@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Arts, Faculty of"@en, "Anthropology, Department of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Boulter, Alison Isobel"@en ; dcterms:issued "2010-02-26T00:48:03Z"@en, "1978"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Arts - MA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description """Ethnic groups are a visible feature of Canadian society. That this is so indicates that there must be methods for making them recognizable as well as methods of accounting for that visible difference. In this thesis, I am concerned to explicate the socially organized practices which constitute particular members and groups in society as different from other members and groups. The argument presented is that it is the practices of all members of society which constitute this difference, rather than the difference being an attribute of any particular ethnic, or immigrant group. The work proceeds in two ways. First, the constitution of ethnic difference, located in the theoretical literature, is investigated. It is demonstrated that the theoretical formulations rest on an unexplicated common-sense understanding of ethnic groups and their members as different. Second, observations and descriptions of the everyday lived relations of Portuguese immigrants are analyzed. The observations include interviews with social service workers, taped discussions of participants at a conference on multiculturalism, as well as interviews with Portuguese immigrants themselves. This second source of data provides an understanding of how difference is constituted in descriptions and explanations of ethnic phenomena in Vancouver. Through the use of a method of analysis derived from Marx and developed for sociology by Smith, I have focussed the ethnography on the socially organized practices which constitute ethnic difference in Vancouver. The enactment of ethnicity in the theoretical literature, in the fieldwork, and in the observations, explanations, descriptions and accounts are treated a6 data for the analysis of the method by which ethnic difference is constituted socially. It is demonstrated that descriptions which reference cultural origin, like those which reference personality factors, disattend to the constitution of social location in Vancouver. Cultural descriptions are a method of constituting immigrant/ethnic difference. The location of immigrant/ethnic groups and their members within a particular social organization is recreated at every moment in the descriptions and other activities of members of society within the family, labour force and social service delivery system of Vancouver society."""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/20985?expand=metadata"@en ; skos:note "CONSTITUTING ETHNIC DIFFERENCE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE PORTUGUESE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN VANCOUVER by ALISON ISOBEL BOULTER B.A., Simon Fraser U n i v e r s i t y , 197k A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Jul y , 1978 @ A l i s o n Isobel Boulter, 1978 In p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s in p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f the requ i rement s f o r the L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e and s tudy . I f u r t h e r agree t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r s c h o l a r l y purposes may be g r a n t e d by the Head o f my Department o r by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . It i s u n d e r s t o o d that c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l not be a l l o w e d w i thout my w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . an advanced degree at the U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Co lumb ia , I ag ree that The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Co lumbia 2075 Wesbrook P l a c e V a n c o u v e r , Canada V6T 1W5 Depa rtment ABSTRACT Ethnic groups are a v i s i b l e feature of Canadian s o c i e t y . That t h i s i s so i n d i c a t e s that there must be methods for making them recognizeable as well as methods of accounting for that v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e . In t h i s t h e s i s , I am concerned to explicate the s o c i a l l y organized practi c e s which constitute p a r t i c u l a r members and groups i n s ociety as d i f f e r e n t from other members and groups. The argument presented i s that i t i s the p r a c t i c e s of a l l members of society which con s t i t u t e t h i s d i f f e r e n c e , rather than the d i f f e r e n c e being an a t t r i b u t e of any p a r t i c u l a r ethnic, or immigrant group. The work proceeds i n two ways. F i r s t , the c o n s t i t u t i o n of ethnic d i f f e r e n c e , located i n the t h e o r e t i c a l l i t e r a t u r e , i s i n v e s t -igated. I t i s demonstrated that the t h e o r e t i c a l formulations r e s t on an unexplicated common-sense understanding of ethnic groups and t h e i r members as d i f f e r e n t . Second, observations and d e s c r i p t i o n s of the everyday l i v e d r e l a t i o n s of Portuguese immigrants are analyzed. The observations include interviews with s o c i a l service workers, taped discussions of p a r t i c i p a n t s at a conference on m u l t i c u l t u r a l i s m , as well as interviews with Portuguese immigrants themselves. This second source of data provides an understanding of how d i f f e r e n c e i s constituted i n descriptions and explanations of ethnic phenomena i n Vancouver.. Through the use of a method of analysis derived from Marx and developed for sociology by Smith, I have focussed the ethnography on the s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s which constitute ethnic difference i n Vancouver. The enactment of e t h n i c i t y i n the t h e o r e t i c a l l i t e r -- i i -ature, i n the fieldwork, and i n the observations, explanations, descriptions and accounts are treated a6 data for the analysis of the method by which ethnic difference i s constituted s o c i a l l y . I t i s demonstrated that descriptions which reference c u l t u r a l o r i g i n , l i k e those which reference personality f a c t o r s , disattend to the c o n s t i t u t i o n of s o c i a l l o c a t i o n i n Vancouver. C u l t u r a l descriptions are a method of c o n s t i t u t i n g immigrant/ethnic d i f f -erence. The l o c a t i o n of immigrant/ethnic groups and t h e i r members within a p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l organization i s recreated at every moment i n the descriptions and other a c t i v i t i e s of members of society within the family, labour force and s o c i a l s ervice d e l i v e r y system of Vancouver s o c i e t y . - i i i -TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT i TABLE OF CONTENTS i i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . . . . 1 I. Method of Analysis . . . . . . 3 Facts as S o c i a l l y Constituted Objects . 6 Descriptive Accounts Which Constitute S o c i a l Facts 10 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . 15 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 I. Summary of Procedures of Investigation . 17 I I . T h e o r e t i c a l Constructions of Ethnic Phenomena . . . . . . . . 20 Barth 20 Despres. 2.1\\ Van Den Berghe 26 Robbins 29 I I I . The Relations Between Common-Sense and Theory • 33 Ethnomethodology and Common-Sense Understandings • • • • 35 Common-Sense Understanding as an Ide o l o g i c a l Construction M CHAPTER THREE: THE FIELDWORK J^ 3 Introduction • • i+3 I. Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . kk Fieldnotes 50 Research D i f f i c u l t i e s • • • • • • • • • 51 - i v -Page I I . H i s t o r i c a l Background 53 I I I . Description as a Method of Constituting Difference 54 S o c i a l l y Organized Use of the Term 'Immigrant* • • • • • • • • 54 S o c i a l l y Organized Use of the Term 'Community' 61 Referencing of C u l t u r a l O r i g i n . . . . 64 Summary 7 7 IV. How Descriptions Obscure S o c i a l l y Organized Practices • 7 7 Sponsored Immigrants . . . 7 8 Rural or Urban Background • • 8 9 Labour Market P a r t i c i p a t i o n and Language S k i l l s 97 CONCLUDING REMARKS 1 0 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY 113 APPENDIX I 1 1 8 APPENDIX II 119 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of a thesis i s always the r e s u l t of more than the author's i n d i v i d u a l e f f o r t s . For t h i s reason, I wish to acknowledge, with thanks, some of the people who provided support; moral, i n t e l l -ectual and p r a c t i c a l . To Nancy Jackson, who worked c l o s e l y with me and gave w i l l i n g l y of her time and knowledge. Without her help, t h i s thesis would not have been possi b l e . To my Women's Group, for l i s t e n i n g , supporting and providing dinners. To my Committee; Helga Jacobson, Blanca Muratorio and Roy Turner, for asking seemingly impossible questions and making sure I found a way to answer them. To Barbara Williamson for her suggestions and c r i t i c i s m s of the rough d r a f t s . To Marie Campbell, Margeurite Cassin, G i l l i a n V/alker and Linda Thompson who shared ideas, o f f i c e space and typewriters with me. To Natalie Dubanski who typed the rough copies and the f i n a l manuscript. To my c h i l d r e n , Rick and Mike, for t h e i r caring and p r a c t i c a l help as we went through t h i s experience together. To the people who acted as informants, I give s p e c i a l thanks. They gave f r e e l y of t h e i r knowledge and experience to make t h i s t h e s i s p o s s i b l e . And f i n a l l y , to Dorothy Smith, for her t h e o r e t i c a l work and her personal and professional support during the past two years. - I -CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK •Ethnic groups' are a v i s i b l e feature of Vancouver s o c i e t y . That they are so provides an observable phenomenon which i s of i n t e r e s t to a l l members of so c i e t y . The media r e g u l a r l y report news which incorporates the terms 'ethnic groups' or 'immigrants'. The Public L i b r a r y maintains f i l e s of press c l i p p i n g s which r e f e r to various ethnic groups/ immigrant groups i n the Vancouver area. Restaurants which serve ethnic foods p r o l i f e r a t e . Some areas of Vancouver are known as \"the Greek neighborhood\", \"the I t a l i a n s e c t i o n \" , \"the East Indian community\", \"the Portuguese community\". Conversations take place i n which i t i s noted how many ethnic groups members are working i n a given s e t t i n g and how those Jobs were never done by \"them\" before. This topic i s also of i n t e r e s t to s o c i o l o g i s t s and anthro-p o l o g i s t s . Papers are written, conferences are organized, classes and seminars are held i n which the concern i s to understand the organization and impact of e t h n i c i t y on Canadian s o c i e t y , ( c f . Despres, 1 9 7 5 , f o r a h i s t o r y of the term 'ethnic' i n the academic l i t e r a t u r e . ) Ethnic groups, immigrants are seen as a fact of Canadian s o c i e t y . That ethnic groups are a fact of l i f e i n Vancouver i n d i c a t e s that they must be recognizable as such. The terms 'ethnic' and 'immigrant' b u i l d i n a p a r t i c u l a r understanding: that i s , that ethnic group members and immigrants are d i f f e r e n t . They are, i n any number of ways, seen to be d i f f e r e n t from other ethnic groups, and from, i n the case of immigrants, other persons who were born i n Canada. I t i s t h i s taken-for-granted di f f e r e n c e that I am concerned to explore. The research, on which t h i s thesis i s based, took place i n what i s c a l l e d the \"Portuguese community\" i n Vancouver. I t w i l l be demonstrated that the s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s of Vancouver society c o n s t i t u t e people of Portuguese n a t i o n a l o r i g i n as ethnic, as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t . This difference i s accomplished through descriptions of people's a c t i v i t i e s as well as through the l i v e d r e l a t i o n s of the members of Vancouver society who are of Portuguese nation a l o r i g i n . These p r a c t i c e s , the de s c r i p t i o n s of the Portuguese persons as c u l t u r a l l y d i f f e r e n t as well as the day-to-day a c t i v i t i e s of immigrants' l i v e s , produce the s o c i a l l y organized phenomenon which i s v i s i b l e as c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver. I t i s through the a c t i v i t i e s of a l l members of Vancouver society that some persons are constituted as immigrant, as ethnic, as d i f f e r e n t and which produces a p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l f a c t ; Portuguese immigrants. The problem addressed i n t h i s thesis i s that of how ethnic phenomenon and immigrant groups 1 become v i s i b l e as d i f f e r e n t . f o r ^Isajev (1978) has r a i s e d , as a methodological is s u e , the use of the terms 'ethnic' and 'immigrant'. He suggests that studies of e t h n i c i t y have often been the study of immigrant adaptation. The r e s u l t has been that there i s a primary focus on f i r s t gen-eration immigrants without the recognition that second and t h i r d generation ethnic group members may d i f f e r i n both s o c i a l organ-i z a t i o n and v i s i b i l i t y . In t h i s work, however, such a d i s t i n c t i o n i s not relevant; the Portuguese ethnic group members i n Vancouver are mainly f i r s t generation immigrants and i t i s these people with - 3 -a l l members of s o c i e t y . I am concerned to inquire i n t o the p r a c t i c e s which c o n s t i t u t e some Portuguese immigrants as d i f f e r e n t from other Portuguese immigrants and from the l a r g e r society; how that d i f f e r e n c e i s produced and how i t i s a v a i l a b l e as a s o c i a l f a c t . I . The Method of Analysis In order to in q u i r e i n t o how ethnic/immigrant groups become v i s i b l e as d i f f e r e n t for a l l members of society , I want to begin with making apparent the method of analysis which I w i l l use i n t h i s t h e s i s . The use of t h i s method, derived from Marx and developed f o r sociology by Smith, w i l l provide a way of approaching the phenomenon of ethnic groups which i s d i f f e r e n t from those based i n s t r a t i f i c a t i o n theory. This method w i l l provide a procedure for e x p l i c a t i n g members' a c t i v i t i e s which are named by the terms ' e t h n i c i t y ' , 'ethnic group', 'immigrants' and 'immigrant groups'. The method begins where the ethnic t h e o r i s t s c i t e d below and where common-sense usage of the terms 'ethnic' and 'immigrant' begin; with the a t t r i b u t i o n of di f f e r e n c e which i s presumed to be a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of ethnic/immigrant groups and t h e i r members.' However, i n the method which^is used here, that.difference i s not treated as given but rather as problematic: how the a c t i v i t i e s of people c o n s t i t u t e p a r t i c u l a r persons as ethnic, as immigrant, as which I am concerned. Therefore, i n t h i s work the terms are used interchangeably. The members of the Portuguese immigrant group i n Vancouver are also the members of the Portuguese ethnic group. - i n -different from other persons. The terms are returned to the actual practices of which they are a part and i n which they originate. I w i l l do, using this method, a focused ethnography. (Smith, 1977a) That i s , I am concerned to focus the ethnography i n a very particular way; on the a c t i v i t i e s , descriptions and explanations which constitute ethnic, immigrant difference; on the process rather than on the objective account. This focus i s one which w i l l not produce the only possible description of the Portuguese immigrant experience i n Vancouver. Rather, i t must be noted that another ethnography, another description which proceeded with a different focus would perhaps produce a very different description. This method i s provided for i n the work of Marx, particularly his later work on p o l i t i c a l economy. (Marx,1976 ) The method i s an inquiry as well as a critique of the work of the p o l i t i c a l economists. Marx c r i t i c i z e d the p o l i t i c a l economists for beginning with the categories which arise i n the process of ca p i t a l i s t production but i n the process of their work, losing sight of the original a c t i v i t i e s i n which the terms arose. (Smith, 197?a) However, the method used i n this thesis i s not to be understood as an application of the d i a l e c t i c a l materialist method. Rather, I w i l l be concerned to use the method developed by Smith for sociology which, although based on Marx's work, i s developed for use i n sociology i n the present. As this thesis r e l i e s primarily on the work of Smith, i t i s necessary to see how she relates her work to that of Marx. The method which we began to work with i s a method which i s derived from Marx's method.... (It) can't be treated as an explication of Marx; i t i s derived - 5 -from h i s work and i s derived from h i s work as a basis on which to proceed following a method which he innovated, but not nece s s a r i l y simply r e p l i c a t i n g that method. That i s , i t i s aimed to do the work of sociology i n t h i s time and not i n the 19th century. Therefore, no e f f o r t has been made to be f a i t h f u l to Marx i n a pious or r e l i g i o u s sense. (Smith, 1977a) What i s implied i n Marx's method i s a procedure for beginning where the t h e o r i s t s leave o f f . That i s , Marx began by taking the concepts used by Adam Smith, Ricardo and others and l o c a t i n g those concepts i n the a c t i v i t i e s of people. Marx produced an account of the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s which gave r i s e to the d e s c r i p t i o n and conceptualization of the p o l i t i c a l economists. (Leibowitz, 1977;, Cassin, 1977) As Smith has stated: Marx's example i n s t r u c t s us not to treat a concept as a t h e o r e t i c a l p r i m i t i v e , i n the l o g i c a l sense, nor as int e r p r e t a b l e s o l e l y i n terms of other concepts. Rather, a concept requires to be discovered again i n the a c t u a l i t i e s of what l i v i n g people do. (Smith, 1974:7) In the i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n t o e t h n i c i t y , ethnic