Sociology’s major task comprehends the issue of ethnicity in the bid to understand human social existence (Mindel et al,. 1988). The fact that people belong to different ethnical backgrounds has an effect and a hold on people on how they behave and their character. Ethnic formations have a lasting influence on people thus as individuals seek to grow, travel and join other groups in other countries, they get assimilated to the new order and might even not be able to trace their ethnicity in the long run. Sociology on ethnic relations and race seek to discover and learn more about the formation, behavior, culture and conflict thinking on various races and ethnic groupings (Murdock, 2018).
The Greek Family in America
The Greek in the US have wide information on relations involving the gender through the process of assimilation. The existing perception of Greeks and the American culture is that of being all centric (Murdock, 2018). . The Greeks existing in America are have a mixed culture and that they are cohesive such that Greek Americans who maintained a good rapport with other Greek American citizens as well as good interaction with the church and the Greeks that intermarried with ethnics were likely less to undergo divorce. This comparison made when Greeks marry whites displayed more divorce rate (Mindel et al,. 1988).
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With the initial settlement of Greeks, the men are seen looking for work all over the US since the men were looking for work and employment this is witnessed by demographics carried out in the west and south they are said to the second generation of Greek immigrants and the latter American born breed of children (Murdock, 2018). . The Greeks formed a large internal network that can be described in sociology to serve as protection of the community from external pressures and those living in the north live in communities. The Greeks in the west and south are likely to be much dispersed due to economic endeavor. Ethnicity has advantages in the sense that it gives the will to protect families from separation and divorce, lack and children brought up in broken families (Murdock, 2018).
The 2000 US census reported that Greek families despite the tight knit structure were likely to have higher income and lesser poverty level (Mindel et al,. 1988). However, 33.3% of most families in Greek ethnicity are headed by females and languish in poverty which explains the fact that Greek families living in America tend to fair well when it comes to income. Generally, the Greeks display a relatively low divorce rate has their married couple reaching four fifth. For the largest rate of elite Greeks are more likely to exist among the high income earners thus such a family has a lower likelihood of being on the receiving end of aid (Murdock, 2018).
In terms of occupations, the Greeks whether male of female are most predominantly like to work managers and in technical positions (Mindel et al,. 1988). From statistics, Greek American women re most probably able to be self-employed compared to men and women in the general mass of citizens. The data collected on education, means of earning, and skills denote Greek Americans and their families to have blended with the middle class ranks of America subsequently shows lower levels of poverty although the aspect of ethnicity might play a part in protecting the families and communities against the pangs of poverty. However, the fact of ethnicity does not buffer the female headed households who are more likely to experience lack compared to Greek American complete household (Murdock, 2018).
The Irish American Family
The Irish people in the US have been in the country for about 200 years and migrated from Ireland due to different reasons mostly economic (McLaren, 2018). The current number of people of Irish descent in the US stands at 36.3 million the second most majority after the German origin citizens. Currently, the Irish have had trouble tracing their routes clearly due to many past decades and have thus become assimilated to the American way of life (Mindel et al,. 1988). The increased emigration into Ireland in the 18 th century caused the country to be too populated thus could barely support the growing population which led to a potato crisis and famine. The Irish people accessed America through Canada and in subsequent years through the American ports. They went forth to occupy Boston and Philadelphia (Murdock, 2018). The immigrants were mainly poor and had unskilled labor and occupied major cities looking for menial jobs.
The Irish people in the America have had a vast experience in the country in comparison to other races and ethnic groups thus they had the privilege to get assimilated to the social set up (McLaren, 2018) . For each of the set of Irish immigrants, they have become socially accepted with time. For instance, when the first group of Irish came to America in the 18 th century, they got a relative easier time to get acculturated and accepted as Protestants (Mindel et al,. 1988). However, the subsequent group comprising of Catholics had a hard time being accepted since they were stereotypes as always drunk and had to endure the socialization process through the following 19 th century. The hostility towards the coming Irish was intense such that they took it to a level of drawing ugly cartoons equipped with liquor (McLaren, 2018). .
However, a much as the catholic Irish were abhorred by the America set up at that time, they were equipped with a myriad of advantages which included the ability to converse in English, they were in big numbers, and the Western way of life was near similar to the American culture (Mindel et al,. 1988). Due to this factor the Irish had the advantage to blend in effortlessly compared to other groups such that even the denomination of catholic that was once disdained became part and parcel of American culture. Current statistics indicate that the Irish Catholics are among some of the elite and most educated as well as most liberal thinkers being represented both in the professional arena and academia (McLaren, 2018).
