19世紀末アメリカにおけるアイルランド人移民の家族構造

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The present paper sets out to clarify the characteristics of Irish immigrants in America in the late 19th century by comparing the family system of the Ireland-born immigrants to that of American-born citizens, and by examining the pull and push factors for Irish immigrants, from the theoretical perspective of family strategies. I propose a hypothesis that in Ireland, simple family households based on the partible inheritance system were dominant in the early 19th century but after the Great Famine in 1845 they shifted to extended family households or multiple family households based on the arranged marriage/dowry system and impartible inheritance. Meanwhile, the Irish-American immigrants, who had lived in extended family households or multiple family households in their home country, formed simple family households in America, their host country, adjusting themselves to American communities. The head and members of each household adopted a family strategy in which all family members should have jobs, to pursue their well-being. To verify this hypothesis, I used the 1880 census data of the NAPP (North Atlantic Population Project) issued by the Minnesota Population Center to analyze the Irish immigrant families in America, with the following results: The population of Ireland decreased by 3 million between 1841 and 1881. Many poor people emigrated to America, where they formed ghettos and got jobs similar to those they had in Ireland. It seems that such immigration took place due to the push factors associated with the change in the family system in Ireland after the Great Famine and the pull factors along with the industrial revolution in America around 1850. First, it was found that most Irish immigrants lived in areas of the Middle Atlantic (44.1%), New England (19.7%), East North Central (16.4%) and West North Central (9.2%). By state, New York received the largest number of Irish immigrants, accounting for 26.6%, followed by Pennsylvania with 13.5%, Ohio with 6.8% and Massachusetts with 6.7%. Secondly, it was found that the average size of an Irish immigrant family was 5.1 members, being larger than that of an average American family with 4.8 members. The numbers of children were fewer than that of a family in Ireland, probably because birth control was practiced in America. Thirdly, I believe that the dominant family structure of Irish immigrants in the late 19th century was the simple family household, as they had adjusted themselves to American-style family structure. Steve Ruggles, however, emphasizes the importance of the fact that in 1880, 19.5% of the households of married white Americans were extended family households, though simple family households constituted 67.3%. Unfortunately, it is not possible to entirely determine the family types of Irish immigrants because the Hammel-Laslett data does not exist in the NAPP database. However, looking at a detailed tabulation of kinship groups in 100 households, an Irish immigrant household had a total 15 relatives inside the household while an American household had 33.6, indicating that Irish immigrant households had a rather slim kinship inside. This also shows that the size of a household of Irish immigrants was larger than that of Americans. This is probably due to the limitation in extension of kinship among Irish immigrants, especially the declining number of descendent relatives, as well as to the large number of children born. Besides, it should also be noted that Irish immigrant households often accepted many lodgers or boarders. We view this as part of the Irish immigrants' family strategy, and also as an embodiment of their identity, or nationalism. Fourthly, it is found that a majority of the heads of Irish immigrant households were semiskilled or unskilled workers. Those who worked as general laborers account for 29.1%, followed by farmers at 18.2%, operatives and kindred workers at 9.7%, managers / officials at 7.1% and main operatives and laborers at 3.2%. In the case of the heads of American households, on the contrary, farmers constitute the largest number at 48.2%, followed by general laborers at 10.9%, farm laborers /wage workers at 6.8%, managers / officials at 5.0%, operatives and kindred workers at 3.8% and carpenters at 3.2%. This comparison clearly shows the difference in jobs of Irish immigrants and Americans. Among the other members of Irish immigrant households, sons mostly succeeded the jobs of their fathers. But job types gradually became diversified. As a result, in an Irish immigrant household, the head and the sons played an instrumental role in earning their living while their spouses and daughters played a supporting role. I conclude that this was the family strategy of the Irish immigrants. I have mostly verified the above hypothesis using several data, and my future task is to interpret the results in the context of history.
2008-03-18

19世紀末アメリカにおけるアイルランド人移民の家族構造

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