groups and immigrant groups, I do not proceed by taking a 6 given the v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e s which produce the observable phenomenon of ethnic groups. Rather, that 'difference' remains to be discovered i n the a c t i v i t i e s of t a l k , of the family and of the labour market. In other words, what i s common-sensically used as a \"resource\", I w i l l t r e a t as a \" t o p i c \" . (Zimmerman & Po l l n e r , 1970) Smith, following Marx, locates her work on s o c i a l organization i n two modes: f i r s t , the s o c i a l p r a c t i c e s which give r i s e to the phenomenon; second, the l o c a t i o n of the i d e o l o g i s t , p r o f e s s i o nal or s o c i a l s c i e n t i s t who i s concerned with bringing the terms used - 6 -i n the working r e l a t i o n s i n t o the professional or academic discourse, .', Marx assumes that the terms that are used are terms which are an e s s e n t i a l part of the process; are the terms of the working process of p o l i t i c a l economy. That i s , that terms such as wages, commodities, p r o f i t , etc., do not a r i s e out of the work of p o l i t i c a l economy hut a r i s e out of the o r i g i n a l s o c i a l process and hence, of course, t h e i r very existence as categories which are p o t e n t i a l l y part of the s c i e n t i f i c discourse, i s fundamentally h i s t o r i c a l . (Smith, 1977a) In t h i s work, the r e l a t i o n I am concerned to explore i s that of how to \"substruct\" the accounts given to me i n the f i e l d , the terms provided i n the academic l i t e r a t u r e and the descriptions of Portuguese immigrants' l i v e s done by the s o c i a l workers, to the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s of the o r i g i n a l p r a c t i c e s i n which the phenomenon a r i s e s . (Smith, 1976) Facts as Sodally-Constituted Objects In order to develop t h i s r e l a t i o n noted above, i t i s necessary to i n v e s t i g a t e how s o c i a l f a c t s are constituted; how the fa c t of immigrants, ethnic groups and e t h n i c i t y i s constituted as a s o c i a l f a c t . To do t h i s , I want to begin with the work on commodities done by Marx; the work on commodity as a s o c i a l r e l a t i o n , which, as w i l l be demonstrated l a t e r , i s analogous to the c o n s t i t u t i n g of s o c i a l f a c t s . A commodity i s therefore, a mysterious thing, simply because i n i t , the s o c i a l character of men's labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; because the r e l a t i o n of the producers to the sum t o t a l of t h e i r own labour i s presented to them as a s o c i a l r e l a t i o n e x i s t i n g not between themselves, but between the products of - 7 -their labour* This i s the reason why the products of labour become commodities, social things whose qualities are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the sense* In the same way, the light from an object i s perceived by us not as the subjective excitation of our optic nerve, but as the objective form of something outside the eye i t s e l f . But, i n the act of seeing, there i s at a l l events an actual passage of light from one physical thing to another, from the external object to the eye. There i s a physical relation between physical things. But i t i s different with commodities. There, the existence of things qua commodities and the value relation between the products of labour which stamps them as commodities, have absolutely no connection with their physical properties and with the material relations arising therefrom. There i s a definite social relation between men, that assumes, i n their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things. (Marx, 1976) Commodities become such only within a particular social organ-ization. They are not completed as commodities outside of the relation between production and market exchange. They come into being only at that moment of exchange. Before continuing with the constitution of social facts, i t i s necessary to c l a r i f y how particular terms are used and have been used i n this thesis. Terms such as social organization, social relations, socially organized practices a l l refer to a particular method of social production. They do not, as i s commonly the case, refer to static contexts or configurations into which individuals are inserted. Rather, they are a c t i v i t i e s which are carried out, are performed by persons. They refer to a c t i v i t i e s which produce, socially, what i s observable as objective features of our society. In the present work, the term \"social organization\", or \"socially organized\" i s used to Identify a realm of organized practical a c t i v i t i e s i n which social phenomena come into being with the appearance of objective features of the social world; i t identifies an \"ontological\" status of social phenomena. That i s , these terms identify a domain i n which 'objects' come into existence by being assembled, organized as - 8 -phenomena, s o c i a l l y * They ' e x i s t 1 as s o c i a l phenomena only i n the a c t i v i t i e s of people i n which these forms are produced as appearances. They are fundamentally a s o c i a l construction and have no other existence than t h e i r ongoing, s o c i a l accomplishment. (Jackson, 1977:4) Smith, using her understanding of Mead's view of s o c i a l acts as they are accomplished and organized by the s o c i a l form, provides an example which explicates the s o c i a l l y organized pract i c e s which cons t i t u t e a natural object. ... i t seems to me that what Mead was homing i n on, i n the notion of symbolic i n t e r a c t i o n , was something l i k e t h i s way of viewing how a table or how objects of t h i s kind are constituted i n a s o c i a l act or i n a set of s o c i a l acts which both organizes and are organized by the s o c i a l form which emerges i n t h i s process. (Smith, 1976c) Smith's example of a table provides a way to see how i t i s that there i s a p a r t i c u l a r set of s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s which revolve around the use of a t a b l e . These practic e s are not s o l e l y determined by the natural object. Rather, i t i s possible to see i n how a c h i l d i s i n s t r u c t e d i n the use of a table, what the pra c t i c e s are which surround i t s use and which con s t i t u t e i t s s o c i a l form. That i s , that a c h i l d must learn how to do table i n what i s seen to be an appropriate manner; for example, not putting her feet on i t . Smith also points out that physical objects which are, for example, packing boxes i n one context, may act as a table i n another. By the use of p a r t i c u l a r 'dressings' such as a t a b l e c l o t h , a vase of flowers, a lamp, what was ' o r i g i n a l l y ' a backing box becomes acted towards, constituted as a t a b l e . (Smith, 1976a) In a s i m i l a r fashion, i t i s possible to see a g i f t as a s o c i a l l y constituted object which i s completed only i n a p a r t i c u l a r - 9 -exchange r e l a t i o n between persons. That i s , that while a box of candy or a b o t t l e of wine may be only boxes or bo t t l e s of p a r t i c u l a r edibles, i f those are given as g i f t s t h e i r p a r t i c u l a r construction as g i f t s occurs only i n the giv i n g of the object as a g i f t . A g i f t i s only a g i f t when i t i s given to one person by another and only comes i n t o existence at that moment. The above examples show how a s o c i a l act may appear as an object, as an o b j e c t i f i e d 'thing*. In the same way, i t i s possible to see how ' f a c t s ' are constituted as the objective features of the observed world. That i s , that i n the same way as i t i s possible to see a g i f t as an object and to disattend to the s o c i a l l y organized c o n s t i t u t i o n of a g i f t , so i t i s possible to see the 'fa c t ' of immigrant groups, ethnic groups, ethnic and immigrant di f f e r e n c e as an observable and objective ' f a c t ' of so c i e t y . To see them as •f a c t s ' , as s o c i a l ' f a c t s ' , i s to difiattend to the s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s which constitute ethnic d i f f e r e n c e as a f a c t . Smith re-writes the quote from Marx above, as a way of showing how the construction of ' f a c t ' mediates the r e l a t i o n s among persons i n the same way that Marx saw commodities as mediating the r e l a t i o n s of i n d i v i d u a l s . We might indeed rewrite parts of h i s account to do some work for li s . He says: 'A commodity i s therefore a mysterious thing simply because i n i t the s o c i a l character of men's labour appears to them as an objective character stamped on the product of that labour.' (Marx, C a p i t a l , undated) Rewrite that s u b s t i t u t i n g ' f a c t ' for 'commodity' and making other appropriate changes and we get: 'a fact i s a mysterious thing simply because i n i t the s o c i a l character of men's consciousness appears to them as an objective character stamped on the product of the consciousness'. (Indeed l a t e r i n the same paragraph Marx draws a l i k e analogy with r e l i g i o n , ) The o b j e c t i f i c a t i o n of labour i n the commodity i s brought about as r e l a t i o n s of exchange. Relations between i n d i v i d u a l s come to appear as r e l a t i o n s between commodities. S i m i l a r l y we can think of r e l a t i o n s between s u b j e c t i v i t i e s appearing as f a c t s and as r e l a t i o n s among f a c t s . (Smith, 1973) Thus that immigrants, members of ethnic groups appear to us as d i f f e r e n t i s a fact which i s a v a i l a b l e for everyone to see. That t h i s d i f f e r e n c e i s produced through the a c t i v i t i e s of s o c i e t y 1 members i s not v i s i b l e . The appearance i s that these people are d i f f e r e n t because they come from somewhere e l s e . That i s , dif f e r e n c e as s o c i a l l y constituted phenomenon i s not nec e s s a r i l y v i s i b l e as such. Rather, i t i s v i s i b l e as an objective f a c t . Descriptive Accounts Which Constitute S o c i a l Facts I want to return now to the two modes of l o c a t i o n but now as a method of seeing d e s c r i p t i v e accounts as c o n s t i t u t i v e of s o c i a l f a c t . Here, I w i l l be pri m a r i l y concerned with Smith's l a t e r work on d e s c r i p t i o n . Thus, the same set of terms may be located i n two modes of s o c i a l r e l a t i o n . Terms, such as wages, or p r o f i t , a r i s e on the one hand as part of how those x r r e l a t i o n s are p r a c t i c e d . And on the other, are located i n the second set of s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s where the work of the i d e o l o g i s t , the work of the p o l i t i c a l economist, the s o c i a l s c i e n t i s t i s done. The language, which i s a part of the objects of study and how that object becomes known within a discourse, i s incorpor-ated i n t o the discourse and organized by i t s s o c i a l and t e c h n i c a l r e l a t i o n . . . . I t i s a r e l a t i o n at the i n t e r s e c t i o n of a pr o f e s s i o n a l discourse, or bureau-cracy, or a s i m i l a r organizational form i n a l i v e d world which the coding or the d e s c r i p t i v e procedure must make o b j e c t i v e l y a v a i l a b l e to the discourse or administrative process. (Smith, 1978) - 1 1 -Smith and Jackson, (Smith, 1977; Jackson, 1977) explore the r e l a t i o n between the methods of doing d e s c r i p t i o n used by the s c i e n t i s t s and the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s i n which the o r i g i n a l pehnomena a r i s e s . They describe the d i f f e r e n t kinds of t a l k that occured within the s e t t i n g of the newsroom they were i n v e s t i g a t i n g . Jackson locates three d i f f e r e n t kinds of t a l k . F i r s t , the t a l k that i s done by people i n the course of doing the a c t i v i t i e s of t h e i r work. Second, t a l k which i s done by competent members for persons who are not accomplished members of the s e t t i n g ; d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k . Smith notes t h i s kind of t a l k as incorporating minimally two d i s t i n c t i v e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . One, that the s o c i o l o g i s t i s f i n d i n g out from a competent member of the s e t t i n g what i s i s that i s going on i n the s e t t i n g . And two, that t h i s kind of t a l k incorporates a d i f f e r e n t usage of terms than does the working t a l k . This d i f f e r e n t usage of terms appears to be c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of doing descriptions of a s e t t i n g . The t h i r d kind of t a l k i d e n t i f i e d by Jackson i s the t a l k done as a part of the s o c i o l o g i c a l discourse. While neither of these s o c i o l o g i s t s concentrated on the t h i r d l o c a t i o n of t a l k , as Smith points out, \"We can begin to see ways i n which t a l k at the second l e v e l was instructed by the way that the t a l k was aimed at a s o c i o l o g i c a l discourse\". (Smith, 1977) For the purposes of t h i s t h e s i s , I also, w i l l not be concerned to explicate the r e l a t i o n between the second and t h i r d locations of t a l k . Rather, I w i l l be concerned to look at the second l o c a t i o n , the d e s c r i p t i o n s , as an a c t i v i t y which i n and of i t s e l f c o n s t itutes ethnic immigrant d i f f e r e n c e . I am concerned to explicate the r e l a t i o n between the descriptions done of immigrants' - 12 -l i v e s , and the l i v e d r e l a t i o n s of immigrants as they a r i s e i n t h e i r everyday a c t i v i t i e s . Smith points out some of the properties mentioned previously as c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the second l e v e l of d e s c r i p t i o n . For terms i n a d e s c r i p t i v e account, we make use of a referencing method of meaning. They are taken to intend something out there; object or a c t i o n . This r e f e r e n t i a l procedure for meaning words i s not the only way which words can mean. In the language game of d e s c r i p t i o n , language i s used r e f e r e n t i a l l y . Referencing i s the key sense-making p r a c t i c e of the de s c r i p t i v e language game. The understanding, \" t h i s i s a d e s c r i p t i o n \" i n s t r u c t s the s o c i o l o g i s t , hearing her informant speak, to hear her as speaking of what i s out there. She takes what i s ref e r r e d to i n the de s c r i p t i o n as just that. In that construction, what i s ref e r r e d to i s the grounding of the descrip-t i o n . Referencing constitutes a r e l a t i o n between the descriptive discourse and what i t intends. Descriptions work by presupposing what they describe. They presuppose further, that the d e s c r i p t i o n i s e s s e n t i a l l y derived. (Smith, 1978) In t h i s t h e s i s , I am concerned with what Smith c a l l s a \"double r e l a t i o n \" . That i s , that the language of d e s c r i p t i o n which i s incorporated i n t o the sense-making p r a c t i c e s of the discourse operate quite d i f f e r e n t l y from the o r i g i n a l working r e l a t i o n s i n which the terms a r i s e and of which they are a part. In f a c t , that r e l a t i o n may be quite indeterminate and the system of categories may serve to organize what i t seems to name i n ways that do not conform to the s o c i a l formoof the everyday world that i t c o d i f i e s . (Smith, 1978) Therefore, i t i s the contention of t h i s work, that i t i s not possible to go d i r e c t l y from the descriptions of ethnic/immigrant groups as they appear to the a c t i v i t i e s they assume to reference. The descriptions must be explicated; returned to the a c t i v i t i e s , - 13 -the p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s i n which they are located and i n which they a r i s e * In the following chapters, I w i l l be concerned to explicate the r e l a t i o n between an a c t u a l i t y , the v i s i b i l i t y of ethnic/immigrant groups, and a p a r t i c u l a r set or system of s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s which c o n s t i t u t e that v i s i b i l i t y f o r a l l members of society* Chapter II i s an i n q u i r y i n t o the l i t e r a t u r e on ethnic phenomena* Four a r t i c l e s are discussed which are concerned with the two debates i n the e t h n i c i t y l i t e r a t u r e * One debate i s the subjective or objective c r i t e r i a of i n c l u s i o n or exclusion of ethnic group members; i . e . ethnic i d e n t i t y or c u l t u r a l d i a c r i t i c a and content. The other debate i s whether c l a s s status or ethnic status i s primary i n deter-mining the unequal status of various ethnic combinations. The chapter i s concerned with e x p l i c a t i n g the procedure by which the l i t e r a t u r e i s constructed to produce generalizable statements about ethnic groups i n a l l s o c i e t i e s . I t w i l l be demonstrated that a l l the t h e o r i s t s c i t e d proceed from an assumption of d i f f e r e n c e as a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c which i s a property of the ethnic group members. I t w i l l also be demonstrated that t h i s taken-for-granted d i f f e r e n c e i s a common-sense understanding of ethnic groups and.their members. This common-sense understanding i s an unexplicated resource for the t h e o r e t i c a l constructions of the ethnic t h e o r i s t s c i t e d . Chapter I I I contains the method and analysis of the fleldwork. I begin with a discussion of the ethnographic procedures used i n gathering my data. These were observation, p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n c i t i z e n s h i p classes and intensive interviews. This section docu-ments the method through which I entered the f i e l d . A discussion of my own conception of \"community\" i s included as an example of - H -the way i n which I enacted e t h n i c i t y with the members of the f i e l d . This i s followed by a very short h i s t o r i c a l summary of Portuguese immigration to Canada. The discussion then begins to explicate the terms 'immigrant' and 'community' which w i l l be shown to be names for p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l l y organized practices which organize some persons as d i f f