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Also, there are 198 million white americans they varya a lot. An Irish dude from Dorchester or an Italian dude from Philly probably isn't gonna be all that similar to a white guy from outside Omaha, or one from the Bay Area or one from Minnesota.
I think the difference is mostly urban vs rural divide at this point, as well as political beliefs. I can't spot any discernible cultural differences among white people other than how wealthy/poor and left leaning versus right leaning they are. Certainly not Irish vs Italian vs Polish, they're all white and increasingly removed from the homeland with each generation.
As far as Russian and Polish Americans (if the latter even counts as Eastern Europe), they tend to be middle class, which further dilutes cultural differences.
I also find that Hispanics aren't much different by region. These days I find that most of them (among the lower economic classes least) tend to act similar to how Nuyoricans are stereotyped as, regardless of what part of the country or which Hispanic country their ancestry is from.
They have subcultures though. The Vikos, Nikos, Petros, Stavos, and Valdis of the urban northeast do have their own “thing” it’s pretty well known and identifiable ranging from Russian to Greek to Albanian to Polish and on.
Are there any subcultural type things that are associated with Americans who belong to these ancestry groups ? In other words are urban working class Greek Americans in certain areas of the US known for dressing a certain way , while their Albanian counterparts are known for using certain phrases of speech ?
If so then how come these things aren't as widely known about these groups and/or depicted in American pop culture ?
Are there any subcultural type things that are associated with Americans who belong to these ancestry groups ? In other words are urban working class Greek Americans in certain areas of the US known for dressing a certain way , while their Albanian counterparts are known for using certain phrases of speech ?
If so then how come these things aren't as widely known about these groups and/or depicted in American pop culture ?
Are there any subcultural type things that are associated with Americans who belong to these ancestry groups ? In other words are urban working class Greek Americans in certain areas of the US known for dressing a certain way , while their Albanian counterparts are known for using certain phrases of speech ?
If so then how come these things aren't as widely known about these groups and/or depicted in American pop culture ?
Thanks for the answer by the way !
I can’t tell the ethnicities apart I just pick up in Eastern European. In general ,as posters said they’re more “secretive” (Not sure id use that word), discreet and stoic, I also think they tend to be a bit more insular than Irish or Italians. Still often dress in European styles/fits even as 2nd or 3rd generation folks. More likely to live in high density areas. Less likely to get involved in city politics or city employment than other groups. More religious than your everyday white American.
Polish might be a bit more mainstreamed akin to Irish/Italian.
We certainly have these folks in NYC — notably Albanians, Russians, Ukrainians — as well as a dwindling numbers of Poles and Greeks and a smattering of Slavs and Hungarians. But all of these are relatively new groups compared to the Irish and Italians. I suspect that’s the reason the Eastern Europeans are not as prevalent in popular culture. They’re not as many of them and they haven’t been here as long. The situation might be different in other cities, but other cities aren’t a capital of popular culture like New York is.
We certainly have these folks in NYC — notably Albanians, Russians, Ukrainians — as well as a dwindling numbers of Poles and Greeks and a smattering of Slavs and Hungarians. But all of these are relatively new groups compared to the Irish and Italians. I suspect that’s the reason the Eastern Europeans are not as prevalent in popular culture. They’re not as many of them and they haven’t been here as long. The situation might be different in other cities, but other cities aren’t a capital of popular culture like New York is.
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of Eastern European descendants in NYC are Ashkenazi Jews, who tend to identify with the broader Jewish culture as opposed to whatever country they descend from.
I think the difference is mostly urban vs rural divide at this point, as well as political beliefs. I can't spot any discernible cultural differences among white people other than how wealthy/poor and left leaning versus right leaning they are. Certainly not Irish vs Italian vs Polish, they're all white and increasingly removed from the homeland with each generation.
As far as Russian and Polish Americans (if the latter even counts as Eastern Europe), they tend to be middle class, which further dilutes cultural differences.
I also find that Hispanics aren't much different by region. These days I find that most of them (among the lower economic classes least) tend to act similar to how Nuyoricans are stereotyped as, regardless of what part of the country or which Hispanic country their ancestry is from.
Hispanics in Massachusetts were so so different than my neighbors here in Maryland. Like drastically different. More differences than similarities. Hispanics I’ve met from California seemed more aligned with white culture than anything really. The ones I’ve met.
Wealthy, urbane, white people are very different than working or middle class whites native to their city. Boiling white people down to urban/rural, left/right is excessively reductive.
