Immigration and the popularization of social science, 1920 to 1930

✍ Scribed by William A. Satariano

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 837 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5061
• DOI: 10.1002/1520-6696(197910)15:4<310::aid-jhbs2300150403>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

This article examines how social scientists presented their views on immigration to readers otgopular magazines from 1920 to 1930, a period of public debate on the merits of immigration restriction. By comparing the content of these magazine articles with professional journal articles on immigration, the representativeness of the social scientific material presented to the public can be assessed. While similar issues were discussed in popular and professional articles, social scientists writing popular articles were more likely to support an outmoded racial interpretation of immigration. Their resulting support of immigration restriction was not representative of the dominant cultural perspective held by most social scientists. Thus, readers looking to social scientists for an "informed opinion" were not given an accurate impression of social scientific thought on immigration.