e r e n t from other persons. I t w i l l be demonstrated that these terms are part of the method which co n s t i t u t e s the objective e n t i t y , the s o c i a l f a c t of immigrant/ethnic groups and i n d i v i d u a l s . In t h i s section I am concerned with the process of i n t e r a c t i o n , the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s which constitute some persons as d i f f e r e n t from others i n Vancouver. The process of i n t e r a c t i o n i s v i s i b l e i n the d e s c r i p t i o n done with and about Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver. These descriptions a t t r i b u t e the d i f f i c u l t i e s and concerns of Immigrants to t h e i r p e r s o n a l i t i e s , to t h e i r c u l t u r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , or to the c u l t u r a l and s o c i a l background from which they have come. This method of de s c r i p t i o n disattends to the production of s o c i a l and c l a s s l o c a t i o n of Portuguese immigrants i n t h e i r everyday l i v e d r e l a t i o n s i n Vancouver. The concluding remarks w i l l be a summary of the the s i s and w i l l Include some suggestions for further research l n the area of ethnic/ immigrant s o c i a l organization. - 15 -CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE * Introduction This section of the thesis i s an i n q u i r y i n t o the s o c i o l o g i c a l and anthropological l i t e r a t u r e onsethnic phenomena. I t i s concerned with showing how the production of knowledge about e t h n i c i t y proceeds within a t h e o r e t i c a l framework; within a discourse. The goal towards which t h i s thesis i s directed i s to show how ethnic d i f f e r e n c e i s constituted by the s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s of members of society i n Vancouver. In moving toward t h i s goal, i t i s necessary to show, f i r s t , how the e t h n i c i t y l i t e r a t u r e i s put together. This i n q u i r y w i l l make v i s i b l e , i n c e r t a i n selected a r t i c l e s , the procedures by which s o c i o l o g i c a l and anthropological i n v e s t i g a t i o n s i n t o ethnic phenomena are conducted. The a r t i c l e s selected for consideration are those which were the most often c i t e d as references i n the l i t e r a t u r e which I read i n preparation f o r t h i s t h e s i s . Also, they are t h e o r e t i c a l a r t i c l e s and as such purport to have a g e n e r a l i z a b i l i t y which non-theoretical a r t i c l e s do not have. Another c r i t e r i a for the s e l e c t i o n of a r t i c l e s f o r review was that they i n some way represent the t h e o r e t i c a l debates within the area of ethnic and race r e l a t i o n s . The a r t i c l e s reviewed below share themes which are concerned with the debates on the primacy of ethnic status or c l a s s status and the determination of subjective or objective c r i t e r i a for membership i n an ethnic * My thanks to Dr.R.Fernandez for c r i t i c i s m s and suggestions for t h i s chapter. - 16 -group. A note of caution must be included at this point. These articles are primarily concerned with ethnic groups i n non-ca p i t a l i s t societies. I do not assume that a l l ethnic groups i n every society w i l l be organized, socially, i n the 6ame manner. Therefore, the inquiry i s not directed to the specifics of ethnic groups i n the literature. Rather, I am particularly concerned with the theoretical constructions which the authors cited develop. Theoretical constructions are the basis for generalizing to a l l ethnic groups the characteristics which are discovered to be somehow •typical* of ethnic organization. While there indeed may be parallels between ethnic groups and ethnic organization i n a a l l social organ-izations, that similarity i s not the focu6 of this thesis. In this section, I am concerned to look at how the literature i s put together; what assumptions must be made i n order to produce what are seen as the characteristics of ethnic groups. It i s this generalizability that I am concerned to discuss, not the particulars of the authors 1 research into certain ethnic groups i n other parts of the world. The inquiry which constitutes this section of the thesis concerns two debates within the literature. They are f i r s t , the determination of subjective or objective c r i t e r i a for the exclusion or inclusion of ethnic members. Second, I w i l l look at the debate surrounding class status and ethnic status as the determinant of visible inequalities i n society. This chapter begins with a summary of the procedures by which ethnic phenomena are investigated. I w i l l then go on to look at three theorists who proceed within the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l mode of analysis i n more de t a i l . Following this, I w i l l look at one • - 17 -a r t i c l e which attempts to investigate e t h n i c i t y from the t h e o r e t i c a l base of a Marxist analysis of c l a s s r e l a t i o n s . This procedure of inquiry w i l l allow the l o c a t i o n of the phenomena of e t h n i c i t y and ethnic groups within a discourse. I t w i l l provide an analysis of how e t h n i c i t y i s accomplished i n the s o c i o l o g i c a l and anthropological l i t e r a t u r e . I . Summary of Procedures of Investigation The e t h n i c i t y l i t e r a t u r e r a i s e s two sets of t h e o r e t i c a l concerns. The f i r s t i s the debate which concerns whether object-i v e or subjective c r i t e r i a are the primary determinants for the generation and maintenance of ethnic boundaries and ethnic groups; the d e f i n i t i o n of what constitutes an ethnic group. The second revolves around whether c l a s s or e t h n i c i t y determines the v i s i b l e status i n e q u a l i t i e s which seem to adhere to most poly-ethnic or p l u r a l s o c i e t i e s . The counterposed terms, c l a s s or e t h n i c i t y and subjective or objective, operate at d i f f e r e n t l e v e l s i n the i n v e s t i g a t i o n of ethnic groups. E t h n i c i t y , as conceived by the t h e o r i s t s discussed below, consists of a group of i n d i v i d u a l s who are seen to, and conceive of themselves as being d i f f e r e n t from other groups of i n d i v i d u a l s . This di f f e r e n c e i s manifested i n dress, language, s o c i a l customs and moraes, etc. These v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e s are the c u l t u r a l d l a c r i t i c a which are seen as a part of the ethnic community and as belonging to them as a group. In other words, the v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e i s a t t r i b u t e d to the group by others and by themselves. - 1 8 -This attribution of difference is where most ethnic theorists begin. The problem then becomes one of discovering how that visible cultural difference arises and is maintained. The theorists cited propose that the difference does not arise nor is i t maintained in isolation from other groups of individuals who surround the ethnic group in question. Rather, the difference i s a result of the interrelations of one group with another based on the activities of individuals as ethnic group members. It i s here that the issues arise of subjective or objective criteria of inclusion and exclusion in the ethnic group. The subjective factors are those which involve the self- and other- identification of an individual as an ethnic group member. This identification i s seen to result in a common culture. (Barth, 1969:11) The objective criteria are both the cultural diacritica as well as geographic and economic differentiation which make the ethnic group visible; for example, language, dress, competition for material resources, etc. In this case, the common culture produces the self- and other- identification. (Van Den Berghe, 1975; Despres, 1975) The question raised at this point is how the individuals in an ethnic group are related to another ethnic group or to the society that surrounds i t . It i s here that the question of status is raised. Status arises in the investigation of ethnicity because the researchers, in looking at the relationships between ethnic groups, are attempting to understand the differing positions of individuals in the status hierarchy. A common practice, when wanting to account for differences among individuals in a homogenous society, i s to look at the status diff-erentials. Status, then, describes the visible differences among - 19 -i n d i v i d u a l s . T r a d i t i o n a l l y , the method for a r r i v i n g at these status d i f f e r e n c e s i s to develop a set of c r i t e r i a which then allow you to a r r i v e at a status scale* for example, Blishen and Warner scales, (Warner, 1957) In the e t h n i c i t y l i t e r a t u r e , the debate then a r i s e s as to what c r i t e r i a one should use to e s t a b l i s h status. Theorists such as Robbins think that c l a s s i s the determining status; some, l i k e Barth, prefer e t h n i c i t y or ethnic membership as the primary deter-minant; some state that i t i s a combination of both factors which are responsible for one's status ranking (Despres; Van Den Berghe) In looking at the Japanese community i n Canada, for example, ethnic t h e o r i s t s using a s t r a t i f i c a t i o n model would f i r s t see that indeed there i s a phenomenon which can be c a l l e d and i s recognizeable as the Japanese community. Proceeding from t h i s r e c o g n i t i o n of a v i s i b l e e n t i t y , the t h e o r i s t s are then concerned to demonstrate which of the c r i t e r i a for i n c l u s i o n and exclusion operate so that the i n d i v i d u a l i s seen as and sees h e r s e l f as a Japanese-Canadian; as a member of the Japanese community. The question then becomes how i t i s that t h i s person who i s an i d e n t i f i e d member of the Japanese community, f i t s i n t o that community and as a member of that community, i n t o the Canadian s o c i e t y . Is i t the ethnic membership which determines entry and mobility i n the status hierarchy, or i s i t c l a s s s t r a t a l o c a t i o n of the i n d i v i d u a l which i s the primary factor? In terms of the overview presented above, I now want to look at four authors (Barth, 1969; Despres, 1975; Van Den Berghe, 1975; and Robbins, 1975). - 20 -I I . T h e o r e t i c a l Constructions of Ethnic Phenomena Barth Barth c r i t i c i z e s s o c i a l anthropologists for conceiving of ethnic groups as c u l t u r e bearing units who develop and maintain t h e i r culture through i s o l a t i o n from other groups. Rather, Barth sees the f a c t of a common culture as being a \" . . . r e s u l t , rather than a primary and d e f i n i t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of ethnic group organization.\" (1969:11) He provides a method of i n v e s t i g a t i o n for research i n t o ethnic groups and ethnic group i n t e r a c t i o n . Barch shows that ethnic i d e n t i t y i s a r e s u l t of ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n across ethnic boundaries. (1 ) ... we give primary emphasis to the fact that ethnic groups are categories of a s c r i p t i o n and i d e n t i f i c a t i o n by the actors themselves, and thus have the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of organizing i n t e r a c t i o n between people. (2) ... rather than working through a typology of forms of ethnic groups and r e l a t i o n s , we attempt to explore the d i f f e r e n t processes that seem to be involved i n generating and maintaining ethnic groups. (3) ... to observe these processes we s h i f t the focus of i n v e s t i g a t i o n to ethnic boundaries and boundary maintenance. (Barth, 1969:10) This method of i n v e s t i g a t i o n produces two discoveries about the c o n s t i t u t i o n of ethnic groups and ethnic group i n t e r a c t i o n . F i r s t , i t i s c l e a r that boundaries p e r s i s t despite a flow of personnel across them. In other words, c a t e g o r i c a l ethnic d i s t i n c t i o n does not depend on an absence of mobility, contact and information, but do e n t a i l s o c i a l processes of exclusion and incorporation whereby d i s c r e t e categories are maintained despite changing p a r t i c i p a t i o n and membership i n the course of i n d i v i d u a l l i v e h i s t o r i e s . Secondly, one finds that s t a b l e , p e r s i s t i n g and often v i t a l l y important s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s are maintained across such boundaries and are frequently based p r e c i s e l y on the dichotomized ethnic statuses.,, c u l t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s can p e r s i s t despite i n t e r - e t h n i c contact and i n t e r -dependence. (1969:9-10) In terms of the overview presented previously, i t can be seen that Barth begins h i s method of i n v e s t i g a t i o n with an a t t r i b u t i o n of v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e ; the c a t e g o r i c a l ethnic d i s t i n c t i o n s . These are the property of the ethnic group member. He then goes on to demonstrate that these c a t e g o r i c a l ethnic d i s t i n c t i o n s do not a r i s e , nor are they maintained i n i s o l a t i o n . Rather, the ethnic groups depend, f o r t h e i r generation and maintenance, on ethnic group i n t e r a c t i o n . He sees the c r i t i c a l feature of ethnic organ-i z a t i o n as \"••• the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of s e l f - a s c r i p t i o n and a s c r i p t i o n by others\" (1969:13)• This c h a r a c t e r i s t i c organizes the ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n which occurs and which can best be elucidated by focussing on the ethnic boundaries and boundary maintenance, ii I t i s t h i s \" c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of s e l f - a s c r i p t i o h and a s c r i p t i o n by others\" which i s categorized by t h e o r i s t s as the subjective c r i t e r i a for exclusion and i n c l u s i o n i n the ethnic group. That t h i s 'subjective* i n t e r p r e t a t i o n has frequently been misunderstood by other writers i s not our concern at the moment. At t h i s point, i t i s necessary to understand what i s meant by Barth as the s e l f and other a s c r i p t i v e aspects of ethnic i d e n t i t y , Barth sees ethnic groups as an \"organizational type\". By concentrating on what i s s o c i a l l y e f f e c t i v e , ethnic groups are seen as a form of s o c i a l organization,,.. To the extent that actors use ethnic i d e n t i t i e s to categorize themselves and others for purposes of i n t e r a c t i o n , they form ethnic groups i n t h i s organ-i z a t i o n a l sense, (1969:14) In other words, i n t e r a c t i o n between i n d i v i d u a l s , which i s - 22 organized by the actor&s i d e n t i t y as an ethnic group member, i s what determines that i n t e r a c t i o n as ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n . Because Barth and other ethnic t h e o r i s t s conceive of ethnic groups as not operating l n i s o l a t i o n from other ethnic groups and, having determined that there are subjective and/or objective c r i t e r i a for i n c l u s i o n and exclusion of members, the t h e o r i s t s must now turn to questions of v i s i b l e status d i f f e r e n c e s which seem to accrue to ethnic organisation. In other words, i s ethni-c i t y determinate of status or does c l a s s / s t r a t a l o c a t i o n determine status? For Barth, ethnic i d e n t i t y i s seen as organizing s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n . Therefore, ethnic i d e n t i t y also organizes s o c i a l s t a t u s . He i s concerned to show how ethnic status i n t e r a c t s with other possible statuses a v a i l a b l e to an i n d i v i d u a l i n a given s o c i e t y . When he looks at the r e l a t i o n s h i p of the ethnic group 1 member to the lar g e r society and/or to another ethnic group, he concludes that ethnic status i s superordinate to a l l other statuses. ... regarded (as) a status, ethnic i d e n t i t y i s super-ordinate to most other statuses, and defines the permissible c o n s t e l l a t i o n s of statuses, or s o c i a l p e r s o n a l i t i e s , which an i n d i v i d u a l with that i d e n t i t y may assume. In t h i s respect, ethnic i d e n t i t y i s s i m i -l a r to sex and rank, i n that i t constrains the incumbent i n a l l h i s a c t i v i t i e s , not only i n some defined s o c i a l s i t u a t i o n s . One might also say that i t i s imperative, i n that i t cannot be disregarded and temporarily set aside by other d e f i n i t i o n s of the s i t u a t i o n . (1969:17) Therefore, as ethnic status i s superordinate, c l a s s / s t r a t a as status must be, at a l l times, subordinate to the ethnic status. Barth's c r i t e r i a f o r e s t a b l i s h i n g status i s then the ethnic membership of the i n d i v i d u a l and group i n question. - 2 3 -In order to demonstrate t h i s point more completely, Barth goes on to state that where a s t r a t i f i e d c l a s s system i s present, \"nothing l i k e the s o c i a l organization of ethnic groups emerges\". (1969:27) ... most systems of s t r a t i f i c a t i o n allow, or indeed e n t a i l , mobility based on evaluation by the scales that define the hierarchy.... Ethnic groups are not open to t h i s kind of penetration: the a s c r i p t i o n of ethnic i d e n t i t y i s based on other and more r e s t r i c t i v e c r i t e r i a . (1969:27) The d i s t i n c t i o n between the two forms of organization i s accomplished on the basis of (a) ethnic status r e s t i n g on c r i t e r i a or \" o r i g i n and commitment\" and (b) c l a s s / s t r a t a status being a r e s u l t of both tangible assets and the mobility possible as a r e s u l t of these assets. (1969:28) In other words, c l a s s status i s achieved and ethnic status i s ascribed. Thus, for Barth, the r e l a t i o n s h i p of the ethnic group member to the l a r g e r society r e s u l t s from the ethnic status they are ascribed. The conception of c l a s s status i s subsumed under ethnic s t a t u s . One's c l a s s status i s determined by one's ethnic status. Barth's formulations as to the primacy of the subjective deter-minants of ethnic membership and the conception of ethnic status as superordinate to other status p o s s i b i l i t i e s forms one side of the debates noted i n