlier observation of Darroch who suggested that the process of individual assimilation of immigrants to English-Canadian cultural and socio-economic patterns appeared to have coexisted with the process of ethnic persistence at the level of residential communities and organizational life, and that these two processes were not inconsistent. More importantly, though, steam and iron transport expansion unraveled the way for industrialization. Toronto's harbor front thrived with rail traffic, entailing machine and engine works, coal-yards, molding and forging plants and steam-driven factories. The new gas works, the Grand Trunk Railway workshops, the Toronto Rolling Mills, and the Gooderham and Worts distillery exemplified this flourishing industrialization.
Moreover, other processing operations, such as wood or hardware manufactories, tanneries and meat-packing houses accompanied industrial growth. Sociologists in Canada have a long tradition of studying the impact of immigration on the occupational structure. The best known thesis is Canada has relied upon immigration as a means to recruit labor for new jobs that emerged from industrialization The relationship between ethnicity and class, or more correctly occupational status, has two components. First some ethnic groups, such as those of British and Jewish origin, have persistently done well in the occupational structure, and other groups, such as southern and eastern Europeans, have continued to be overrepresented in the bottom strata; thus, certain ethnic groups had been disadvantaged in the occupational structure of Canada.
Second, the process of immigration and immigrant recruitment has been responsible for producing the ethnically stratified occupational structure. All in all, by the 1860 's, working opportunities in the city could readily urge on its settlement, which consequently began to accelerate rapidly (Harney, 1985). In light of these increased working opportunities distinct Torontonian neighbourhoods developed. St.
John's Ward bounded by Henderson, Yonge, Front and University and the Italian neighbourhoods bounded by Henderson, Manning, Dundas and Ossington are just two of the distinct communities that resulted. By the 1900 's, the 'Ward' as it was popularly known, primarily consisted of East Europeans of Jewish descent. They initially settled in the Ward because they had little choice. Upon their arrival, they were in immediate need of cheap accommodation near steady employment. St. John's Ward, adjacent to the commercial centre of the city, provided them this opportunity.
They had relatively few skills and no credit although their affinity for the garment industry proved valuable. Suffice it is to say, the Ward was in close proximity to this industry. During the early twentieth century, the notable clothing firms, the Lowndes Co. , Johnson Brothers and others were located on Front Street, Wellington Street, Church and Bay. By 1910, the T.
Eaton Company had erected an enormous manufacturing firm bounded by Bay, Albert, Louisa and James. This company would eventually grow to be the largest sole employer of Jews in the Ward. Factory employees elected to reside near their places of employment. Working long hours, they wished to minimize traveling time thus choosing to live close to the companies that employed them. In addition, as proximity to major clothing firms increased, so too did employment opportunities.
Since the workers in the clothing industries tended to be less educated and slightly older than workers in manufacturing as a whole, they would be less employable once dismissed from work. The Ward, similar to many other areas throughout North America, thus evolved into an immigrant haven adjacent to the central business district. Despite the fact that not all Jews made their livelihoods in clothing factories, it was the factories' presence and proximity to affordable housing that attracted Jewish immigrants to the area and created a vibrant social neighborhood. Similar social neighborhood appeared as divergent immigrant occupational skills emerged. The first Finnish inhabitant of Toronto, a tailor named James Lindala, ventured to the city upon hearing of the high demand for skilled tailors.
Settling in the south-central part of Toronto, near the railroad and tailoring shops on King, Lindala resided as close to prospective employment as feasible. Other Finnish tailors soon followed the pattern established by the Finn, also settling near the tailoring shops on King, in search of prospective work. By 1901, distinct Finnish housing patterns were clearly established. All Finns in the area clustered by Lindala, in the south-central part of the city, a region bounded by Queen, King, Peter and York. All Finnish men were tailors and all resided as close to their place of work as possible.
It is evident than that immigrant concentration in particular occupations directly impacts the spatial location and segregation of various social groups, as is demonstrated in the Jewish and Finnish communities of Toronto. Furthermore, social residential segregation prior to 1930 (when transportation was not easily and economically accessible) cannot be attributed to a lack of assimilation. It resulted as a necessary component of life, determined by divergent occupational skills. However, divergent occupational skills are not the only determinants of residential segregation. As established, most immigrants lived in social enclaves near their place of work thus social networks prevalent in employment and elsewhere must be examined. The contributions of these networks to the formation of social neighborhoods are essential to our understanding of the spatial organization of the metropolis.
MacDonald and MacDonald note that 'chain migration' is instrumental in solidifying spatial patterns established by early immigrants. They define this as a process whereby prospective immigrants learn of opportunities in the receiving community and have initial lodging and employment arranged by means of primary social relationships with migrants who precede them. Elaborating, they say this type of migration frequently results in the creation of ethical neighborhoods and the transplantation of entire kin networks in the area of destination. This process was evident in the case of the Finnish immigrants who settled in Toronto. Kinship, letters and word of mouth played the most prominent role in the recruitment of these immigrants. The first nineteen Finnish settlers recruited through social networks were profoundly important in determining the spatial pattern and composition of the Finnish population.
They were one another's friends or relatives and the men were all tailors. Consequently, they settled near each other and near their place of work. Conversely, work and locale intertwined in terms of social structure and in space through residential segregation. Researchers believe this segregation is an indicator of a lack of assimilation into the dominant society. They go on to assert that a lack of language and occupational skills leaves the immigrant without alternative employment possibilities, hence indicating failure to assimilate with the majority.
