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The Italian educational attainment isn't surprising really, but Irish have 50%+ college graduates in NYC. Despite their "working class" image they really look far more like those of English and German ancestry than Italians.
The English are over 70%. Germans are over 60%. The Irish seem to fall in the middle between Germans and Italians. Interestingly, Polish in NYC have higher rates of educational attainment than the Irish despite being more recent arrivals.
The great majority of Polish Americans is and always has been Roman Catholic at least by baptism. Although pre-World War II Poland was a multi-ethnic and multiconfessional country, the process of immigration galvanized and re-created ethnic identities in the New World context. For example, Polish Jews, who also emigrated in large numbers during the same time period as their Catholic neighbors, largely identified as Jewish American or Russian Jewish in America. Their historical trajectory in the United States is quite different.
Yeah, fair enough. While there are some working class Irish the group as a whole is not.
Polish ancestry likely includes a lot of Jews.
I believe Ireland today is either top or near the top in College attainment among developed countries, Italy has far more of pronounced Northern vs Southern dynamic including college attainment rates
It seemed about 20 years ago there were a lot more Irish immigrants but as the economy got better that waned. There really has not been a significant influx of Italians in quite some time and the mass migration was larger southern impoverished Italians, even today the North/South divide in Italy I significant and likely far more pronounced than any North/South divide in the US
My Italian roots are mostly Northern actually which is more rare as part of the mass migration from last century
Overall the pronounced Italian enclaves will continue to shrink; I do think places like NYC, Boston, and Philly will retain some of the identity but it will likely be mostly gone in 50 years
I never understood the difference between Boston and Philly in this regard Both are nearly identical in makeup of the Irish an Italian segment yet it seems Boston is perceived more Irish while Philly I perceived more Italian when in fact they are nearly mirrors of the composition.
Does Montreal have any significant Italian enclaves while I have been to Canada and most major cities I really don't know the cities as well as I should being interested in all this. I do love Montreal and Quebec and even Toronto but didn't fall I love with Toronto the same way I did Montreal. I do also enjoy Vancouver yet I feels so different from eastern Canadian cities, never been to Calgary
Yes it seems more Polish are Catholics, would suspect in Philly too. Sadly a lot of Polish Jews were unable to make it out in WWII
It seems many more Russian Jews these days in NYC and even Philly (esp the burbs here)
Also a lot of more traditional Isreali Jews - I believe that the US has by far the largest Isreali Jewish population outside of Isreal. Even their Prime Minister went to HS and spent most of his youth in suburban Philadelphia - an odd fact Reggie Jackson and the Isreali Prime Minister played baseball together in Cheltenhem PA
On the west coast there are markedly more Persian Jews, especially LA
I never understood the difference between Boston and Philly in this regard Both are nearly identical in makeup of the Irish an Italian segment yet it seems Boston is perceived more Irish while Philly I perceived more Italian when in fact they are nearly mirrors of the composition.
The Irish were able to establish political hegemony in Boston early on. Other than Menino, you'd have to go back more than a century to find a non-Irish Catholic mayor. Philly didn't have its first Irish Catholic mayor until after WWII.
Even today, 6 out of the 13 sitting members on the Boston City Council are Irish Catholic.
Boston also doesn't have anything like a South Philly. The North End doesn't really count imo since it's so geographically small. I think Philly is also considered a more "Italian" city because of the famous mob wars and the number of notable Italian-Americans who came out of South Philly (Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, etc.). The city's most notable food staples--cheesesteaks, hoagies and water ice--were also South Philly and/or Italian inventions.
Philly could learn from more similarity to Boston's city council City Council I a long detriment to progress in this city but a topic for a different thread
You don't really hear much about Boston's mafia. There are several documentaries and movies that involve Whitey Bulger or his likeness but little in the way of anything dealing with the city's Italian mob.
George Anastasia has a great job. Reporting on the mob seems a lot more fun than reporting on budget stalemates in Congress. Then you also have book deals, get retained as a movie/TV show consultant, etc.
Only in Philadelphia does a former mob associate get a cooking show.
Surely, that's possible in New York City? Or maybe in Rhode Island, too?
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