the overview presented at the beginning of t h i s s e c t i o n . Despres and Van Den Berghe, while agreeing with c e r t a i n of Barth's conceptions of ethnic groups and ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n s , d i f f e r with him on the r e l a t i v e weight of subjective and objective f a c t o r s , as well as with h i s view of ethnic status as superordinate. - 2k -Despres Despres (1975)» follows the progression outlined at the beginning of t h i s s e c t i o n . That i s , ethnic groups and populations are a v i s i b l e phenomena i n poly-ethnic or p l u r a l s o c i e t i e s . This v i s i b i l i t y i s a r e s u l t of d i f f e r i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s which are a t t r i b u t e d to the group and i t s members. He begins h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n at the point of the a t t r i b u t i o n of d i f f e r e n c e . Despres sees the exercise for researchers i n v e s t i g a t i n g ethnic phenomena to be the deter-mination of the subjective and objective c r i t e r i a for i n c l u s i o n and exclusion of members which give r i s e to and maintain c h a r a c t e r i s t i c ethnic d i f f e r e n c e . As there are v i s i b l e status i n e q u a l i t i e s which seem to accrue to ethnic organization, he proposes that i t i s necessary to describe those status d i f f e r e n c e s . This w i l l enable the researcher to 'map' the determinants of status d i f f e r e n c e s r e v e a l i n g whether they are caused by ethnic status and/or c l a s s status. Despres summarizes the a r t i c l e s submitted to h i s book i n order to note the t h e o r e t i c a l concerns which a r i s e from the substantive f o c i on p a r t i c u l a r populations. He concludes that \" p r e v a i l i n g conceptions of e t h n i c i t y are perhaps too ambiguous... to s i g n i f i -c antly advance the comparative study of ethnic phenomena beyond the work of Barth\" (1975:194). He does note, however, that several authors have taken issue with the \" s u b j e c t ! v i s t view of e t h n i c i t y \" which i s a t t r i b u t e d to Barth's formulations (1975:192). At the same time, Despres concludes that \"an e x c l u s i v e l y o b j e c t i v i s t or c u l t u r a l conceptionoof e t h n i c i t y i s equally unserviceable\" (1975:191). - 25 -While taking issue with the s u b j e c t i v i s t view of e t h n i c i t y , none of the contributors to t h i s volume would disregard altogether the s i g n i f i c a n c e of subjective elements attaching to ethnic i d e n t i e s . Nevertheless, important conceptual and t h e o r e t i c a l problems remain obscured for lack of formal consid-e r a t i o n . (1975:192) Despres sees the subjective and objective c r i t e r i a as a r i s i n g from a multitude of f a c t o r s . These include, (a) h i s t o r i c a l adaptation and c u l t u r a l d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n to d i f f e r i n g techno-environments; (b) the competition for d i f f e r i n g resource domains; and (c) the f u l l range of s o c i a l i d e n t i t i e s possible i n poly-ethnic or p l u r a l s o c i e t i e s . Ethnic d i f f e r e n c e s are also maintained and indeed may be generated by the competition for resources. This, i n turn, gives r i s e to \"... ethnic s t r a t e g i e s (which) may serve ei t h e r to i n s t i t u t e or maintain an order of i n e q u a l i t y i n respect to material resources\" (1975:200). Therefore, not only do the material resources and the domination of resource domains give r i s e to ethnic d i f f e r e n c e s but so also do the s t r a t e g i e s , developed to maintain that access to resources, maintain the ethnic d i f f e r e n c e . Despres has now shown that the c r i t e r i a for i n c l u s i o n and exclusion of members are multi-dimensional. He has also shown that those very c r i t e r i a may i n s t i t u t e i n e q u a l i t i e s with reference to other ethnic groups. These i n e q u a l i t i e s include not only r i g h t s and o b l i g a t i o n s which are d i f f e r e n t i a t e d according to ethnic member-ship. They also include status i n e q u a l i t i e s . ... e t h n i c i t y i s but one of several possible forms of status a s c r i p t i o n which may be contrasted to a l l forms of status achievement. (1975:194) I f e t h n i c i t y i s viewed as one form of s o c i a l s t r a t i f i -c a t i o n i t needs to be emphasized that s o c i a l c l a s s i s - 26 -quite another. Ethnic stratifications derive their structural features from categorical status ascriptions. By way of contrast, class stratifications are more evidently based upon status Identities which are achieved. (1975:195) These quotes indicate that Despres, and the authors he i s summarizing, differ from Barth in that they do not agree that ethnic status is superordinate to other possible statuses. Rather, they see ethnic status as contrasting primarily to class status. Despres is concerned to investigate the complex interactions of both statuses which produce the stratified poly-ethnic societies which are the focus of research. The interaction is seen as problematic. In conclusion, the papers that comprise this volume reveal a convergent line of development toward a comparative theory of ethnic phenomena. The conceptual framework that emerges suggests that these phenomena might best be understood from the point of view of stratification theory of perhaps more general theories of power. (1975:20if) Van Den Berghe This article falls within the stratification mode of description. As such, the conception of ethnic phenomena follows the progression outlined in the overview presented at the beginning of this section. Also, Van Den Berghe (1975) does not differ considerably from Despres in his work. Therefore, I will not detail his argument to the extent done for the work of Barth and Despres. However, he does include, as a major focus, the role language plays in the differentiation of ethnic groups and boundaries. This focus is the one which will be considered in the explication of his work on ethnicity. - 27 -Van Den Berghe places h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n s within the context of p l u r a l s o c i e t i e s (1975:71)* P l u r a l s o c i e t i e s are defined by F u r n i v a l l (1944) as: ••• a poly-ethnic society integrated i n the market place, under the c o n t r o l of a state system dominated by one of the groups, but leaving large areas of c u l t u r a l d i v e r s i t y i n the r e l i g i o u s and domestic sectors of a c t i v i t y , (quoted i n Barth, 1969*16) This d e f i n i t i o n allows Van Den Berghe to look at the areas of c u l t u r a l d i v e r s i t y : the c u l t u r a l d i a c r i t i c a , p a r t i c u l a r l y language* Ethnic groups are defined BOTH by the objective c u l t u r a l modalities of t h e i r behavior ( i n c l u d i n g most importantly l i n g u i s t i c behavior) and by t h e i r subjective views of themselves and each other* (1975:72) In applying t h i s d e f i n i t i o n to Peru, Van Den Berghe states that the s i t u a t i o n may best be understood by using the concepts of the \"sociology of dependence\". In thi6 way, not only are c l a s s i n e q u a l i t i e s revealed but also the ethnic hierarchy. This hierarchy can best be understood i n terms of the l i n g u i s t i c behavior of the groups. In Peru, \"... the term cholo i s symptomatic of the indeterminate state of a f f a i r s \" (1975:79)* *•• some s o c i a l s c i e n t i s t s have claimed, i n my view quite r i g h t l y that the term cholo does not correspond to any objective r e a l i t y at a l l , but rather that i t i s used up and down the s o c i a l scale as a term of dero-gation toward one's s o c i a l i n f e r i o r s . In other words, who i s cholo i s determined not by any objective c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a person may possess but by the s o c i a l distance between the person so designated and the one who does the name-calling. (1975:79) The above quote i l l u s t r a t e s the more subjective aspects of language and l i n g u i s t i c behavior. The objective parameters are - 28 -that Quechua and Spanish \"as languages are i n a c l e a r hierarchy of prestige, power and wealth\". (1975:82) I t should be noted that for Van Den Berghe, e t h n i c i t y and c l a s s are a n a l y t i c a l l y d i s t i n c t , as they are for despres and for Barth. The a r t i c l e under consideration concludes that i n Peru there i s both a highly s t r a t i f i e d c l a s s system as well as highly s t r a t i f i e d ethnic parameters. The ethnic parameters, however, allow for considerable mobility upward which i s deter-mined by language f a c i l i t y as well as c l a s s considerations. As shown i n the a r t i c l e s c i t e d above, e t h n i c i t y i s conceived of as a v i s i b l e phenomenon which a r i s e s and i s maintained through varying subjective and objective c r i t e r i a f o r i n c l u s i o n and exclusion of i n d i v i d u a l s i n r e l a t i o n to ethnic groupings and i n t e r a c t i o n . Barth views the subjective c r i t e r i a as primary while Van Den Berghe and Despres propose that incorporation or not of i n d i v i d u a l s i s dependent on both subjective and objective f a c t o r s . Van Den Berghe states that language and l i n g u i s t i c behavior are c r u c i a l f o r any understanding of ethnic group composition. A l l the t h e o r i s t s mentioned agree that e t h n i c i t y i s a status. Barth states that ethnic status i s superordinate. Van Den Berghe and Despres argue that c a t e g o r i c a l a s c r i p t i o n s are highly r e l a t i v l s t i c and that c l a s s status cannot always be subordinate to ethnic status. The three t h e o r i s t s a l l agree that c l a s s organization and ethnic organization are a n a l y t i c a l l y d i s t i n c t . Class l o c a t i o n i s achieved whereas ethnic status i s ascribed. This d i s t i n c t i o n i s - 29 -possible because a l l t h e o r i s t s operate within the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l mode of d e s c r i p t i o n . We move now to a consideration of an a r t i c l e which attempts to investigate e t h n i c i t y from a t h e o r e t i c a l perspective which i s ostensibly opposed to the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l mode of de s c r i p t i o n presented above. Robbins (1975) proposes that using a c l a s s analysis as developed by Marx w i l l allow the surface features of society to be made v i s i b l e . The v i s i b l e feature with which he i s concerned i s the overt i n e q u a l i t y of ethnic groups. The p a r t i c u l a r area of concern i n t h i s a r t i c l e i s the debate i n the et h n i c i t y l i t e r a t u r e around c l a s s and e t h n i c i t y as determinants of s o c i a l i n e q u a l i t y i n soci e t y . Robbins Robbins' study was done inaa small Canadian community i n Labrador. Although he does not accomplish an adequate accounting of e t h n i c i t y , the study was chosen for discussion for two reasons. One, that i t was the only study encountered i n preparation for the thesis which attempted to look at e t h n i c i t y from the view of cla s s r e l a t i o n s ; from a Marxist perspective. Two, t h i s was also the only paper encountered which addressed p a r t i c u l a r l y the questions under i n v e s t i g a t i o n within the Canadian context. The Marxist method of inquiry and the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l mode of analysis and des c r i p t i o n are very d i f f e r e n t methods of proceeding. Therefore, i t i s necessary i n t h i s context to show where Robbins d i f f e r s i n hi s analysis and where he i s s i m i l a r to the t h e o r i s t s c i t e d above. In other words, does the method recommended by Robbins reveal the - 30 -manner through which ethnic difference is constituted as a visible phenomena in society? Robbins begins by criticizing the \"traditional\" approaches to ethnic phenomenon* He argues that the concept of class used by the stratification theorists does not \"elucidate the basic structure of industrial society\" (1975:286). Robbins agrees with Barth that the ethnic groups should be recognized on the common-sense level of self and other identification. ... the definition of ethnicity should... rest primarily on the identification of shared cultural norms which are realized in overt forms and which are self-consciously recognized by the \"ethnic groups\" and by other groups as well. In this way, we are directed by common-sense understandings of a particular community in describing and identifying ethnic groups, (1975:287) He i s quite clear that the definition of ethnicity is one which relies on a common-sense understanding. It is this common-sense understanding which attributes difference to the group as a property of the group. This understanding is also Robbins1 point of departure. The subjective and objective criteria for inclusion and exclusion of members, according to Robbins' respondents, are cultural patterns, language and the forms of social exclusion deriving from these (1975:294). Robbins states: As ethnicity, in a l l i t s definitions, refers to a cultural ideology, i t cannot suffice analytically. Ethnicity i s effectively a cultural or ideo-logical value, or a set of perceptions by a group about i t s e l f . (1975:287) - 31 -In t h i s way, Robbins relegates a l l aspects of ethnic a f f i l -i a t i o n , d ifference and c r i t e r i a for membership, which the t h e o r i s t s c i t e d above are concerned to describe, to the category of \"personal p r e d i l e c t i o n and c u l t u r a l t r a d i t i o n \" ( 1 9 7 5 : 3 0 3 ) . Robbins' primary concern i s to demonstrate that the concept of c l a s s i s the only method for doing an analysis which \"recognizes the importance of s o c i a l ideology and roots such ideologies i n the determinant structures of society; i n the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s of production\" (1975:287). By r e f e r r i n g back to the overview presented at the beginning of t h i s section on t h e o r e t i c a l approaches to ethnic phenomenon, i t i s possible to see that Robbins begins h i s discussion with a common-sense understanding of e t h n i c i t y which a t t r i b u t e s ethnic d i f f e r e n c e to the group. When looking at the c r i t e r i a f o r i n c l u s i o n and exclusion, he again uses a 'lay' formulation of these c r i t e r i a . These formulations are the same as the ones used by Barth, Despres and Van Den Berghe: that i s , that the c r i t e r i a are both s u b j e c t i v e l y and o b j e c t i v e l y determined; that t h i s i s a common-sense understanding of ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n ; that i t i s only possible to analyze the c u l t u r a l Ideology by an i n v e s t i g a t i o n of the c l a s s r e l a t i o n s to the mode being done i n a l l f a m i l i e s . Would they do that at home i n Portugal? Presenter: You see, that's what I wanted to show you. I t breaks down i n our system here. Every-thing i s subordinate to making money. Pa r t i c i p a n t : Because i n Portugal a woman wouldn't be working? Presenter: No, except i f she r e a l l y had to but not i f she had c h i l d r e n she wouldn't be working. The c h i l d r e n would always be well looked a f t e r . P a r t i c i p a n t : There's another aspect to t h i s whole thing which i s that the Portuguese, as well as other ethnic groups, baby t h e i r c h i l d r e n . Where a f i v e year old Portuguese c h i l d coming i n t o kindergarten i s no where as mature as our own. They cry very e a s i l y ; the mother dresses them completely; the mother w i l l bring them to kindergarten, take o f f t h e i r boots, put on t h e i r shoes, t i e t h e i r shoes; things that other l i t t l e -ones have learned to do by the time they are f i v e . The c h i l d c r i e s a l o t from l o n e l i n e s s , or i f - 76 -corrected and is immature in terms of being socially immature* Presenter: It's so different in terms of cultural values* Emotions are discouraged in our white society* Once a child goes to school, he has to make a definite break from his family, other-wise he's a sissy* Also, the mother concentrates so much - she's very possessive* Especially i f the mother doesn't speak English, she is very insecure and lonely. The above fieldnotes do two things. One, they present a description of the conditions of family l i f e which has been of concern to the social service worker in her interaction with immigrant families. Two, they give an interesting description of emotional display in \"white society\" as a contrast. They make visible the constitution of the immigrant family as different. That these same conditions may be a part of the lives of persons who are not immigrants is not attended to. What is attended to is the explanation of the family situation as arising within a parti-cular culture as a result of the cultural background of the family members. For example, i t appears from the description that a l l immigrant/ethnic children are socially immature, whereas this is not the case for children who are raised in Canada by parents who are not immigrants and who were born in Canada. Also, i t seems that a l l Portuguese mothers are possessive, don't speak English, and are very insecure and lonely. Whether indeed this i s the case for a l l immigrant/ethnic families is never determined. Nor is the geographical and social location of the families part of the descrip-tion. The process identified above may be seen as, in part, an instance of typification. (Schutz, 1967) That persons treat other - 77 -persons, behaviors and events as t y p i c a l or routine i 6 i n i t s e l f a method. This method i s what constitutes persons, events, etc., as t y p i c a l . T y p i f i c a t i o n i s a s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e which i s observable i n the a c t i v i t i e s , i n the d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k which constitutes that event, behavior or person as t y p i c a l . The f i e l d -notes above demonstrate how t h i s t y p i f y i n g a c t i v i t y i s constituted i n d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k . I t i s a method of c o n s t i t u t i n g d i f f e r e n c e as c u l t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e , as t y p i c a l of persons from a given c u l t u r e . This d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k a r i s e s and i s accomplished i n p a r t i c u l a r settings; i n t h i s case, a conference on multi c u l t u r a l i s m for s o c i a l service workers. Summary In the f i r s t part of t h i s chapter, i t was demonstrated how de s c r i p t i o n and d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k constitutes c e r t a i n persons i n Vancouver as d i f f e r e n t from other persons. The d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k locates some persons as immigrants whereas other persons, who are l e g a l l y immigrants, are not constituted as such. I t was shown that the d e s c r i p t i v e t a l k done was t a l k which referenced the country of o r i g i n , Portugal. This referencing constitutes and accomplishes p a r t i c u l a r persons as ethnic, as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t from other persons. Through the event of a conference on mul t i c u l t u r a l i s m , one of the methods through which Portuguese immigrants are constituted as d i f f e r e n t was v i s i b l e . I I * How Descriptions Obscure S o c i a l l y Organized Pr a c t i c e s The second se c t i o n of t h i s chapter explores the production and - 78 -constitution of the lived relations of immigrant members in the Portuguese area of Vancouver. The descriptions and explanations attribute the visible characteristics of immigrant members to the background from which the immigrant has come. It will be shown that this manner of explanation obscures the determinate organ-ization of the daily l i f e of Portuguese immigrants. This section concentrates on the everyday lived relations of the immigrant; in the family, and in the labour force. The activities are explicated from the descriptions done. In the detail of members' everyday lives, i t will be visible how the relations between the family and labour force produces a particular class location. Sponsored Immigrants The first group that I will be concerned with are those members who are called \"sponsored immigrants\". The individuals who comprise this group of persons are so designated by immigration procedures. They are persons taken to be unable to be self-supporting. Under immigration law, they are persons who are named \"sponsored dependants'.'