Hispanics in Massachusetts were so so different than my neighbors here in Maryland. Like drastically different. More differences than similarities. Hispanics I’ve met from California seemed more aligned with white culture than anything really. The ones I’ve met.
Wealthy, urbane, white people are very different than working or middle class whites native to their city. Boiling white people down to urban/rural, left/right is excessively reductive.
But the "working class urban whites" thing has been fading, at least where I live. A lot of the blue collar jobs that middle aged Italian-American guys pay well enough to actually be middle class, and their kids are very likely to go to college.
Among the Italian-Americans I know (using them as an example since they have the most defined white American subculture), they get less stereotypical with each generation. The ones my age have no trace of that stereotypical Italian accent at all. So the ones in their teens, 20s and 30s are no different from the Starbucks drinking WASPs in my experience.
As for Hispanics, I thought most of the ones in California assimilate to AA culture (under 35 years old at least).
I can’t tell the ethnicities apart I just pick up in Eastern European. In general ,as posters said they’re more “secretive” (Not sure id use that word), discreet and stoic, I also think they tend to be a bit more insular than Irish or Italians. Still often dress in European styles/fits even as 2nd or 3rd generation folks. More likely to live in high density areas. Less likely to get involved in city politics or city employment than other groups. More religious than your everyday white American.
Polish might be a bit more mainstreamed akin to Irish/Italian.
Ah I see now ...
FWIW what sorts of things do you think Eastern European Americans are more likely to be involved in than other groups ? Also do you think that there is still a tendency for many of them to be more likely to be employed in certain sectors than other like in the past ( with f.ex the steel industry ) or is there no observable difference in that regard ?
But the "working class urban whites" thing has been fading, at least where I live. A lot of the blue collar jobs that middle aged Italian-American guys pay well enough to actually be middle class, and their kids are very likely to go to college.
Among the Italian-Americans I know (using them as an example since they have the most defined white American subculture), they get less stereotypical with each generation. The ones my age have no trace of that stereotypical Italian accent at all. So the ones in their teens, 20s and 30s are no different from the Starbucks drinking WASPs in my experience.
As for Hispanics, I thought most of the ones in California assimilate to AA culture (under 35 years old at least).
It’s fading but it’s still a bit visible and I can’t tell you right now. Whit people born in Dorchester are not at all like those born in Brookline, even if they’re both middle class and urban. Brookline will be progressive, send their kids to private s chi oil, smiles welcoming. Dorchester will be Democrat but probably not liberal, shorter haircut, send kids to Catholic School, much more minds their business, less concerned about what they eat. Again, just my first hand experience having spent time in and gone to school in both areas and having white friends form both areas, and having visited their homes. The Polinsky, Glazman and Goddesteiner familes were very different than the Barkowskis, McCarthys, and Daltons...
Hispanics in Massachusetts are legitimately considered black for all intents and purposes. Here in Maryland I hear black people speak poorly about them. They also aren’t as well dressed here, they’re much more recent arrivals, shorter, do not have kinky/Afro like hair, they play like ‘Mexican’ music in the street not Dembow and northern rap. They seem to have more children here, and I don’t see any black-Latino couples here. I see Hispanics wearing soccer cleats on the grocery store here- not something I saw in Massachusetts where some of the top basketball teams in the state are from plurality or majority Latino districts and schools. I never even heard of Chicken Rico or Peruvian Chiron I moved to the DMV. It point blank doesn’t exist in Massachusetts . Massachusetts has a ‘Black and Latino Legislative Caucus’, not either or. Ayanna Pressley and State Rep Russel Holmes many others black elected officials recently coalesced 2 get two Latino city councilors elected (one of whom always make it’s clear she is Afro Latina) in districts where black out number Latinos 2-1. Idk how normal that is elsewhere.
It should also be noted Hispanics in Boston aren’t necessarily representative of the entire state. And most of my experience come from Boston
In Connecticut the Hispanics felt very very Americanized because it’s the most Puerto Rican State in the country. Most of them can’t speak Spanish, are lighter skinned than MA butare also heavily interconnected in black culture. They were more fully immersed in urban black American culture than MA where the flavor was KOR broadly tropical/american
I went to California for 3 weeks after 11th grade for a educational program. I met from California have a wide range and seemed more similar to white kids than Hispanic I met back home. Some were into Drama and Goth and guitar and stuff... they’re Spanish was clearer, slower and more like what I learned in school. Style of s was 1000% different.
My degrees were in Sociology and Urban Sciences so I try to be pretty keen on things like this, I think my assume that is pretty good.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 04-09-2020 at 08:37 PM..
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