BOOK REVIEW

Beyond the Melting Pot

Beyond the Melting Pot addresses the importance of race and the fundamental way in which ethnicity shaped the culture and identity of New York City.  The book is divided into five parts that highlight the importance of the Puerto Rican, Jewish, Black, Irish, and Italian immigrant populations. In doing so, the author dissects and classifies the political and socioeconomic factors that help to distinguish and individualize the different groups. Author Nathan Glazer challenges the notion that the various races of America successfully integrated, and instead holds firm to the belief that the formations of ethnic-exclusive subcultures dominate the cultural make-up of New York City. In support of this theory, Glazer states religious, cultural and political institutions as being vital in maintaining the homogenous ethnic make-up of New York City.

New York City has long been home to powerful religious institutions, the Roman Catholic Church chief amongst them. The social/political fate of the Irish in particular was heavily intertwined with the doings of the Catholic Church. “The future of the Irish in New York politics will be profoundly affected by events within the Catholic Church, which is, and for a generation at the very least, will remain, essentially an Irish Catholic Church” (Glazer 274). What Glazer means by this is that the Irish are so heavily associated with the Catholic Church that an event such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade isn’t even an Irish affair anymore, but rather a show of force by the Catholic Church, whose leaders are mostly Irish anyway. The dominant presence of so many Irish in the Church suggests that they (the Irish) have gathered and organized around this single, powerful entity, which is succinct evidence of homogeneity within a single ethnic group. In stating this, I believe Glazer offers solid concrete evidence as to the isolation of the Irish from the rest of the major ethnic groups in New York City.

The Irish have even developed a sophisticated educational system centered around Catholicism, which implies that even their cultural institutions are centered, isolated systems, separate from the rest of New York City. Glazer goes on to say “There is nothing in the history of organized religion comparable with the effort of the American Catholic Church to maintain a complete, comprehensive educational system ranging from the most elementary tutelage to the most advanced discipline” (Glazer 276). This is perhaps a unique case amongst immigrant groups, none of the other ethnic groups had such self-sufficient communities by which even education was used to distinguish. Glazer makes a solid point by bringing up the Catholic educational system, but I believe his prediction might have been somewhat off only because Catholic schools are not necessarily exclusive to Irish communities anymore.

Political institutions, on the other hand, serve a wide-ranging socioeconomic group of people, or at least in theory. In practice, as is evident in New York City, political leaders will often reward or take care of the ethnic groups and socioeconomic groups that helped to get them elected. Such is the case in low-income neighborhoods, usually inhabited by Puerto Rican immigrants and blacks (Negroes as Glazer says). What Glazer says about blacks in particular is actually quite interesting, in that a black church will sometimes have to welcome Puerto Ricans through its doors. Like most ethnic groups (aforementioned Irish) politics and religion often go hand in hand, so the church catering to the needs of Puerto Ricans essentially translates to a black political institution fulfilling the needs of its non-black members. Glazer does not offer an explanation for this, but it is quite obviously because the socioeconomic position of Puerto Ricans and Blacks is at times so similar and easily comparable. This portion of the book is perhaps the only segment that does suggest homogeneity, as evidence is provided that the needs of low-class Puerto Ricans and Blacks are akin.

Overall, Nathan Glazer provides a compelling argument as to why New York City is more then just a melting pot by analyzing the successes of religious, political and social institutions. I found that the theory was quite interesting, and some of the various predictions that he makes at the end of each segment turned out to be quite accurate for 1963. The book does a solid job of explaining why social and political institutions exist for the purpose of serving ethnic interests, and how New York City seems to encourage isolated ethnic groups and homogeneity.