• Their status i s dependent on another person, a family member who i s a landed immigrant or a Canadian citizen, 'contracting' with the Immigration Department to be responsible for the financial care and support of the person entering the country under this status. These persons are primarily senior citizens, wives of immigrants and dependent children. Employment opportunities are severely restricted for this group of individuals for several reasons.> First, the age of the sponsored dependent (the senior members and dependent children), does not allow for employment opportunities. Second, the wives and mothers of dependent children usually have available - 79 -to them employment* where the wage i s r a r e l y over the minimum stated by law* Third, sponsored dependents are not e l i g i b l e for daycare subsidies* (Dept. of Human Resources, June 1/76) The members of the Immigration Department category, sponsored dependent, who I met and talked to, were pr i m a r i l y women i n t h e i r senior years, ranging i n age from s i x t y - f i v e to eighty years o l d . Although sponsored immigrants are, administratively, a category of persons who are not self - s u p p o r t i n g and includes seniors, dependent c h i l d r e n , wives of men i n the labour force, t h i s administrative l a b e l was not the primary usage of the term by Portuguese immigrants or by community workers. Rather, when sponsored immigrants were talked about, they were persons who were seniors, over s i x t y years of age. That i s , that while the referencing of the term sponsored immigrant was one which may have been provided by the Manpower and Immigration Department, among persons I talked to,, the term r e f e r r e d to a p a r t i c u l a r category of persons. In everyday usage, sponsored immigrant meant a person over s i x t y years old who l i v e d with t h e i r c h i l d r e n . During my fieldwork, i t became obvious that sponsored immigrants, as they are defined above, comprised a s u b s t a n t i a l number of part-i c i p a n t s i n \"problems\" erupting i n the f a m i l i e s of Portuguese immigrants which then came to the attention of the s o c i a l s ervice workers. In my f i r s t interview with my key informant, she t o l d me of a s i t u a t i o n i n v o l v i n g a sponsored immigrant; a senior woman l i v i n g with her grown c h i l d r e n . I asked i f t h i s kind of s i t u a t i o n happened very often; that f a m i l i e s who brought over sponsored immigrants *Employment w i l l be discussed i n another section of t h i s chapter. - 80 -developed c r i s e s which necessitated her involvement. She answered, \"Yes, very often.\" (Sept.21/77) On the basis of t h i s conversation above, I then began to ask more questions, p a r t i c u l a r l y of the s o c i a l service workers, about the organization of the l i v e s of sponsored immigrants of Portuguese o r i g i n . In a l a t e r interview with a s o c i a l worker who i s assigned to cases which involve Portuguese f a m i l i e s , I asked i f he saw many people who were having problems with sponsored parents. He r e c i t e d a case which he saw as being t y p i c a l of problems which occur i n any family when one or more of the parents come to l i v e with t h e i r grown c h i l d r e n . (This s i t u a t i o n i s de t a i l e d on pageG84«) H e mentioned that he knew an East Indian family where the same kind of problenB e x i s t . (Dec. 5/77) That these \"problems\" a r i s e i n family s i t u a t i o n s which include a member who i s a sponsored immigrant means that s o c i a l service workers, community workers, i n describing the l i v e s of Portuguese immigrants to me, would do an account which would include an explanation of why the family with a sponsored immigrant parent would be susceptible to c r i s e s which necessitated the involvement of the s o c i a l service workers. (He said) that three i s a crowd; that grown c h i l d r e n are s t i l l always c h i l d r e n to t h e i r parents; that there i s d i f f i c u l t y with r a i s i n g c h i l d r e n when too many people are involved, one family member gets played o f f against the other. I t i s a \" t y p i c a l in-law problem\", or \"there are two women i n the kitchen and that never works\". (Dec.5/77) For the s o c i a l s ervice workers c i t e d above, one a s o c i a l worker and one an unpaid volunteer community worker, the explanation of sponsored immigrant 'problems 1 as a t y p i c a l l y \"in-law problem\", or as a problem i n changing status made sense of the s i t u a t i o n i n a way which a t t r i b u t e d to the immigrant the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the 'problem*• That i s , that the immigrant brings to Canada a set of c u l t u r a l b e l i e f s and t r a d i t i o n s , or the family i s one which contains persons who cannot get along with each other. Explanations of s i t u a t i o n s as c u l t u r a l l y or personally c o n f l i c t u a l , while indeed occuring, are seen as a r e s u l t of personality or c u l t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s ' and do not s u f f i c e for the purposes of t h i s t h e s i s . That i s , that to ascribe the d i f f i c u l t i e s or 'problems' of sponsored immigrants to t h e i r c u l t u r a l background or to the family i n t e r a c t i o n does not reveal the l i v e d r e l a t i o n s which produce the members' s o c i a l l o c a t i o n i n Vancouver. C u l t u r a l and/or personal explanations and descriptions do not reveal the immigrant members' d i f f e r e n t r e l a t i o n to the larger s o c i e t y . In order to make v i s i b l e the l i v e d r e l a t i o n s of the sponsored immigrants, i t i s necessary to look i n more d e t a i l at the a c t i v i t i e s which comprise t h e i r everyday routines. These a c t i v i t i e s are drawn from descriptions done i n the f i e l d by s o c i a l service workers, by sponsored immigrants, by immigrants of Portuguese nationa l o r i g i n who have a sponsored immigrant i n t h e i r family or who know of fam i l i e s whic/Q include a member who i s c a l l e d a sponsored immigrant. These descriptions reveal the s o c i a l l y organized practic e s which const i t u t e some persons as sponsored immigrants. The d e s c r i p t i o n names a p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l r e l a t i o n which organizes and determines the i n d i v i d u a l ' s r e l a t i o n to other members of the ethnic group and to the lar g e r society i n Vancouver. That i s , that when the term sponsored immigrants i s used i n a d e s c r i p t i o n i t means a p a r t i c u l a r group of persons of Portuguese national o r i g i n l i v i n g i n Vancouver; - 82 -i . e . senior immigrants who li v e with their adult children. It must be understood that not a l l persons who could be included i n this category are described i n this way. Rather, as wi l l be evident i n later sections of this chapter, what i s being named as sponsored immigrant 'problems' are descriptions of families who are organized i n a determinate fashion which produces their particular social location within the Portuguese area of Vancouver. In order to demonstrate the differences between families which produce some older persons as sponsored immigrants who are 'problems' for their families and for the social service workers involved with those families, whereas other older persons do not come to the attention of the workers or other immigrants of Portuguese origin, I want to use two examples from my fieldnotes. The f i r s t example i s from an Interview with a woman who i s a translator/interpreter between the home and the school. As noted earlier, i n a discussion of this interview, the woman's relation to other immigrants i s one i n which she mediates between the school and the parents who do not speak English well or who do not under-stand their expected participation i n their children's education. Her relation to other immigrants of Portuguese origin i s such that she speaks of these immigrants as \"they\". I asked her about how her family f e l t about her going out to work. She said that her mother i s here now and so i t i s possible for her to go out to work. The mother looks after the children. The mother lives with her and their relationship i s great as far as she i s concerned. (Dec. 7/77) - 83 -There i s no sense o f t h e problems t h a t happen w i t h t h e o l d e r p e o p l e t h a t I have h e a r d a b o u t . She s a y s t h a t \"most P o r t u g u e s e l i k e t h e w i v e s t o go o u t and work because t h e y need t h e money\". A l s o , i f she works t h e n t h e r e i s n o t a c o n f l i c t w i t h h e r mother o v e r who does what i n t h e house and who has s a y o v e r what a c t i v i t i e s and r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . ( B o u l t e r , J o u r n a l , Bee.7/77) The f a m i l y above i s o r g a n i z e d d i f f e r e n t l y from t h e d e s c r i p t i o n o f a 'problem' f a m i l y w h i c h i s d e s c r i b e d b elow. The home/school worker and h e r mother a r e p a r t o f a f a m i l y w h i c h i s q u i t e s u c c e s s f u l i n V a n c o u v e r . The o r g a n i z a t i o n o f t h e f a m i l y r e l a t i o n s i s s u c h t h a t t h e r e i s no c r i s i s , e i t h e r f i n a n c i a l o r e m o t i o n a l , w h i c h n e c e s s i t a t e s t h e i n v o l v e m e n t o f t h e s o c i a l s e r v i c e a g e n c i e s and w o r k e r s i n t h i s a r e a o f Vancouver. The second d e s c r i p t i o n i s o f a 'problem' f a m i l y . I t i s a d e s c r i p t i o n w h i c h j»as done f o r me a t the b e g i n n i n g o f my f i e l d w o r k and was r e f e r r e d t o l a t e r i n a n o t h e r i n t e r v i e w . (Dec. 5/77) The i n i t i a l d e s c r i p t i o n ( S e p t . 21/77) i s an example o f t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n o f p a r t i c u l a r p e r s o n s as s p o n s o r e d i m m i g r a n t s who a r e 'pr o b l e m s ' . I am c o n c e r n e d t o d e m o n s t r a t e how c u l t u r a l and p e r s o n a l e x p l a n a t i o n s a r e used by p e r s o n s d o i n g t h e d e s c r i p t i o n s t o a c c o u n t f o r t h e d i f f i -c u l t i e s t h a t t h e y see o c c u r i n g i n p a r t i c u l a r f a m i l i e s . T h i s method o f d e s c r i p t i o n i s one w h i c h c o n s t i t u t e s s p o n s o r e d i m m i g r a n t s as the s o u r c e o f t h e problems i n the f a m i l y . The d e s c r i p t i o n does n o t a t t e n d t o s i t u a t i o n s s u c h as t h e f i e l d n o t e above i n which t h e sp o n s o r e d i m m i g r a n t i s n o t a 'problem'. T h i s c o n s t r u c t i o n r e s u l t s i n a k i n d o f l e v e l i n g i n which i t o c c u r s t h a t when t h e term s p o n s o r e d i m m i g r a n t s i s m e n t i o n e d , t h e r e s t o f t h e d e s c r i p t i o n o r c o n v e r s a t i o n r e v o l v e s around t h e d i f f i c u l t i e s t h a t s p o n s o r e d i m m i g r a n t s - Bk -cause i n fa m i l i e s * The couple have been here f o r a few years* The mother i s a sponsored immigrant who has been here two or three years. The family c o n s i s t s of the mother, the daughter and son-in-law and two female c h i l d r e n . I was t o l d that: The mother and the daughter don't l i k e each other very much* The daughter f e e l s caught between her husband and her mother. There are family f i g h t s and some physical violence. The mother i s \"bad-tempered\" as i s the daughter. The mother has had a l i f e of moving often and working as a domestic i n Portugal. The daughter was i n \"orphanages\", etc. and has had a \" h o r r i b l e l i f e \" . (Sept.21/7?) The story goes on but f i r s t , I want to note how i t i s possible to see the above fi e l d n o t e as an example of both a c u l t u r a l and a personal explanation. The daughter was i n \"orphanages, etc.\" and has had a \" h o r r i b l e l i f e \" . The mother was a domestic and moved frequently. This happened i n Portugal. The p a r t i c u l a r background of these persons i s seen to be the 'reason' for the problems which they are facing now. In f a c t , t h i s was the explanation which was given to me. As the story proceeds, however, i t becomes possible to see the organized r e l a t i o n s which constitute the mother's status i n the family. I t also makes v i s i b l e the resources which can be c a l l e d on with greater or l e s s e r e f f i c a c y , to 'force' the family to conform to the r u l e s ; s o c i a l s ervice agencies, neighbors, the Immigration Department. The use of these resources are methods of working these systems to the advantage or disadvantage of i n d i v i d u a l members within the family. As I recorded i n my Journal: Because of the immigration laws, the mother i s dependent on the family f o r everything. There i s no way she can get welfare or any other kind of s o c i a l assistance. - 85 -The Immigration Department i s involved with this family, as i s the Vancouver Resources Board. They have both been asked for money to place the mother i n other accomodation. The community workers are involved i n trying to get the family calmed down and to find alternatives for them. Neighbouring families are involved. (Boulter, Journal, Sept. 21/77) The mother has gone to a neighbour and to the Seniors Qroup with complaints about the daughter's behavior and with tales about the situation becoming \"ugly and violent\". One of the neighbouring families i s involved to the extent that the man has gone to the community worker accusing her of taking sides. He has also gone to the Immigration Department to report the daughter and son-in-law as derelict i n their duty as sponsors and as family. (Sept. 21/77) The foregoing quote makes visible the social relations which are the original a c t i v i t i e s i n which the phenomenon of 'problem* families with sponsored parents arises; the dependency of the mother on the family, not only economically, but to a certain extent socially. The mother must li v e with the daughter and son-in-law. Any money that she needs must come from the family. If she cannot get along with the family, then she must go back to Portugal. It i s therefore these everyday a c t i v i t i e s which con-stitute the mother's status as a sponsored immigrant, as a 'problem'. It i s this set of circumstances, aggravated by the personal and cultural conflicts, which constitute the mother's relation to her family, to the social service agencies and to the larger society. Her original status assigned by the Immigration Department, her background i n Portugal, these facts do not provide for an under-standing of the location of sponsored immigrants or sponsored dependents as an everyday lived relation between people. The only way that social location and social organization can be understood - 86 -i s i n the d e t a i l of everyday experience, I want to show, through the three examples which follow, how i t i s that the status of sponsored immigrant as i t i e enacted i n p a r t i c u l a r f a m i l i e s brings i n t o play a set of s o c i a l p r a c t i c e s which organize the sponsored immigrant i n a determinate fashion. These practi c e s determine the ways i n which sponsored immigrants p a r t i c i p a t e i n the economy and i n t h e i r family. Their r e l a t i o n to t h e i r family and to other immigrants i s one which i s constituted through t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s and produces a p a r t i c u l a r l o c a t i o n i n the community. I t i s that l o c a t i o n which i s i d e n t i f i e d as sponsored immigrant. The f i r s t example i s a Journal entry which I made a f t e r the f i r s t in-depth interview I did i n the f i e l d . The interview took place i n the home of one of the women from the Seniors Group. The difference between the mothereat the Seniors Group and at home was amazing. At the group she was l i v e l y and outgoing. She got the other women inte r e s t e d i n what was going on. (She was the one who dressed so d i f f e r e n t l y from the other women and who pre-sented h e r s e l f to me as not d i f f e r e