Immigration and Cultural Adjustment

The book explores the challenges faced by immigrant families, especially Italian peasants, as they adapt to urban American life, and critiques the failure of schools and society to integrate them meaningfully.

The chapter focuses on Italian immigrant children in Chicago, whose rural backgrounds clash with urban school expectations, leading to street education and petty crime.

The chapter describes a ward with fifty thousand people from a score of nationalities, highlighting the struggle of immigrant groups to adapt to American conditions and the role of political corruption in shaping their aspirations.