- For other uses, see Nativism (disambiguation)
In politics, Nativism is the fear that certain new immigrants will inject alien political, economic or cultural values and behaviors that threaten the prevailing norms and values. It usually involves restrictions on immigrants and sometimes includes policies that favor the interests of established inhabitants (i.e. "natives") over those of immigrants. The term has most often been used in the United States, but the concept is also relevant in other countries, especially ones which have experienced intensive immigration and associated rapid societal change. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ...
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Politics is a process by which decisions are made within groups. ...
Driving forces behind nativism Threats involving language, jobs, pay-scales, control of the government, control of borders (and fears of invasion), moral values, and loyalties to racial and ethnic groups, are involved in nativism, with the exact ingredients varying widely.
For example, economic competition and national security are currently (2006) at issue in the United States. However, it has been pointed out that the poor people who are most economically hurt by illegal immigrants are not usually those who are complaining about it.
In his book "The Party of Fear" David H. Bennett asserts that nativist movements have occurred in the U.S during periods of major social, economic, or political upheavals. During these difficult times, American nativists blamed the troubles that America was experiencing on recently arrived immigrants or ethnic/religious groups.
While the distinguishing feature of nativism is the opposition between established inhabitants and recently arrived immigrants, the specifics of each situation creates different dynamics.
Often, there are economic tensions caused by the fact that the immigrants are often willing to work harder for less pay, or spend less (saving more and sending money to their home country). Often it is alleged the newcomers form violent gangs that seize control of work, or engage in illegal activities like drugs or prostitution. The allegation dates back to the Irish canal gangs (1840s), Chinese gangs (tongs) in 1880s, Italian ("Mafia") (1890- present), and more recently to Russian and Hispanic gangs. The established inhabitants perceive an economic threat caused by lowered wage scales and lower standards of living. The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...
Linguistic, religious, moral, racial/ethnic and cultural differences might be factors. While there was nativist sentiment in the late 19th century against Catholics from Eastern and Southern Europe, much of this sentiment had subsided by the 1950s as these immigrant groups assimilated into American society and culture. The nativism of the 1880s focused on Chinese. In 1890-1920 the focus was on European immigrants.
In some instances, national security concerns can stir up latent nativist tendencies that are not directly associated with economic competition. Examples of this are the sentiment against German-Americans during both World Wars and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Although the internment of Japanese-Americans was not directly motivated by economic factors, many Californians took advantage of the situation to profit financially at the expense of the internees. German-Americans are common in the US. Light blue indicates counties that are predominately German ancestry. ...
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Despite the national trauma inflicted by the 9/11 attacks, there has been remarkably little nativist sentiment in the US targeted against immigrants from Islamic countries. This can largely be attributed to a vigorous campaign by governmental and civic leaders to discourage a nativist backlash in response to the attacks. In Europe, however, there has been a considerable growth of anti-islamic nativism after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent attacks in London and Madrid.
Language Language was a political and an emotional issue as early as the 1750s, when British settlers in Pennsylvania began to fear and resent the fact that a third of their fellow Pennsylvanians were German speakers. Since that time, American nativists have sought to eradicate minority languages and discourage bilingualism wherever it could be found. Complaints about non-English-speakers became all too common in the last quarter of the 19th century, and again during and after World War I, when the fear of immigrants and their languages prompted protective English-only legislation. Many Americans deemed non-Anglophones to be subhuman. In 1904, a railroad president told a Congressional hearing on the mistreatment of immigrant workers, "These workers don't suffer--they don't even speak English."(Shanahan, 1989.) Today, there is still opposition to nonanglophones and bilinguals. The result is the proposed English Language Amendment (ELA), a Constitutional amendment making English the official language of the United States.
History of nativism in the United States Nativism first gained a name and affected politics in mid-19th century United States because of the large inflows of immigrants from cultures that were markedly different from the existing Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture. Thus, nativists objected primarily to Roman Catholics (especially Irish American) because of their loyalty to Rome. U.S. nativism appeared in the late 1790s in reaction to an influx of political refugees from France and Ireland. After passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 it receded. Irish population density in the United States, 1872. ...