The Irish have a solid culture rich in dances, songs, folklore, customs and traditions which is one of the most diverse culture among European countries (Murdock, 2018) . However, due to rapid modernization and vast homogenous nature of the west has rendered the Irish culture almost obsolete having being assimilated by the American culture (Mindel et al,. 1988). The Irish song and dance has played a key role in diversifying Americas music for instance in country genre. The Irish ballads can be easily distinguished in American urban folk. The folk music revolution in the 60s gave much meaning and appreciation to Irish music which used instruments such as the flute and harp.
The Italian American Family
Italians immigrated to the America from the year1880 to the current time and have been assimilated to the American way of life (McLaren, 2018). The term Italian American gives a meaning of an assimilated community but still has its original ethnic roots and its identity. As much as assimilation of the group has taken place, there exists the sense of belongingness and identification to their initial country, culture and roots (Mindel et al,. 1988). However, just like other races and ethnic groupings the basic unit of social life i.e. the family does not remain the same but subject to social and surrounding changes. After immigration, the following centuries marked a drastic change to the family set of Italians by external social forces to include a different organizational and interaction.
The basic formation and part played by ethnic families on personal lives may have been not the same from the following generations for the Italian children born in the America (McLaren, 2018) . In this context, various factors are employed by sociology to determine the extent to which ethnic identities have remained the same for the family level and the community over due time and immigration. To seek the understanding of Italians in America, several factors must be considered which include the reasons for migrating, the patters and sequence as well as activities that shape their living (Mindel et al,. 1988). The choice of migrating was pushed by family strategies meant to maintain household when they were experiencing sociopolitical and economic drifts.
Following suite other ethnic communities, the Italians in America chose a partial or a permanent method to boost their economic advantage, stability and family conservation of their lands. Italians are among the uniquely reported immigrants who would move back to their country are complete shifting to far away from their land was not the main idea (Mindel et al,. 1988). For the Italian Americans, the kinship ties to their family have influence migration process. Their movement to other places was guided by existence of kin and the community based chain migration process which shaped the Italian movement. This proves that the desire to maintain the way of family has been a vital component to migration.
Italians demonstrate an attached importance to family in their migration (Murdock, 2018). Collected data of Italian migration in the 19 th and 20 th centuries show that majority of the shifting Italians from their country joined their relatives and in America. Family and communal villages were the steering motivation from Italian migration since they were the main determinants of reasons for individual migration, and the choice of destination (Mindel et al,. 1988). The familial ties helped incoming immigrants to find shelter, work and the connections to survive in America since the information the relatives shared abroad helped them make choices of migrating.
During migration, a good number chose to return to their native country while some decided to stay America. However, even with multiple returns, around two million Italians chose to stay through the 1920s (Murdock, 2018).
The Polish American Family
Before the First World War, there was an approximated number of 1. 5 Million Polish immigrants to the USA who migrated due to the change to a feudalistic government (McLaren, 2018). The migration was labor inspired and the settlements made by the poles were mainly in the industrialized parts of America that included, Chicago, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The subsequent descendants continued to labor in industries in Detroit and Cleveland which formed cities with the biggest amount of polish settlers (Mindel et al,. 1988). Towards the final years of the 20 th century, the Polish Americans began to settle towards the middle class with tertiary education and skilled professions. A census conducted in 2000 in America revealed that nearly 9 million people identified with Polish ethic background.
This book describes an example of a Polish family unit comprising of five sisters the Grasinki Girls, whose identities were shaped by home setup and the church. Their case of volunteered information gives a deeper insight to the perseverance of the family as unit of ethnicity, the identity associated with Poles and the changes therefore resulting to changes in later generations compared to the initial one (Mindel et al,. 1988) . Ethnicity impact on a family cannot be comprehended by subsequent generations as a result of assimilation into the near culture and ways of doing things. However, it’s key to point out the necessary forms of connecting the new generations to provide their initial life which women have a solid function in bringing back the continuity of ethnicity and the family unit (Murdock, 2018). .
During the 1960s, the polish were seen to be having better life compared to the American ethnic from European descent as well as better than the other races in America. The polish Americans became more prevalently working in high positions but their average of their income was impacted on by informal jobs compared to a valid move to the high end middleclass work (McLaren, 2018). .
References
McLaren, P. (2018). Revolutionary multiculturalism: Pedagogies of dissent for the new millennium : Routledge.
Mindel, C. H., Habenstein, R. W., & Wright, R. (1988). Ethnic families in America . Elsevier.
Murdock, S. H. (2018). An America challenged: Population change and the future of the United States : Routledge.