n t from other people I know who are her age.) At home she was l i k e a l i t t l e mouse. She sat on a low s t o o l and sa i d very l i t t l e . She made coffee and brought bought cookies to serve with i t . The daughter was a very dominating person and i t was very d i f f i c u l t , at times impossible, f o r me to get questions through to the mother. E i t h e r the daughter would answer without f i r s t t r a n s l a t i n g the question or she would only p a r t i a l l y t r a n s l a t e what I asked or what the mother r e p l i e d . (Boulter, Journal, Nov. 8/77) In t h i s f i r s t example, i t i s possible to see through the d i f f -- 87 -erences i n behavior of the mother, the r e l a t i o n s between people which make v i s i b l e t h e i r behavior as grounded i n the s o c i a l l y organized practices of which they are a part. In the s e t t i n g i n which she i s i n a leadership p o s i t i o n , the Seniors Group, she i s l i v e l y and outgoing. In her daughter's home, however, she i s dependent ofi the daughter's allowing her to stay; dependent on her for money, etc. I t i s only within t h i s context of the family r e l a t i o n s and the dependency of the mother on the daughter's family that her behavior was understandable to me. In another interview, t h i s time with a community worker involved with the Seniors Group, I asked about the l i v e s of senior immigrants; what they were l i k e and how they were put together. The worker r e p l i e d : Older people have no status i n the Vancouver community. In Portugal, the older people have status and authority but here they have none. They are dependent on the sons and daughters f o r t h e i r d a i l y l i v i n g . The a l t e r -native to that dependency i s deportation; being sent back to Portugal. That they are dependent and there-fore a burden on the \"materially oriented family\" here i s a problem. (Dec.6/77) The way i n which t h i s \"dependency\" operates with the only v i s i b l e a l t e r n a t i v e being that of deportation i s p a r t i c u l a r l y c l e a r i n the next f i e l d n o t e . In t h i s interview, with my key informant, I asked where the women of the Seniors Group l i v e d and whether t h e i r l i v i n g arrangements were usually s a t i s f a c t o r y . My informant r e p l i e d that: Some of the senior women don't l i v e i n a place they can c a l l t h e i r own. While t h i s sometimes causes problems, sometimes i t a l l e v i a t e s p o t e n t i a l problems. When i t gets too tense at one house then they go to another. The senior women are usually sponsored and don't work outside the home. They l i v e at one or another of t h e i r children's houses and sometimes at 88 -both. One woman l i v e s at one son's house and eats lunch there and then goes to the other's for dinner and part of the evening. The sons l i v e within a block of each other. (Sept. 29/77) I t begins to be v i s i b l e that for some Portuguese immigrants who are c a l l e d sponsored immigrants, t h e i r l i v i n g arrangements are such that t h e i r continuance i n these arrangements i s dependent on the family i n t e r a c t i o n . The sponsored immigrant and the family of which they are a part must p a r t i c i p a t e i n a set of determinate pra c t i c e s l a i d down by the Immigration Department. These s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s mediate the r e l a t i o n of the i n d i v i d u a l to the family, to other ethnic group members and to the larger s o c i e t y . Any problems which occur are seen to be the problems which are occuring with an i n d i v i d u a l within a family. These problems are seen as personal i n o r i g i n , c u l t u r a l i n o r i g i n , or as problems which occur because the family cannot, or w i l l not, f u l f i l l i t s o b l i g a t i o n s . The problems enter and remain i n the home and within the family. They are seen to occur and be p o t e n t i a l l y resolvable only within that sphere. The d i f f i c u l t i e s may be made the object of support and counselling by s o c i a l s ervice workers, but cannot be a l l e v i a t e d through d i r e c t f i n a n c i a l support from public agencies. As one s o c i a l worker t o l d me: When problems l i k e that occur i n the home, sometimes they are referred to the s o c i a l service agencies for some kind of support. The s o c i a l agencies i n B.C. have no way of r e s o l v i n g the c r i s i s i n terms of money. They can only do coun s e l l i n g . The c r i s e s , i f they are not resolvable on a counselling basis, must be refe r r e d to the Immigration Department. (Dec.7/77) As I noted i n my Journal following the interview from which the note above i s drawn; these problems seem to be ones which a l l immigrant groups are involved i n . However, i t i s most obvious - 89 -i n those groups or fa m i l i e s which f i l l the lower echelons of the labour force and therefore are the most strained f i n a n c i a l l y . (Boulter, Journal, Dec.7/77) In the foregoing examples and discussion on sponsored immigrants i n the Portuguese settlement i n Vancouver, i t i s c l e a r that the a c t i v i t i e s and the l i v i n g arrangements a v a i l a b l e to the dependent senior are such that the determinate organization of t h e i r l i v e s i n Vancouver contributes s u b s t a n t i a l l y to the 'problems 1 occuring i n f a m i l i e s . These 'problems' are often treated as personal i n nature and as o r i g i n a t i n g i n the backgrounds of i n d i v i d u a l immigrants. The accounting which located the 'cause' as personal or c u l t u r a l obscures the determinate organization of d a i l y l i f e i n Vancouver i n which these 'problems' a r i s e . This view of the 'problems' i s part of what organizes them as unsolvable. That i s , they are seen as a r i s i n g i n people's backgrounds rather than i n the present, and the solutions which are av a i l a b l e depend upon the r e l a t i o n s of oblig a t i o n s within the family out of which the problems have a r i s e n . Rural or Urban Background I want to discuss an outstanding example of t h i s method of accounting for s o c i a l problems, or other v i s i b l e features of people's l i v e s , as r e s u l t i n g from t h e i r background i n Portugal. The des c r i p t i o n s are a p a r t i c u l a r method of c o n s t i t u t i n g ethnic d i f f e r e n c e . In attending to the v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e s among Portu-guese immigrants as r e s u l t i n g from the d i f f e r i n g s o c i a l background i n Portugal, i t i s then not v i s i b l e how t h i s d i f f e r e n c e i s con-s t i t u t e d i n Vancouver. There i s a d i s t i n c t i o n made among the Portuguese immigrants i n - 90 -Vancouver which describes some persons as r u r a l and others as urban. That i s , that some immigrants come from r u r a l areas of Portugal and some come from urban areas. This d i s t i n c t i o n was spoken about and was v i s i b l e j p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the Seniors Group, i n the manner of dress. I want to stres s that I do not see the rural/urban d i s t i n c t i o n s or the manner of dress of the senior women as only being constructed here. Rather, I am concerned to demonstrate that the i n t e r a c t i o n i n Vancouver which produces p a r t i c u l a r persons as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t , i s a feature of the s o c i a l organization here. I t does not occur i n Portugal although the descriptions that are done a t t r i b u t e c a u s a l i t y to the immigrant's background. The f i r s t example of t h i s v i s i b l e d i f f e r e n c e among Portuguese immigrants occured for me at the f i r s t Seniors group I attended. When I ar r i v e d , I was introduced to a group member who was already there. She was a woman of about seventy years, dressed i n a grey s u i t - d r e s s , black shoes, her h a i r pulled back i n a • f r e n c h - r o l l ' . She looked very t i d y and neat. I was r e l i e v e d that she wasn't dressed a l l l n black, with a scarce over her head. To me, she looked 'normal' and that was comforting. Then other women arriv e d and greeted each other with much 'teasing' and 'joking'. Several said \"Bom d i a \" to me and a f t e r a s l i g h t i n i t i a l s u r p r i s e , I responded with the same. Six women were dressed a l l i n black; shoes, stockings, s k i r t s , shawl and headscarfs. The women were a l l dressed i n darker colours i f they were not wearing black. Their ages seemed to be s i x t y - f i v e to eighty years o l d . (Boulter, Journal, Sept. 23/77) The senior women present, for a l l members of society, a v i s u a l d i s p l a y through which they appear d i f f e r e n t . This r e l a t i o n - 91 -of d i fference occurs between members of society who dress that way and members of society who see that manner of dress as unusual, d i f f e r e n t , as a display of 'immigrantness'. I t i s not that that d i f f e r e n c e i s a property of the person's manner of dress but rather only a r i s e s i n the r e l a t i o n of v i s u a l i n t e r a c t i o n . That black i s the 'normal' mode of dress i n Portugal, f o r older women, and that i t i s not the 'normal' mode of dress for older women i n Vancouver, constitutes women dressed i n black as ethnic, as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t i n the Vancouver s e t t i n g . I t produces a p a r t i c u l a r l o c a t i o n , a p a r t i c u l a r set of r e l a t i o n s i n Vancouver. The spoken-about d i s t i n c t i o n between r u r a l and urban Portuguese immigrants was of p a r t i c u l a r relevance to the members of the Portu-guese community that I interviewed. I t was also relevant for me, as i t appeared to explain the differ e n c e s that I saw. For example, during an interview with two women who are not very involved with other immigrants of Portuguese o r i g i n , they were p a r t i c u l a r l y concerned to demonstrate that they were not the same as other Portuguese immigrants whom I might have met. I had asked about the women i n the Seniors Group i n which one of the women being interviewed was involved. As one of the women described the group to me, i t became c l e a r that there was a d i s t i n c t i o n being made between two types of Portuguese immigrant. (It seems that) most, i f not a l l of the women i n the Seniors Group, except for E l i z a , are r u r a l women. They are i l l i t e r a t e , most of them, and don't go out because they are a f r a i d of getting l o s t . They are not \"town-wise\" and so have never learned to get around i n a c i t y . (Nov.8/77) Part of the conversation was a d e s c r i p t i o n and s t o r i e s of Portuguese people from the r u r a l areas who were r e a l l y Ignorant of c i t y l i f e , - 92 -and who did not know how to get around. This was contrasted to the persons being interviewed who, because of t h e i r urban background, because they were \"town-wise\", did not have these problems. (Boulter, Journal, Nov.8/77) I t i s possible to see the ch a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of the persons from a r u r a l background as backward. This a t t r i b u t i o n of character-i s t i c s to persons from a p a r t i c u l a r background, i n t h i s case from r u r a l or urban backgrounds, as a set of c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s that they bring with them and which 'cause 1 the problems they encounter i n Canada, i s c e r t a i n l y very r e a l . However, what i s not attended to i n t h i s d e s c r i p t i o n i s the way i n which the d i f f i c u l t i e s encountered here are produced here. This d e s c r i p t i o n of p a r t i c u l a r persons as r u r a l or urban persons constitute for a l l members of society, some persons as d i f f e r e n t because of t h e i r background rather than also because of the s e t t i n g i n t o which they must move. Shortly a f t e r the above-noted interview, I asked my key i n f o r -mant about the diff e r e n c e between a p a r t i c u l a r woman at home and at the Seniors Group. I mentioned that I thought that some of the difference v i s i b l e between her and the re s t of the group members was perhaps a c l a s s d i f f e r e n c e . Also, that the woman's daughter seemed to the the other women i n the Seniors Group as r u r a l , there-fore i l l i t e r a t e , therefore lower c l a s s , but not nece s s a r i l y \" i l l -bred\". I asked i f the c l a s s d i f f e r e n c e was indeed occuring and whether I was correct i n how I had portrayed the commonly held view of the r u r a l women. My informant said that indeed there was a c l a s s d i f f e r e n c e and that the r u r a l women were at times denigrated i n the community. (Boulter, Journal, Nov.15/7?) That r u r a l women are denigrated i n the community i s a r e s u l t - 9 3 -of an a t t r i b u t i o n of c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s which equates r u r a l with i l l i t e r a c y and ignorance of urban l i f e . However, i t i s important to note that while these women may be from r u r a l areas i n Portugal, they do not l i v e i n r u r a l areas i n Canada. These women, who were spoken about as r u r a l women, now are urban women. That they are not ' s k i l l e d ' urban women i s what organizes t h e i r r e l a t i o n to the Vancouver s e t t i n g . These urban s k i l l s , or lack of them, cons t i t u t e t h e i r d i f f e r e n c e i n Vancouver; t h e i r r e l a t i o n to the Vancouver s e t t i n g . Urban women are described d i f f e r e n t l y than the r u r a l women. Persons with whom I spoke, who were from urban areas, were concerned to demonstrate t h e i r •urban-ness'. This display was done i n t a l k , i n dress, and was v i s i b l e through the verbal contrasting of urban to r u r a l . In one of the f i r s t in-depth interviews, I asked the women how they had learned to get around i n the c i t y they had come to. She responded that: ... when she had f i r s t come to Canada, she learned how to get around by going out with her daughters; by writing the place she wanted to go on a piece of paper and showing i t to the bus d r i v e r ; by using the b i t of English that she knew to get around. She said that because she came from an urban area i n Portugal, getting around Tor-onto when she f i r s t came here was not as d i f f i c u l t for her as i t would have been for someone from a r u r a l area i n Portugal. ( N o v . 8 / 7 7 ) I t i s apparent that the above informant i s s k i l l e d i n the manner of getting around a new urban centre. She also had help with developing her s k i l l s through her family who had been here for some years previously. Again, the verbal d e s c r i p t i o n of s k i l l s i n getting around i s not i n some way adequate. There must also be a contrasting of the more d i f f i c u l t time which women from the r u r a l - 9k -areas would encounter. In a l a t e r interview, I asked another informant to describe for me how the immigrant women coming from Portugal learn to get around the c i t y here. She r e p l i e d with a d e s c r i p t i o n which i n -cluded a statement of the d i f f e r e n t d i f f i c u l t i e s experienced by women from the r u r a l and urban areas of Portugal. The women who emigrate from the c i t i e s i n Portugal are more sophisticated and probably have more educ-ation than the v i l l a g e women. They learn English more quickly and are more f a m i l i a r with the kinds of work of the c i t y and of how the c i t y i s put to-gether. They experience l e s s of a shock than the r u r a l women when they come here because although i t 16 very d i f f e r e n t here, i t i s s t i l l a c i t y . (Dec. 7/77) Later i n the same interview, I asked how i t was that some of the Portuguese immigrant women worked outside the home and saw that as being \"what women d i d \" . Other immigrant women did not think that women should work outside the home. The informant r e p l i e d that: In the Azores, there i s no work outside the home for women. The men go out to work. In the mainland c i t i e s , where there i s a t e x t i l e factory, for example, the womensbegin working at the factory at an early age. Usually, as soon as they leave school. They work there u n t i l they get married. These women have been working before they get to Canada and, i f necessary, w i l l continue working when they get here. The d i f f e r e n t background i n Portugal, r u r a l or urban, and the organ-i z a t i o n of work i n Portugal which r e l a t e s to women working or not, to some extent, i s the deciding factor for whether the women work or not when they get here. (Dec.7/77) The previous three fieldnotes i l l u s t r a t e how urban f a m i l i a r i t y i n Portugal, urban s k i l l s , are seen to be necessary for getting around i n a new urban s e t t i n g ; how urban work experience i n Portugal i s h e l p f u l i n the Vancouver labour market; how t h i s previous - 95 -experience i s seen to be a determining factor i n the organization of women's l i v e s here. Whether t h i s d e s c r i p t i o n i s always c o r r e c t , or generally correct i s not at issue here. Rather, what i s im-portant i s that the descriptions above are instances of c o n s t i t u t i n g c e r t a i n persons as d i f f e r e n t as a r e s u l t of t h e i r background i n Portugal. They also demonstrate the method that people use to constitute difference; how difference i s done.