Motto: (historic) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic - President George W. Bush (R) - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized From Great...
The Alien and Sedition Acts were acts of Congress passed during the administration of President John Adams; his signature made them into law on July 14, 1798. ...
Anti-Catholic nativism in the 19th century Nativist outbursts occurred in the Northeast from the 1830s to the 1850s, primarily in response to a surge of Irish Catholic immigration. In 1836, Samuel F. B. Morse ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York on a Nativist ticket, receiving 1,496 votes. In New York City, an Order of United Americans (OUA) was founded as a nativist fraternity, following the Philadelphia Nativist Riots of the preceding spring and summer, in December, 1844. Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter of portraits and historic scenes. ...
For a list of the Dutch Director-Generals who governed New Amsterdam (as New York City was called when it was a Dutch-run settlement) between 1624 and 1664, see: Director-General of New Netherland. ...
Flag Seal Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World[1], Gotham [2], Metropolis Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,214. ...
The Philadelphia Nativist Riots (also known as the Philadelphia prayer riots of 1844 and the Bible Riots) were a series of riots that took place May 3 and July 4, 1844. ...
In 1849–50 Charles B. Allen founded a secret nativist society called the Order of the Star Spangled Banner in New York City. In order to join the Order, a man had to be twenty-one, a Protestant, a believer in God, and willing to obey without question the dictates of the order. Members of the Order became known as the Know-Nothings (a label applied to them because if asked they said they "know nothing about" the secret society). Flag Seal Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World[1], Gotham [2], Metropolis Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,214. ...
This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...
The Know-Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1850s. ...
The Nativists went public in 1854 when they formed the 'American Party', which was anti-Irish Catholic and campaigned for laws to require longer wait time between immigration and naturalization. (The laws never passed.) It was at this time that the term "nativist" first appears, opponents of Americanists denounced them as "bigoted nativists." Former President Millard Fillmore ran on the American Party ticket for the Presidency in 1856. The American Party included many ex-Whigs who rejected nativism, and included (in the South) a few Catholics whose families had long lived in America. Conversely, much of the opposition to Catholics came from Protestant Irish and German Lutheran immigrants who can hardly be called "nativists." Irish Catholics are persons of predominantly Irish descent who adhere to the Roman Catholic faith. ...
The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ...
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the thirteenth President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the nations highest office. ...
This form of nationalism is often identified with xenophobia and anti-Catholic sentiment (anti-Papism). In the 1840s, small scale riots between Catholics and nativists took place in several American cities. Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology that holds that (ethnically or culturally defined) nations are the fundamental units for human social life, and makes certain cultural and political claims based upon that belief; in particular, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate...
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Nativist sentiment experienced a revival in the 1880s, led by Protestant Irish immigrants hostile to Catholic immigration. The Orange Order was the center of nativism in Canada from the 1860s to 1950s. The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the province of Northern Ireland and in western Scotland but which has a worldwide membership. ...
Anti-German nativism From the 1840s to 1920 German Americans were distrusted because of their separatist social structure, their opposition to prohibition, their attachment to their native tongue over English, and (in World War I), their neutrality toward the war. German-Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry. ...
Anti-Chinese nativism In the 1870s Irish American immigrants attacked Chinese immigrants in the western states, driving them out of smaller towns. Denis Kearney led a mass movement in San Francisco in 1877 that threatened harm to railroad owners if they hired any Chinese.[1] [2] The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first of many nativist acts of Congress to limit the flow of immigrants into the U.S. The Chinese responded with false claims of American birth, enabling thousands to immigrate to California. [1] Irish population density in the United States, 1872. ...
The Chinese Exclusion Act may be: Another name for the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 in Canada, coined by the Chinese-Canadian community. ...
20th-century USA Fear of low-skilled immigrants flooding the labor market was an issue in the 1920s (focused on immigrants from Italy and Poland), and in the 2000s (focused on immigrants from Mexico and Central America).
The second Ku Klux Klan, which flourished in the U.S. and Canada in the 1920s, used strong nativist rhetoric. In 1928, nativist fears helped defeat Democratic Presidential candidate, Alfred E. Smith, a devout Catholic. Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...