Though they believe do put forth a model of assimilation, they are not adequately founded. Social neighborhoods and networks within these neighborhoods can actually help an individual integrate themselves into the dominant culture. The lack of familiarity with English and with the occupational structure of the receiving society is not handicaps to the immigrant who finds a place in a social neighborhood or social business. This is because networks and resources present within the community help to assist the new immigrant, by actually facilitating incorporation into the larger society.
They provide the initial resources required to surmount the obstacles and barriers to participation in society's institutions. The Ward's Mutual Benefit Society is a prime example of one such resource. In a system in which public welfare was all but inconceivable, both on the part of the government and on the part of the possible recipient, the immigrant needed all the help he could get. The Mutual Benefit Society was one answer to this problem for the social Jews of Toronto. The establishment served to facilitate Jewish immigrants with difficult times following their arrival, and to assist them in transporting other family members to the city from the old country. Thus at the level of the individual, social networks and resources are the structural links between destination and origin which mediate the migrant's integration into a new society.
They contribute to the creation of social neighborhoods where immigrants of the same cultural background assist one another with incorporation in the new society. Though the integration may be slow or tedious, perhaps even generations long, it is a clear indication of incorporation into society and not a lack of assimilation. Evidently than the concentration of immigrants in particular neighborhoods, results from the availability of housing, work and social networks, which facilitate this initial settlement and occupational adjustment. Comparing immigrants and non-immigrants appear to have an average occupational status and earning level that is similar to or higher than non-immigrants, but immigrants have lower occupational statuses and earnings after differences in education and other variables have been accounted for. However, these are not the only factors contributing to the creation of neighborhoods and social residential segregation.
For some groups, their patterns of segregation may to some extent suggest a lack of social acceptance by the larger society. Examination of this entails an understanding of Toronto's population composition. Attempting to compare immigrants and native-born Canadians has produced results that indicate the two groups show differences and similarities, although the direction and magnitude of difference vary depending on the specific measurement used. Researchers also differ in their interpretation of disparities in economic performance between immigrants and native-born Canadians. Historically Toronto's British have enjoyed undisputed numerical, political, economic and social dominance. As anxiety increased over the years concerning the 'quality' of immigrants settling in Canada, increasing numbers of restrictions were placed on those particular social groups which were thought not to be of the best quality.
The preference was for immigrants of British origins, northern and western Europeans, and those born in the United States because they could identify with Canada's British heritage and more adequately handle the harshness of the northern climate. Immigrants from central, eastern, and southern European countries, the Middle East, Asia and other non-European countries have encountered numerous restrictions associated with the extent to which their language, customs and appearance differed from the Anglo-Saxon standard. These restrictions alone indicate the presence of discrimination and a hierarchy of social preferences although the discrimination does not end here. Overcrowding was identified as a specific problem to the working-classes their housing comprehensively failed them in its quantity and quality. The overcrowding aspect of the problem can be identified in two related ways, the first was the packed in dwellings on urban land. The second was the lack of moral segregation of people within the actual dwellings.
Unemployment is a serious social problem because it puts strains on communities and families. For example, during the periods of severe unemployment, theft, alcoholism, depression, suicide and domestic violence all show an increase. The main reason for the correlation between theft and unemployment is that some people, when they cannot earn an income from legal work, turn to illegal activities. As a result the amount of theft increases. Indeed, many people argue that only an employment oriented policy can reduce the social problems of these communities. Incorporation of a minority group into a majority involves two sets of processes: one on the side of members of social groups and another on the part of individuals and institutions of the greater society.
These two groups must work together to entail integration and to promote assimilation. Unfortunately this has not been the case. Toronto's Anglo-Saxon majority did not help much in making foreigners feel at home. In fact they blatantly discriminated against them and this perpetuated social residential segregation.
Furthermore, their restricted access to transportation indicates an obstruction of assimilation and reinforcement of social residential segregation. As a result of these restrictions, immigrants had no choice but to live as close to their workplace as possible, spatially segregated from the majority population. Discrimination in the workplace was also an issue. Although most immigrants lacked the occupational skills necessary for upward mobility the few who did possess superior skills were denied access to many sectors of the workforce. All foreigners knew, for example, that there was no work for them in government agencies.
By way of illustration, Toronto's Hydro Commission employed only workers of British origin under the pretext that well-spoken English was an exclusive requirement. Similarly, this workforce discrimination was indicative of a failure of the majority to accept the minority, resulting in an impeded assimilation process. Ethical residential segregation was also reinforced as immigrants continued working in the factories and shops that surrounded them and did not place such restrictions upon them. Assimilation frameworks must subsequently be re-evaluated.
Spatial segregation, to some degree, may indicate a lack of assimilation. However, it may be the majority who cannot find it within themselves to accept others. As an urban space divided into many sections, Toronto spoke to each immigrant group in a distinct manner. Since their established and refined British neighbors saw the city differently, they misunderstood the newcomers' behavior.
Subsequently, the majority and not the minority group impeded the process of assimilation. In its entirety social residential segregation can be linked to many factors, which have not been discussed within the context of this paper. However, my main purpose was to illuminate the role of social divisions of labour in creating housing patterns, social networks in solidifying these patterns and, discrimination in perpetuating spatially segregated neighborhoods. We must also keep in mind that assimilation is not always a natural procedure and thus cannot adequately explain the process of social segregation.
It is necessary to look beyond models that accentuate ideal methods of dispersal because we do not live in an ideal world.
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Research essay sample on Anglo Saxon Jewish Immigrants
