Migrations and Cultures: A World View

by Thomas Sowell

Book Overview

Most commentators look at the issue of immigration from the viewpoint of immediate politics. In doing so, they focus on only a piece of the issue and lose touch with the larger picture. Now Thomas... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 046504588X
• ISBN13: 9780465045884
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 2.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Stare the facts in the face

Hooray for Thomas Sowell again. This books brings you in contact with the essential facts of people migrations and more... He covers the German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Jewish and Indian migrations. Cultures are not equal was one of the main conclusions I received from this book. As a result of this book I have found a deeper respect for the cultures mentioned in the book. I also see that the lives built by these people was built from pure grit and toil. How does my culture affect my future? How does my culture affect my economic well-being? These are all questions I have come to ask as a result of reading this book. This book is the second book in a series. The series is as follows: 1) Race and Culture 2) Migration and Culture 3) Conquest and Culture and a 4th related book called Affirmative Action an Empirical Study This book has shaped my personal view of immigration, emigration and minorities. I now can base my views on historical facts rather than popular or polarizing news articles.

Good overview of histories of migrant ethnic groups in often historically ignored settings

This particular title provides an overview of the histories of migrant groups of German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Jewish, and Indian ancestry. The book specifically provides an account of major demographic trends and political events that have occurred to the migrant groups through stretches of history, both in their home countries as well as their destinations. This account provides clues for the reasons behind the migrants' departures, their selection of particular destinations, and the characterized attitudes and skills that the migrants brought with them to where they settled. The demographic component of this history is summarized by Sowell's hypothesized cultural attributes, backed by an impressive compilation of statistical evidence from the most accurate sources available to someone studying the topic in the modern era. The book notes some of the major effects of the migration and subsequent settlement (or return sojourney) on both the migrants and the other ethnic groups living in close proximity to the migrants. This book provides an historical overview of groups that many people may not have heard of. For myself, learning about the history of such groups as the Volga Germans, the Sephardim in Holland, the Italians in Argentina, the Japanese in Peru, the Chinese in the Carribean, and the Indians in Eastern Africa was an eye-opener. The one potential drawback to this book lies in its uneven accounting of major political events for a few ethnic groups. The book covers the political history of the Sri Lankan conflict and the Jews in Western/Germanic/Slavic Europe some detail, but I would have liked to learn more about the Chinese in Southeast Asia (though the book includes a brief summary of the political events surrounding the formation of Singapore). A few groups I would have liked to learn more about are not included, either, such as the Germans in the Hapsburg Empire and the Japanese in Manchuko/Manchuria. Still, considering the amount of research, composition, and revision that writing a book of this size and scope must have required, I can't fault the author for the work he did do. The cultural characteristics that Sowell attributes to different groups of migrants (and supports with evidence) provide some food for thought as well. He provides examples of cultural attitudes and subsequent behaviors that may help or hinder economic development in specific industries, and backs up his fairly common-sense theories with evidence. (A few notable examples are how Jews succeeded in textiles but failed in agriculture, and how Southern Italians were noted as hard urban workers but rarely entered entrepreneurial positions.) If you are looking for a more detailed history of specific events, this book may not be for you. But as an overview of specific groups, this book does a more-than-admirable job.

