While both articles and the chapters in Foner gave insight into surprising (to me) but uncommon phenomena found in the relationship between culture, class, and the workplace, I found Kwong’s article to be a real eye-opener. His frank description of Chinese illegals and the work they have to obtain to pay off debts to snakeheads provides an explanation for the highly noticeable presence of restaurants and other food service providers (the ubiquitous Chinese restaurant) – of course, the customer is usually unaware of the tension breaking out behind closed doors.
Kwong’s article gives more weight to the argument over the difference between Flushing and Manhattan’s Chinatown. Zhou’s article (from two weeks ago) states that many Chinese (mostly legal, though) see Flushing as temporary, as a stepping-stone in the road to upward mobility. Kwong, however, explains how factory-based employers– usually the garment industry – instill a sense of fear of “foreigners (Americans) in their employees. Though Kwong makes reference mostly to illegal immigrant workers, the concept can also apply to legal immigrant workers, if their only available work options are garment factories. The difference may not be too surprising, as, reason being the fact that it is a suburban area, Flushing is not seen as a “true” Chinatown, and is “relatively free from the constraints of social structures in Old Chinatown.” Flushing residents are more likely to venture out and encounter other Americans and find jobs for American businesses, be they large or small.
The chapter in Foner regarding the work patterns for immigrant women stood out because of how it illustrates the situation of changing and clashing values as complex- we cannot assume that all immigrant women in the early 1900s and 1800s followed the same paths, or that all immigrant women were given the same responsibilities and expectations. For example, many Russian Jews believed the ideal family to consist of a scholarly husband (religious scholar), and his working wife. On the other end of the spectrum, many Latinos believed the ideal family to consist of a working husband and his stay-at-home wife.
