Settlement Folk: Social Thought and the American Settlement Movement, 1885- 1930. by MinaCarsonReview by: Rivka S. LissakInternational Migration Review, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Spring, 1992), pp. 177-178Published by: The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2546949 .

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BOOK REVIEWS 177

Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation. By Gilbert G. Gonzalez. Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press, 1990. Pp. 190.

DENNIS J. BIXLER-MARQUEZ University of Texas, El Paso

Gilbert G. Gonzalez examines Chicano educa? tion from 1910-1950, a crucial period of economic and educational change in the Southwest. He successfully identifies the so? cioeconomic and political roots of the

inequality of education of Chicanos. An introduction provides an overview of the

factors and circumstances that have shaped the education of Chicanos. Next comes a six- chapter analysis of the cultural and sociological dimensions of Chicanos that in? cludes the strategies traditionally employed to educate, socialize and economically track Chi? canos. These include Americanization, migrant education, intelligence testing and vocational education. Lastly, the author exam? ines the rise and fall of De Jure segregation via a landmark case. A conclusion and prognosis of demographic and economic trends that will impinge on the formulation of educational policy for Chicano youth completes the book.

The book focuses on the pervasiveness of a segregationist political ideology in the nation and its consequences for Chicanos as a distinct ethnic and socioeconomic group, rather than on classroom practices or specific curricular issues. New Mexican schools and private schools are absent from this book. The author perceives the former as geographically and

socially out of the mainstream of educational developments in the Southwest during the era of legal segregation and public education sig? nificant in its own right.

Gonzalez examines how the political econ? omy of the nation, particularly in the Southwest, affected the education of Chica? nos. He shows that the 1910-30 migration from Mexico bolstered the economy of the Southwest, where Chicanos were the bulk of the labor force of agribusiness and other in? dustries heavily dependent on cheap manual labor. The employment and settlement of Mexican immigrant and migrant populations in the region led to the establishment of a 150- mile Mexican belt of urban and rural segre? gated communities that stretched from San Francisco to the gulf of Mexico. This occupa? tional/settlement pattern, coupled with compulsory education and a segregationist

policy, resulted in an educational system de? signed to train Chicanos primarily to meet the requirements of the southwestern economy. Thus, Gonzalez concludes, the subordinate and segregated positions of Chicanos in Amer- ican society were perpetuated across generations.

A salient legal case in the educational segre? gation of Chicanos is Mendez v. Westminister, which Gonzalez chronicles in the context of the political behavior of parents, political or? ganizations and other Chicano community entities. Gonzalez traces the development of segregation in a southern California commu? nity and the legal and political efforts to overcome it. This case, which predates the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Topeka, provided the political impetus and legal basis for the continuance of the cam? paign to desegregate California schools.

This book provides an insight into the socio- economic and political conditions that have structured the aims and practices of public education for Chicanos in the Southwest. It is an important historical and policy source for understanding current and future issues af? fecting the education of Chicanos.

Settlement Folk: Social Thought and the American Settlement Movement, 1885-1930. By Mina Carson. Chicago: The University of Chi? cago Press, 1990. Pp. 280. $29.95.

RIVKAS.LISSAK Tel Aviv University

Settlement Folk by Mina Carson deals with the Victorian origins of the philosophy of the Set? tlement Movement in the United States, under the impact of the English Settlement Move? ment, and the effects of the American situation on the evolution of this philosophy. Immi? grants and their cultures are a secondary issue.

Professor Carson analyses the growing ten? sion between the Victorian ideas of "personal service" and the "neighborhood," as the core of settlement work, the professionalization of this work, and the evolution of the social re? form movement in which settlement workers were a leading force on state and national levels. She deals with the implications of "effi?

ciency" and "training" on the nature of settlement staff in relevance to the old Victor? ian ideas of personal service, character molding and the personality of the future "set-

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178 INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

tiers," on one hand, and the controversy be? tween those settlement workers who concentrated on reconstructing the "neigh? borhood" community, versus those who became convinced that social reform should be lobbied for on state and national levels.

In spite of the growth of professionalism, Carson states, settlement workers still argued that "the traits they valued most in their work? ers were intangible qualities of personality that made them effective in dealing with the neighbors. But they also almost uniformly stressed the desirability of special training." Along the same lines, Carson argues, settle? ment workers continued to insist that "the settlement's primary affiliation was still with its own neighborhood." Knowledge of local con? ditions was still considered the basis for larger schemes for the city, and the role of the settle? ment as a "nursery for social experiments" and a laboratory for social research was empha? sized as a most important role. The objective of the National Federation of Settlement, es? tablished in 1911, was to "develop a uniform policy toward common settlement problems" and "enhance cooperation with other forms of social work." Settlement workers dealt with the issues of social reform through the Na? tional Conference of Charities and Correction, the national organization of social work, and with other organizations.

Social reform soon carried many settlement workers beyond their commitment to personal service, and their loyalty to the neighborhood. Many gradually found that the state and na? tional levels were the real scene for social reform. Key positions in state and federal ad? ministration, participation in state and national commissions as members or by offer?

ing testimony as experts, and involvement in national politics through the Progressive Party distracted many settlement workers from their settlement work. They reconciled this inconsistency, Carson states, by arguing that commitment to national politics was "an extension of their work in the neighborhoods and municipalities." Unlike Allen F. Davis, in his book Spearheads of Reform, Carson did not consider settlement workers moving into state and national levels the result of a failure or disillusionment.

Nevertheless, "in the reactionary aftermath of the war, many settlements toned down their advocacy of reform or at least put more energy

into justifying their intimacy with the immi? grant communities."

During the 1920s and 1930s, the contro? versy continued. While Jane Addams and Robert A. Woods represented the two trends before World War I, Charles Cooper and Al- bert Kennedy, the new leaders of the Settlement Movement, represented these dif? ferences after.

Professor Carson deals with the Settlement Movement by examining its leaders. Her con? clusion is that its "greatest strength was in the end its greatest weakness; its founding idea carried the seeds of its decay." In other words, the movement was too dependent upon a few

superior personalities. A better way to describe the evolution of

settlement work and social thought would have been to concentrate on the two trends in settlement history, as they were represented by Jane Addams and her followers, and Robert A. Woods and his followers from the begin? ning, instead of mentioning it toward the end of the book.

The same is true about Carson's dealing with the issue of immigrants and their cultures. She assumes that settlement workers were cultural pluralists, although at the same time she de? scribes their attitudes toward immigrant cultures as a "complex amalgam of condescen? sion and admiration." Carson treats the settlement movement attitude toward immi? grants and their cultures as a unified one, ignoring the differences between the Addams and Woods groups.

World Directory of Minorities. Edited by the

Minority Rights Group. Chicago and Lon? don: St. James Press, 1990.

WILLIAM S. EGELMAN Iona College

According to the Preface of this new directory, in 1988 "only 12 of the 111 major armed conflicts throughout the world involved the armies of two countries, while a majority of the remainder involved conflicts between minori? ties and majorities" (p. xiii). It may be the case that the study of minorities is even more im?

portant today than it has been in the past. This new work is an important addition to the literature on world minority groups. This book supplies capsule summaries of the state of some 160 minorities in the world. Each of

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