The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community

Japanese immigrants to the United States prior to World War 2 showed an unusual propensity to enter small business or run independent family farms. Even their children, the Nisei, have tended to be over-represented in self-employed occupations. The pattern of concentration in small business is found among other minorities around the world, including the Jews in Europe, Chinese in Southeast Asia, and Indians in East Africa. Ethnic groups with this kind of economic concentration have been termed middleman minorities. This book explores the relationship between class and ethnic solidarity. Using middleman minority theory, the authors analyze the history of the Japanese American community until the war time evacuation. The study then turns to the 2nd generation and with data collected by the Japanese American research Project at UCLA, analyzes a segment of the theory in detail.