Throughout America’s history the call for laborers has been filled by influxes of
immigrants. Coinciding with the arrival of the first non-Anglo Saxon immigrants were
negative attitudes about them, as they were deemed inferior and classified as lowerranking
“others” by the dominant culture that needed them. Thus, the cycle of need and
resentment was born to be repeated throughout the Nation’s history.
In the first half of the twentieth century a shift occurred in American public
perception of, and attitudes towards, immigrant groups including eastern European Jews,
Italians and the Irish among others. This shift was marked primarily in terms of race:
Some immigrants went from being considered black to white -- from illegitimate to
legitimate by the dominant culture. One reason for the increased acceptance of these
ethnic groups was a concerted campaign sponsored by the United States Government to
promote an extended identity to groups that had previously been excluded from the mainstream. In particular, the goal was to create a sense of nationalism, or
“Americanism,” among diasporic immigrant groups, thus encouraging their participation
in the war effort. The result of such campaigns was a re-imaging of ethnic groups
previously classified as non-white and a path to perceived whiteness, and thus inclusion,
for them. These campaigns, formulated by the Office of War Information and executed
largely by the War Advertising Council, led to a marked increase in acceptance for
immigrant groups by the dominant culture. By examining social messages through visual cultural artifacts this study explores notions about race, ethnicity, whiteness and the role of communication theory and practices in constructing (imaging) an identity of otherness.” This study delineates the historical formation and subsequent partial de-construction (re-imaging) of negative depictions and some stereotypes of ethnic Americans.
This research explores the sources of these attitudes and behaviors and how
misconceptions, misrepresentations and centuries-old stereotypes of non-Anglo ethnic
Americans have been fluid through changing social perceptions fueled, in part, by
government interventions. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_13570 |
| Contributors | May, Jacqueline S. (author), Fejes, Fred A. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 273 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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