Alfred Emanuel Smith ( December 30, 1873– October 4, 1944), often known as Al Smith, was Governor of New York and a U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. ...
After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, the resulting influx of Vietnamese refugees caused some racial tension to flare up as host communities struggled to adapt to the cultural differences between the new arrivals and the existing American culture.
When Fidel Castro opened the doors to Cuban emigration, a number of U.S. communities in the Southeast struggled to accommodate the sudden inflow of Cuban immigrants ("Marielitos"), many of whom were mentally ill or criminal elements.
American nativist sentiment experienced a resurgence in the late 20th century, this time directed at 'illegal aliens,' largely Mexican resulting in the passage of new penalties against illegal immigration in 1996. After terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. in 2001, nativist feelings were amplified and directed increasingly toward individuals perceived to be either Arab and/or Muslim; these found themselves the target of rhetoric and a request by nativists to tighten border controls. The early 21st-century American movement that is self-characterized as "Immigration reduction" attempts to distance itself from any suggestion of nativist motivations. An illegal immigrant is a person who either enters a country illegally, or who enters legally but subsequently violates the terms of their visa, permanent resident permit or refugee permit. ...
The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ...
A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian: مسلمان) is an adherent of Islam. ...
Immigration reduction refers to movements active within the United States that advocate a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the United States or other countries. ...
Outside U.S. Recognizably nativist movements have since arisen among the Boers of South Africa, and in the 20th century in France, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. In Australia, nativism was manifested in the White Australia policy. In Germany, nativism has targeted "guest workers", particularly those of Turkish descent. In France and the United Kingdom, the targets of nativism have typically been Indians and those from Islamic countries. Boer is the Afrikaans (and Dutch) word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans-speaking migrating farmers of the expanding eastern Cape frontier. ...
This badge from 1906 shows the use of the expression White Australia at that time The White Australia Policy is a popular term which refers to the policies once held by all governments and all mainstream political parties in Australia based on excluding non-white people from immigrating to the...
Nativism arose in Tokugawa-era Japan in response to the strong influence of Chinese culture. This phenomenon was called "kokugaku" (literally, country culture). To this day, the Japanese are often eager to emulate Western ways but resistant to assimilating foreigners into the inner circles of their society. The Edo period (Japanese: 江戸時代, Edo-jidai), also called Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1867. ...
Nativism is often leveled as a negative charge for the purposes of political rhetoric. As such, it can sometimes be used hypocritically. For instance, while Mexican President Vicente Fox faults the US for not opening its borders, Mexico simultaneously cracks down harshly on "undocumented migrants" who breach her southern borders from other Central American countries. However, there is little public discussion accusing Mexico of being nativist in immigration policies.
Modern contention over ancient ethnic occupation of areas in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus, sometimes based on tenuous linguistic and place-name hints, is given added urgency by assumptions that an urrecht (German term meaning "ancient right") of the earliest local population can justify nativist stances towards more recent arrivals. These issues are rarely assessed in terms of "nativism". Current division of Europe into five (or more) regions: one definition of Eastern Europe is marked in orange Eastern Europe is an eastern region of Europe variably defined. ...
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The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ...
Toponymy is the taxonomic study of toponyms (place-names), their origins and their meanings. ...
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National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a type of right-wing political philosophy. ...
Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...
The Rivers of Blood speech was a controversial speech about immigration. ...
Look up xenophobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
External links
References - Bennett, David H., The Party of Fear; From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (1988)
- Billington, Ray Allen. The Protestant Crusade, 1800— 1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism (1938)
- Franchot, Jenny. Roads to Rome: The Antebellum Protestant Encounter with Catholicism (1994),
- Higham, John, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925 (1963).
- Hueston, Robert Francis. The Catholic Press and Nativism, 1840-1860 (1976)
- Melton, Tracy Matthew, Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854-1860 (2005)
- Mclean, Lorna. "'To Become Part of Us': Ethnicity, Race, Literacy and the Canadian Immigration Act of 1919". Canadian Ethnic Studies 2004 36(2): 1-28. Issn: 0008-3496
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