* The d e s c r i p t i o n s , i n and of themselves accomplish immigrant, ethnic d i f f e r e n c e based on c u l t u r a l background. The descriptions above not only c o n s t i t u t e ethnic, immigrant di f f e r e n c e , they are also consequential f o r the s o c i a l organization of the immigrant i n the ethnic group and i n the l a r g e r s o c i e t y . The d e s c r i p t i o n , i n attending to the v i s i b l e differences of immigrants as r e s u l t i n g from the d i f f e r i n g s o c i a l background i n Portugal, i s then not able to attend to the manner i n which the immigrant's l i f e i s organized, on the ground, i n Vancouver. That i s , that by seeing the s p l i t between r u r a l and urban immigrants as something which i s caused by t h e i r d i f f e r i n g background experiences, the way i n which the immigrant's s o c i a l l o c a t i o n i s produced i n Vancouver cannot be described. In the f i e l d , t h i s discussion of the differences between the r u r a l and urban immigrants recurred. In the workshop on multi-c u l t u r a l i s m , the int r o d u c t i o n to the workshop on Portuguese began with \"Since the main group which comes here i s from the Azores and i s r u r a l . . . \" . However, I did not a c t u a l l y speak with immigrant *Stoddart's 1974 d e s c r i p t i o n of the l o c a l pharmacology of drug use i s p a r t i c u l a r l y relevant here. - 96 -members who were from the Azores; who were r u r a l . Some of the members of the senior's group were apparently from the Azores, were apparently r u r a l . That was how they were described to me by community members who were from the Mainland, as well as by the s o c i a l service workers. That these persons who have immigrated from the Azores a c t u a l l y e x i s t , I have no doubt. These persons were not av a i l a b l e to me for interviews as a r e s u l t of the way that my fieldwork proceeded. What t h i s lack of access does mean i s that i n looking at, for example, the employment of Portuguese immigrants, I do not have first-hand experiences from people from the Azores. However, what i s i n t e r e s t i n g about the t y p i f i c a t i o n of persons from the Azores as r u r a l i s that i t i s very possible to assume that only the people from the Azores are r u r a l . However, t h i s i s not the case. Some of the people with whom I spoke were from r u r a l areas on the Mainland. This i n d i c a t e s that there i s what might be c a l l e d a •categorical gloss' i n the descriptions done of the community. That i s , that the equation of r u r a l with Azores and urban with Main-land which i s done i n Portugal, according to one s o c i a l worker, i s seen to be a feature of Portuguese society which i s transplanted here and i s used as an explanation for differences v i s i b l e i n the community i n Vancouver. The differences are categorized as r u r a l and urban which glosses the i n d i v i d u a l ' s s o c i a l and economic l o c a t i o n i n Portugal. Although i t i s not the i n t e n t i o n of t h i s thesis to determine the actual material a c t i v i t i e s of persons previous to t h e i r immigration to Canada, i t should be noted that t h i s gloss occurs. That i t does so i s l i k e l y to have some bearing on the persistence of the rural/urban discussions which occured i n the - 97 -f i e l d . That i s , that i t may be the case that the need to demon-str a t e 'urban-ness' a r i s e s i n the context of the denigration of r u r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s noted above. As Moerman points out, although i n a d i f f e r e n t s o c i a l context, The Lue of Chiengkham avoid opprobious c l a s s ident-i f i c a t i o n through asserting the higher p r i o r i t y of a n o n - s t r a t i f i a b l e ethnic i d e n t i f i c a t i o n . (Moerman, 1974:64) That the members of Portuguese nation a l o r i g i n i n Vancouver avoid \"opprobious c l a s s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n \" by the assertion of membership i n the category of Mainland as urban, may occur. However, t h i s point i s outside the purview of t h i s t h e s i s and merely points to a topic which may be considered at a l a t e r date. Labour Market P a r t i c i p a t i o n and Language S k i l l s I want now, to explore the Portuguese immigrant's p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the labour force i n Vancouver. I want to begin with the jobs which are seen to be a v a i l a b l e to immigrants i n Vancouver. I want to go on to show people who emigrate from Portugal are seen as \"working c l a s s \" people and then that i s used to account for t h e i r l o c a t i o n here; for the jobs which they do i n Vancouver. I t w i l l become v i s i b l e that the s k i l l s which an immigrant possesses on entry to Canada, organizes for them the p a r t i c u l a r r e l a t i o n to the labour market, as well as t h e i r r e l a t i o n to the ethnic group and the l a r g e r s o c i e t y . Once again, i t w i l l be v i s i b l e that the a t t r i -bution of c u l t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s and of working c l a s s background, i s used to explain the s o c i a l organization of the immigrant group i n Vancouver. I want to begin with the kinds of jobs which are seen to be a v a i l a b l e to Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver. These are p r i m a r i l y - 98 -manual labour employment, most of which are u n s k i l l e d or semi-s k i l l e d , although there are some s k i l l e d tradesmen jobs. The f i r s t i l l u s t r a t i o n of employment seen to be av a i l a b l e to Portuguese immigrants was relayed to me at the f i r s t c i t i z e n s h i p c l a s s which I taught* A young man, was the f i r s t to come to the c l a s s . While we were waiting for the re s t of the c l a s s members to come, I started asking him about h i s job; what he does and where* He s a i d : ••• he i s one of a number of Portuguese labourers at th i s p a r t i c u l a r job s i t e . He moves cement around and just about anything else that i s heavy work. One of the foremen i s Portuguese and some of the carpenters. He said that the Portuguese get jobs cleaning o f f i c e s , labouring and on the railway. (Sept. 29/77) In an interview with my key informant, I asked what kinds of work was av a i l a b l e to Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver. She r e p l i e d : The women work prim a r i l y as chambermaids, at Hy's as cooks and dishwashers, and as o f f i c e cleaners. The women are hired at Hy's because \"Portuguese women are seen as good, clean workers\". Some of the jobs are union jobs and some are not. American Building Maintenance i e c a l l e d a \"concentration camp\"\"by people who have worked there or who know people who have worked there. This i s because of the poor wages and because the work i s very hard. (Nov. 6/77) In t h i s discussion, the informant gave me an example of a woman who worked at American Building Maintenance and who was given eight f l o o r s to do every night. The remark was that \"you have to k i l l y o urself to get i t done\". (Boulter, Journal, Nov.6/77) It i s apparent from the above fie l d n o t e s that Portuguese immigrants and s o c i a l s ervice workers see the jobs which are a v a i l -able to people of Portuguese national o r i g i n , as those which are - 99 -u n s k i l l e d or s e m i - s k i l l e d . That i s , that they are jobs which 'anyone' can do. They do not c a l l for s p e c i a l i z e d t r a i n i n g previous to beginning the jobs. When I asked an informant why i t was that theyonly jobs a v a i l a b l e were of t h i s kind, she r e p l i e d : Most of the jobs are working c l a s s jobs. The reason for t h i s i s that the people who immigrate to Canada are working c l a s s people. The r u l i n g c l a s s i n Portugal would have l i t t l e reason to emigrate. (Nov.6/77) It i s v i s i b l e from the above fiel d n o t e that there i s a con-ception that the persons who emigrate from Portugal are working c l a s s persons who, when they enter t h i s country, have a v a i l a b l e to them working c l a s s jobs. In other words, there are people from a c e r t a i n category of workers i n Portugal who emigrate to Canada and bring with them a p a r t i c u l a r working c l a s s status or c l a s s member-ship. This explanation i s one which depends on the a t t r i b u t i o n of a p a r t i c u l a r c l a s s membership which i s obtained i n Portugal and ca r r i e d here by the immigrant, determining t h e i r p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the labour force here. A view which complements the above conception i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n the field n o t e below. I had asked t h i s informant about the kinds of jobs a v a i l a b l e to Portuguese people who come here. She s a i d : ... mostly construction. Any job; f a c t o r i e s , dress-making. Whatever jobs there are where the language i s not a problem. (Nov.8/77) The d i f f e r e n c e between the above fi e l d n o t e and the one preceeding i t , i s that the f i r s t assumes that persons who emigrate from Portugal are working c l a s s . This c l a s s membership i s seen to determine the jobs which w i l l be av a i l a b l e to immigrants here, i . e . jobs i n construction, i n restaurants washing dishes, cleaning - 100 -o f f i c e s . The second fie l d n o t e adds to that p a r t i c u l a r view the problem, or constraint of English f a c i l i t y . Employment oppor-t u n i t i e s are perceived and constructed as those which are p r i m a r i l y u n s k i l l e d or sem i - s k i l l e d jobs which do not depend on a f a c i l i t y i n E n g l i s h . The second f i e l d n o t e i s also a d e s c r i p t i o n which depends on an unacknowledged, t a c i t view of the work s k i l l s as o r i g i n a t i n g i n Portugal and as, i n a sense, 'causing* the s o c i a l l o c a t i o n here. However, i n a large number of cases, t h i s view of p r i m a r i l y u n s k i l l e d workers who do not speak English as the majority of Portuguese immigrants i e not the experience of a l l Portuguese immigrants. The following section w i l l demonstrate that i n a number of cases, t h i s view does not represent the t r a n s i t i o n at a l l . The explanation of working c l a s s people coming here and doing working c l a s s jobs i s not adequate for the purposes of t h i s t h e s i s . Rather, i t i s the case that there i s a p a r t i c u l a r organization of the labour force i n Portugal. That organization i s d i f f e r e n t than the organization of the labour force here. Persons who emigrate from Portugal as adults have a p a r t i c u l a r set of experiences which have been developed i n t h e i r p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the s o c i a l organization of Portuguese s o c i e t y . They do not bring a membership status. Rather, they bring a set of s k i l l s . When they a r r i v e i n Canada, those s k i l l s may or may not be useful to them here. The a r t i c u l a t i o n of those s k i l l s to the labour force here i s organized by the business pr a c t i c e s of the s o c i e t y . I t i s t h i s a r t i c u l a t i o n of s k i l l s to the business practices i n Vancouver that produces the immigrants' s o c i a l l o c a t i o n i n Vancouver. Their c l a s s l o c a t i o n here i s produced only i n t h e i r r e l a t i o n to the labour force i n Vancouver. 101 -In order to make v i s i b l e t h i s process of the production of c l a s s l o c a t i o n here, I want to turn to my f i e l d n o t e s . The f i r s t example i s from an interview with a woman who was f a i r l y 'well-o f f i n Portugal. She had servants. She l i v e d i n an urban area. She was what might be c a l l e d , i n a rather s u p e r f i c i a l way, middle-c l a s s . When she came to Canada and previously when she was i n England, she worked as a babysitter. She does not work outside the home now for \"medical reasons\". (Boulter, Journal, Nov.8/77) The work that she would do i n Portugal was d i f f e r e n t than the work that she would do here. She saw t h i s as a r e s u l t of her lack of English f a c i l i t y . In Portugal, she would not have any trouble with the language and so would not have to do the kinds of work there that she did here. (Nov.8/77) For t h i s woman, her change i n status from a woman who had servants to a woman who did babysitting to earn money was explained for her as r e s u l t i n g from her lack of English s k i l l s . I t i s not the case that she was a working c l a s s person i n Portugal and that she brought that c l a s s membership with her. The second example of the production of c l a s s l o c a t i o n i n Vancouver which i s not 'caused' by the i n d i v i d u a l ' s background i n Portugal which i s brought with them, i s an interview with a woman who was a teacher i n Portugal and worked as a dishwasher i n Vancouver. I asked her what kind of work she did both when she f i r s t a rrived i n Vancouver and whether that work had remained the same or whether she had done other kinds of paid work a l s o . She r e p l i e d that: She stayed home most of the time because her husband didn't want her to work. However, during one period of economic d i f f i c u l t y , she had been t o l d about a job as a dishwasher i n a restaurant. The job was one day per week. When she had needed a job some - 102 -years l a t e r , she had gone to Manpower and had been ' sent out on a dishwasher's job. This one had la s t e d for about three months. (Nov.30/77) During the interview, she t o l d me that she had been a teacher i n Portugal. I was very surprised when she said t h i s . She had taught i n small v i l l a g e s . (Boulter, Journal, Nov. 30/77) The above fieldnote makes c l e a r that t h i s woman's r e l a t i o n to the labour force here i s i n no way determined by her c l a s s member-ship of which she was part i n Portugal. The c e r t i f i c a t i o n which was necessary for her employment i n Portugal has nothing to do with her employment here. That she does \"working c l a s s \" jobs here i s a s o c i a l r e l a t i o n which i s produced f o r her here and does not depend on her previous c l a s s membership nor her previous employment i n Portugal. The next f i e l d n o t e i l l u s t r a t e s yet again how the immigrant's s k i l l s or lack of s k i l l s which are relevant here produces the i n d i v i d u a l ' s r e l a t i o n to the labour market here. I had asked t h i s man what kind of job he had got when he arriv e d i n Canada. He got a job doing manual work at Dairyland. He said that jobs were not as easy to find as he thought they would be. He said that jobs were even harder to f i n d now because the \"East Indians take a l l the jobs\". He talked about never having done the kinds of jobs that were ava i l a b l e to him when he came here from Portugal. He had been a farm-worker and didn't know how to do the jobs that he got. Instead of showing him how to do the job at Dairyland, the I t a l i a n man he was working with \" j u s t y e l l e d \" at him. He said that when you don't speak the language and don't have the necessary job s k i l l s , \"you are the f i r s t to be l e t go from any job\". (Nov. 30/77) I t i s v i s i b l e from the foregoing f i e l d n o t e s that Portuguese immigrants do not bring t h e i r c l a s s l o c a t i o n with them from Portugal. Also, i t i s not only working-class persons who emigrate. - 103 -Rather, persons emigrate from Portugal from several c l a s s locations and for various reasons. They bring with them s k i l l s which were developed i n Portugal. The extent to which these s k i l l s are relevant to the employment practices of the Vancouver society i s part of what produces the immigrant's c l a s s l o c a t i o n i n the Vancouver labour force. I t may appear, from the above f i e l d n o t e s , that language f a c i l i t y i s one of the major determining factors i n the l o c a t i o n of immigrants from Portugal i n the society i n Vancouver. Indeed, language f a c i l i t y i s seen by Portuguese immigrants to be the main 'reason' why they do the jobs they do. One informant, a community worker concerned with a l l e v i a t i n g some of the d i f f i c u l t i e s of Portuguese immigrants, considers that the teaching of the language and customs of the re c e i v i n g country should be done before the immigrant leaves the country of t h e i r o r i g i n . We had been t a l k i n g about her job as a co-ordinator of the Seniors Group. She sees her job as one which must teach the women independence i n Canadian s o c i e t y . The backgrounds of some of the women don't give them the experience and knowledge of how to get along i n Canada; how to take the bus; how to go about learning the language, etc. She also thinks that i t i s necessary that the home countries teach the language and customs of the re c e i v i n g country to the immigrants before they get here. (Dec. 6/77) This informant f e e l s that i f t h i s t r a i n i n g was done p r i o r to coming to Canada, then the immigrant women would not be so i s o l a t e d from the l a r g e r society and would have access to d i f f e r e n t resources than they do now. The language d i f f i c u l t i e s , according to t h i s informant, are the most serious constraints on e f f e c t i v e functioning of the - 104 -new immigrant from Portugal and of her family, (Boulter, Journal, Dec. 6/77) That some persons l e a r n English and other persons do not was a topic of discussion which occured during several interviews while I was i n the f i e l d . The explanation for the ease or d i f f i c u l t y with which people learned English was one of \"motivation\" for learning, or the youth of the immigrant. During one of the c i t i z e n s h i p classes, one of the women was writing some of the information down i n English, This woman i s about twenty-eight and i s taking English classes at the church. I t was remarked, during the c l a s s , that she i s learning very qui c k l y . Another c l a s s member said that that was because \"she was young\". The young woman works cleaning o f f i c e s i n the evening. During the day she attends English c l a s s e s . She has two c h i l d r e n i n school so she does not have to f i n d a baby-s i t t e r while she attends c l a s s e s . (Boulter, Journal, Nov.15/77) The foregoing Journal note i l l u s t r a t e s some of the s i t u a t i o n a l conditions for developing a f a c i l i t y i n Engli s h . As t h i s woman works at night and has two school-age c h i l d r e n , her English classes must occur during the times that they are at school and before she goes to work. That she goes to English classes and i s learning quickly, i s seen by other people as being both \"motivated\" to learn and to get ahead, as well as because she i s young. However, taking English classes i s not necessarily seen as being \"motivated\" to learn E n g l i s h . In an interview with the teacher of one of the English as a Second Language programmes, I asked her to describe the women who came to the c l a s s e s . The members of the community who are i n her daytime c l a s s are mainly \"older women i n t h e i r t h i r t i e s and f o r t i e s \" . They are very t r a d i t i o n a l and stay home rather than work - 105 -outside the home. They are i l l i