Thoughtful, Persuasive Examination of Migrants Across the Globe

Distinguished Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell's "Migrations and Cultures: A World View" is the most thoughtful, articulate examination of immigration across the globe which I've encountered (Though, I might add, that I am not surprised that this book is truly exceptional, given Sowell's keen interest in - and superb scholarship on - this very subject, which I came across for the first time years ago in his earlier book "Ethnic America: A History".). Sowell traces the immigration histories of six Eurasian peoples: Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews and Indians (from the Indian subcontinent, NOT the Americas). He contends that the relative success of these peoples as migrants owes more to their cultural capital (the set of beliefs and practices taken from their ancestral homelands) than to the economic capital of their new countries. It is a compelling argument which he demonstrates repeatedly, tracing the migration patterns of each of these peoples across the globe. Furthermore, it is an argument which is well-reasoned, fully supported by ample data, noting for example, the degree to which Indian migrants from different parts of India have been able to accrue wealth for themselves and their descendants in far-flung regions such as East Africa, Caribbean islands, and the United States (For example, he observes that Guajaratis, migrants from the Indian state of Guajarat, are far more likely to become successful entrepreneurs than those from other Indian states, since Guajarat has had a long history of successful entrepreneurship; in a similar vein, he compares and contrasts the relative economic fortunes of Western European Jews with those from Eastern Europe, noting that the former were more likely to become successful, due to a much stronger entrepreneurial tradition in Western Europe.). I believe "Migrants and Cultures: A World View" should be read here in the United States by a wide readership, since Sowell's arguments deserve to be considered seriously in the ongoing debate over illegal immigration. Furthermore, much to his credit, Sowell suceeds in presenting an objective view of immigration, especially here in the United States, in which he notes that the relative cultural capital of emigrant peoples has had a more important influence on their relative success than our liberal, fairly progressive laws on economic and personal freedom. Sowell concludes his book with an intriguing observation on the effectiveness of educating foreign-born "sojourners" here in the United States and other Western democracies in the hope that they would return to their home countries with our knowledge, skills and attitudes on economic and political freedom; he contends that the rise of what he regards as managerial and technological capital via multinational corporations, has lessened the need for human capital transfers via "sojourners" (Written just as the internet was rapidly emerging, I suspect that Sowell in an updated edition of this bo

Readable, thorough, and candid

How does moving from one country to another, or from one continent to another, affect people? How does it affect the lifestyle of those who move? Conversely, how does this change the culture of the recipient country? In his book MIGRATIONS AND CULTURES, Thomas Sowell explores the various answers to these questions by examining the historical changes wrought by migrations amongst six different groups of people: Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews, and Indians (from India, not North America). By looking at the histories of Germans who migrated to various places in Russia - Baltic, Volga, Black Sea - as well as the differing histories of Germans who migrated to various places in the United States, Brazil, Paraguay, and Australia, he avoids drawing false conclusions that are often made when only one or two particular cases of migration are studied. Sowell applies this broader historical frame of reference to each of these six groups to better understand cultural phenomena. For example, Orlando Patterson at Harvard once wrote that the Chinese were prominent in Jamaica for reasons peculiar to Jamaican history. But by looking at the Chinese in other cultures, one sees they are dominant "middleman minority" in other places as well, ranging from Thailand or the Philippines to Panama City or Lima, Peru. So that one is forced to conclude that it wasn't something unique to Jamaican history that made Chinese prominent as middlemen, but rather due to something in the culture the people brought with them to China, whether in the form of particular skills or work habits or inclinations and attitudes to life. After years of exhaustive research, consultation with other scholars, and wide-ranging travels in preparing his trilogy (RACE AND CULTURE, MIGRATIONS AND CULTURES, CONQUESTS AND CULTURES), Sowell concluded, "If there is one pattern that emerges from all these histories it is that each group has its own cultural pattern - and that these patterns do not disappear upon crossing a border or an ocean." Some things, such as external cultural manifestations of language or dress, may change far more readily than internal cultural values such as social mores, marital choice, religious practice, propensity to sacrifice and to save earnings, or attitudes towards work, all things which go into that little phrase, "cultural capital". Sowell's book is exhaustively researched but not pedantic. His numerous specific examples for the general statements he puts forth not only make his work readable but reliable as well: in making a point, he backs it up with specific historical examples. His book is not "light reading" in the way a intriguing novel might be, but it is "sound" reading, enlightening and trustworthy. I didn't get the feeling Sowell tried to pull the wool over his readers' eyes: he instead attempted to lay out the facts in a coherent, honest fashion. His conclusions are insightful (and sometimes controversial). Provided one keeps

Great history of cultures

Migratiosn and Cultures does a really great job of describing how different ethnic groups around the world have migrates from their native lands to go new lands in search of work. It focuses on both permant migration as well as temproary migration. Sowell shows how their culture has affected what type of job these groups have gone into and how they have faired in comparision to their native populations. It shows how native populations differ in how they treat the migrants like the differenced in the treatment of the Jews. It also shows how native populations can start a backlash against the new ethnic groups like Jews in various countries, Chinese in Southeast Asia, Indians in east Africa and Germans in Russia and eastern Europe. Overall, the book tries makes connections between how cultures affects its inhabitants even as the move to new lands and how it affects the descendants of those people.