t e r a t e i n t h e i r own lang-uage so the programme i s one which proceeds o r a l l y and v i s u a l l y to develop language f a c i l i t y i n English which can be used to \"get around\" the c i t y and do the chores that accompany working i n the home. The p r i o r i t i e s of the women i n the cl a s s are cleaning the house and main-ta i n i n g t h e i r possessions. These women are \"housebound\" and the classes f u l f i l l a s o c i a l need. The women i n the day classes are constrained by t h e i r home s i t u a t i o n . The women l i v e close enough to walk to the c l a s s . Their p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the c l a s s i s dependent on t h e i r home s i t u a t i o n and t h e i r husbands' approval of t h e i r taking the c l a s s . (Dec. 20/77) During the interview, we also discussed the way i n which the immi-grants l i v e s are organized; for example, working hours, type of job, etc . As I noted l a t e r , i t appears that the organization of t h e i r l i v e s i s what determines the p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the c l a s s or even the i n i t i a l taking of the c l a s s . (Boulter, Journal, Dec. 20/77) These fi e l d n o t e s demonstrate the conditions under which English i s learned, or i n some cases, not learned. That i s , that some of the women i n the cl a s s are persons who work i n the home. As was noted above, one presenter at the M u l t i c u l t u r a l i s m Conference stated that the family was the \"nucleus of ethnic r e t e n t i o n \" . Whether the family i s the nucleus or not, the organization of women's l i v e s who work i n the home r e s t r i c t s the opportunities for s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n with members of other than Portuguese background. For these women, i t then becomes necessary to go outside the home i n order to learn E n g l i s h . The accomplishing of learning English occurs outside of the work that many of the women do; t h e i r work i n the home. However, not a l l Portuguese immigrants and c e r t a i n l y not a l l women of Portuguese national o r i g i n who l i v e i n Vancouver, work only i n the home. Therefore, i f English i s indeed a 'problem' for the Portuguese immigrants, there must be other factors which produce - 106 -t h i s •problem'• Some of the factors are an e t h n i c a l l y segregated labour force, employment which does not depend on, nor f a c i l i t a t e a b i l i t y i n English and the accomplishment of tasks i n the new language< Recent immigrants from Portugal learn about the employment av a i l a b l e to them and about the society i n t o which they have come, through the r e l a t i v e s they have come to j o i n . The (usually male) r e l a t i v e s have vjobs already. They know about, hear about jobs which may be coming up. The people who have the highest positions i n the comm-unity are the doctor, the d e n t i s t , the construction contractors, the foremeniof the r a i l r o a d gangs, the supervisors on the cleaning crews. The foremen, the contractors and the supervisors have a say i n what jobs are a v a i l a b l e and who gets them. (Nov.6/77) What t h i s means i s that the jobs which are a v a i l a b l e to new immigrants are those which are acquired through job 'contacts' with other Portuguese people who have immigrated previously. The r e s u l t of t h i s kind of job 'contact' i s that p a r t i c u l a r jobs i n the labour market become the ones which Portuguese immigrants have access to. The cleaning crews, the r a i l r o a d gangs, the construction labouring jobs become f i l l e d with the members of a p a r t i c u l a r ethnic group. The following f i e l d n o t e provides an example of the access a v a i l a b l e to Portuguese immigrants f o r developing a f a c i l i t y i n E n g l i s h . I t i l l u s t r a t e s the way i n which labour market p a r t i c i p a t i o n maintains the people of Portuguese nationa l o r i g i n within a p a r t i c u l a r segment of the labour force. This f i e l d n o t e came out of a discussion i n the c i t i z e n s h i p c l a s s which arose as a r e s u l t of my questions about whether or not people had understood the lesson I had given. The discussion moved on to one which described for a l l the people i n the c l a s s , how they - 107 -had learned or not learned E n g l i s h , The woman of the couple had worked with Canadians and had learned English that way. She works as a waitress. She said that she had never been embarrassed about her pronunciation and would ask the people she worked with to correct her pronunciation. Her husband said that when he was f i r s t i n Canada, he worked i n con-s t r u c t i o n with a group of I t a l i a n s so he didn't learn English for a long time a f t e r he got here. Everyone seemed to agree that working on a job where you had to learn English or where English was spoken was necessary to learn the language w e l l . (Boulter, Journal, Sept.29/77) As the above fi e l d n o t e i n d i c a t e s , the fastest and easiest way of learning a new language occurs when the language must be used everyday and must be used to accomplish tasks. For Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver, t h i s access to spoken En g l i s h i s l i m i t e d through the work that people do. Inside the home, the opportunity to speak English i s not necessary to accomplish the tasks which must be done. In the labour force, many of the jobs a v a i l a b l e to Portu-guese immigrants do not depend on a f a c i l i t y i n En g l i s h . The jobs are usually u n s k i l l e d and are jobs that 'anyone can do'. That i s , they do not depend on s k i l l i n English nor on s p e c i a l i z e d t r a i n i n g previous to the t r a i n i n g on the job. Also, the jobs are e t h n i c a l l y segregated. As Cassin points out i n her study of the East Indian community i n Vancouver: The p r a c t i c e which organizes i n d i v i d u a l s d i f f e r e n t l y i n r e l a t i o n to the labour market i s the organization of a segregated p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n the labour force. This creates an e t h n i c a l l y segregated labour f o r c e . This aspect of the organization of the labour force c o n s t i t u t e s , for the working c l a s s , a d i v i s i o n within the working c l a s s i t s e l f . (Cassin, 1977:1) - 108 -Concluding Remarks This thesis has been concerned with the s o c i a l production of ethnic difference i n Vancouver. In p a r t i c u l a r , the ethnic/immigrant experience of Portuguese immigrants has been i n v e s t i g a t e d . I have been concerned to explore the s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s which cons t i t u t e some persons as ethnic, as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t from other persons i n s o c i e t y . Through the use of a method of analysis derived from Marx and developed by Smith for sociology, I have done a focussed ethnography. That i s , that the focus was on the production of ethnic difference as a set of s o c i a l l y organized p r a c t i c e s . By using the examples of a commodity, a table and a g i f t , the c o n s t i t u t i o n of those objects as objects which obscures the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s which bring them i n t o being was discussed. I t was also shown how d e s c r i p t i v e accounts are c o n s t i t u t i v e of the production of s o c i a l f a c t s . I began by l o c a t i n g the term e t h n i c i t y i n the s o c i o l o g i c a l and anthropological discourse. This provided an understanding of the way i n which the l i t e r a t u r e Is constructed. Four a r t i c l e s , which were seen as representative of the main t h e o r e t i c a l debates within the l i t e r a t u r e were discussed i n d e t a i l . Three of the t h e o r i s t s , Barth, Despres and Van Den Berghe were seen to proceed i n t h e i r i n v e s t i g a t i o n s of ethnic phenomena from a basis i n s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a l theory. One of the t h e o r i s t s , Robbins, was seen to proceed from a Marxist analysis of c l a s s r e l a t i o n s . A l l the t h e o r i s t s a t t r i b u t e difference as a property of the members of the ethnic groups. They then proceed to in v e s t i g a t e the subjective and objective c r i t e r i a for group membership. The r e l a t i v e - 109 -importance of the one over the other i s the f i r s t debate i n the l i t e r a t u r e . The t h e o r i s t s then go on to determine whether c l a s s status or ethnic status determines an ethnic member's l o c a t i o n i n the s o c i a l hierarchy of power, prestige and wealth. Barth proposes that ethnic status determines c l a s s status whereas Despres and Van Den Berghe conclude that status i s determined by a combination of ethnic and c l a s s status. Robbins, using a modified analysis of c l a s s r e l a t i o n s , determines that c l a s s r e l a t i o n s are superordinate to ethnic r e l a t i o n s . The i nquiry i n t o the l i t e r a t u r e provides a basis for seeing how the ethnic t h e o r i s t s c i t e d use, as an unexplicated resource, the common-sense understandings of a l l members of society i n order to construct the determinations of ethnic i n t e r a c t i o n s . The use of common-sense understandings as a stable and unquestioned point of departure for research and t h e o r i z i n g provides a way of seeing how what the t h e o r i s t s t r e a t as a given may be treated as problematic. That i s , that the unexplicated r e l a t i o n of common-sense and theor-e t i c a l constructions of the everyday world becomes, i n i t s e l f , a topic for i n v e s t i g a t i o n . Chapter I I I demonstrated the procedures used i n my fieldwork with persons of Portuguese national o r i g i n who reside i n Vancouver. Using ethnographic f i e l d techniques as a basis, interviews, p a r t i -cipant observation and the involvement of myself i n the enactment of e t h n i c i t y were analyzed. I entered the f i e l d with a conception that there was an e n t i t y c a l l e d the \"Portuguese community\" and that i t was possible to go there and to interview members of the \"comm-unity\". That t h i s conception i s , i n i t s e l f , a method of c o n s t i t u t i n g - 110 -e t h n i c i t y i s part of the data which i s analyzed i n the r e s t of the chapter. To begin the analysis of the fieldwork, I s t a r t with two terms, 'immigrant' and 'community' and demonstrate how those terms name p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s among people of Portuguese national o r i g i n and among the s o c i a l service workers who are involved with them. I t begins to be v i s i b l e that the terms de-s c r i b e a set of s o c i a l l y organized pr a c t i c e s which a t t r i b u t e the d i f f i c u l t i e s and concerns of Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver to t h e i r c u l t u r a l background, t h e i r personality, and to the c l a s s l o c a t i o n from which they come. Description which r e l i e s and depends upon c u l t u r a l a t t r i b u t e s which are learned and acquired i n another society and i s used to account for phenomena which occur here disattends to the production and c o n s t i t u t i o n of the everyday l i v e d r e l a t i o n s of Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver. I t i s the contention of t h i s thesis that the status of 'immigrant', 'ethnic' as d i f f e r e n t i s only produced within the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s of the society i n Canada. That i s , that i t i s possible to do a d e s c r i p t i o n of immigrant groups and i n d i v i d u a l s as those who are such by v i r t u e df t h e i r c u l t u r a l back-ground. This c u l t u r a l d e s c r i p t i o n may r e f l e c t the world as i t appears; as i t i s constructed for us to see. (Smith, 1 9 7 4 ) Indeed t h i s mode of d e s c r i p t i o n i s one which provides for Portuguese immigrants and for the s o c i a l service workers an explanation which r e f l e c t s t h e i r concerns and d i f f i c u l t i e s i n a new s o c i e t y . However, as t h i s t h e s i s i s concerned with the method of i n t e r a c t i o n , i t can be seen that d e s c r i p t i o n which depends on c u l t u r a l , s o c i a l and personal c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the i n d i v i d u a l accomplishes two things. One, the d e s c r i p t i o n i s i n i t s e l f part of the method by which ethnic/immigrant di f f e r e n c e i s constituted s o c i a l l y . Second, the de s c r i p t i o n does not provide an analysis of how persons come to be organized i n Vancouver i n t o what are re f e r r e d to as \"ethnic comm-u n i t i e s \" , \"working c l a s s jobs\", etc. I t does not show how that organizing produces what i s seen as the \"Portuguese community\" i n Vancouver. I t does not provide an analysis of how persons come to be located i n p a r t i c u l a r occupations, income l e v e l s , geographic areas, etc., and how that organization produces what are c a l l e d \"ethnic communities\". The alternate form of d e s c r i p t i o n , the e x p l i c a t i v e d e s c r i p t i o n has made v i s i b l e the a c t i v i t i e s of i n d i v i d u a l s which con s t i t u t e c e r t a i n persons as ethnic, as immigrant, as d i f f e r e n t . These a c t i v -i t i e s , and the descriptions of these a c t i v i t i e s are the methods by which some members are constituted as d i f f e r e n t from other members of s o c i e t y . These a c t i v i t i e s produce a p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l l o c a t i o n which i s c a l l e d \"working c l a s s \" . That t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l l o c a t i o n i s v i s i b l e and talked about as such, indicates, a p a r t i c u l a r under-standing of the ordering of society as h i e r a r c h i c a l and s t a t i c . However, on c l o s e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n , i t was shown that the s o c i a l l o c -ation of Portuguese immigrants i n Vancouver i s produced by the p a r t i c u l a r s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s i n which they are involved. For example, one way i n which t h i s l o c a t i o n i s produced i s through the i n t e r a c t i o n of Portuguese immigrants and s o c i a l s e r v i c e workers. This s o c i a l l o c a t i o n then a r i s e s only through the s o c i a l l y organized practic e s of society's members i n Vancouver. In other words, while the s o c i a l and c l a s s l o c a t i o n may be h i e r a r c h i c a l , i t i s not s t a t i c but rather - 112 -i s recreated at every moment i n both the descriptions and other a c t i v i t i e s of members of society i n the family, labour force and the l a r g e r s o c i e t y . - 113 -BIBLIOGRAPHY Althusser, Louis 1965 For Marx, New York: Random House. 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Despres (Ed.), E t h n i c i t y and Resource Competition i n P l u r a l S o c i e t i e s , The Hague: Mouton and Co. Warner, Lloyd 1957 \"The Study of S o c i a l S t r a t i f i c a t i o n \" , i n J . G i t t l e r (Ed.) Review of Sociology. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Zimmerman, D.H. and M. Pollner 1970 \"The Everyday World as a Phenomenon\", i n J . Douglas, (Ed.), Understanding Everyday L i f e , Aldine, Chicago. - 118 -APPENDIX I Interview schedule: community workers, s o c i a l workers, teachers, etc. 1 • How i s your work connected to the members of the Portuguese community? 2. What are the problems that you see a r i s i n g for immigrant members? 3» Do the problems d i f f e r depending on the amount of money or education that the immigrants have? Or are the problems you're o u t l i n i n g common to a l l immigrants? 4» Do the problems d i f f e r according to ethnic group? I f so, how? 5. Are there gaps i n the s o c i a l s ervice network that mean that some of the immigrants' problems cannot be solved? 6. What do you see as the s o l u t i o n for the kinds of d i f f i c u l t i e s that ethnic groups have i n t h i s society? - 119 -APPENDIX II Interview schedule 1 • Getting to Canada; a) when did you arriv e ? b) how did you get here - plane, etc#? c) did you have r e l a t i v e s here? d) did you know very much about the country when you arrived? e) what did you expect to happen when you got here? Did i t ? f) how was Canada d i f f e r e n t than what you hoped for/expected? 2. Leaving Portugal; a) what did you do before you came to Canada? b) why did you decide to emigrate? c) how i s Canada d i f f e r e n t from Portugal? d) i n what ways i s your l i f e here d i f f e r e n t than i t was i n Portugal? e) do houses look l i k e t h i s i n Portugal? What differences? 3« Getting around i n Canada; a) did you know anybody when you f i r s t arrived? b) how did you go about learning about shopping, taking buses, getting around the c i t y ? c) when did you s t a r t learning English? Did you go to classes or did you le a r n from the T»V» or both? From working? d) were you married when you came? I f not, how did you meet your husband? k» Getting along i n Canada; a) did you work when you f i r s t came to Canada? b) how did you go about f i n d i n g a job? c) how do the people who are coming now fi n d jobs; how i s i t d i f f e r e n t now than i t was then? d) what kinds of jobs are av a i l a b l e to Portuguese.immigrants? e) does everybody work outside the home or do some women work at home? Who stays home and who goes out? - 120 -5. Being part of Canadian society; a) do you see yourself as part of Canadian society? b) i f not, why not? c) who i s and who i s n ' t ? d) how can you t e l l ? e) can you remember when you started to f e e l a part of Canadian society, as i f you belonged i n Canada? 6. Getting through the day; a) what kinds of things do you do i n your everyday l i v e s , shopping, housework, etc* b) i f there i s a dispute i n your house, or i f there are problems with what to spend your money on, who decides? c) t e l l me about your job. "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0094362"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "Anthropology"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "Constituting ethnic difference : an ethnography of the Portuguese immigrant experience in Vancouver"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/20985"@en .