Seite 26 [26]
OCR
MODERNIZATION, MIGRATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE ARGENTINE CASE, 1870-1945 Endogamy (the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group) is a key indicator because it explains many aspects of the family process, especially the socialization of the second generation of immigrants. Besides, exogamic marriages with natives were associated with lower probabilities of return to their country. Exogamy was the rule during the early phases of immigration, before 1850. In contrast, the mass migration period shows a more complex panorama. Nevertheless, there are some clear patterns. First, the sex imbalance of the migratory flux (men were more numerous, as usual in the 19‘ century) produced a high level of endogamy in European women. In contrast, European men were more exogamous with native women. In other words, the Argentine Melting Pot happened without native men. The influence of the imbalanced sex ratio was increased by patriarchal power and the lack of freedom of women to choose their partners out of their family, regional and ethnic circle. Second, Spaniards and Italians (in that order) were the most endogamous groups, while the French were the most open to mixed marriages. Third, exogamy was higher in the small and intermediate cities than in the largest ones due to the more imbalanced sex ratio (a surplus of men), less or no spatial segregation and, last but not least, higher social uniformity in terms of salaries and consumption. The opposite happened, naturally, in the big cities. Endogamy was also important in the second and the third generation of immigrants, at least in the largest cities, as the census of Buenos Aires in 1936 shows.!! Fourth, minority groups from a quantitative point of view, such as the Germans or Danish, or religious groups, such as the Jews and Protestants, were much more endogamous than majority ones. The cultural distance in terms of language and religion, two variables clearly associated, from the host society and from Catholic groups, also explains why levels of endogamy were long-lasting. Finally, the endogamy of the first generation of immigrants decreased in all majority groups. This process, clearly associated with the evolution of the migratory flux, was still in evidence in the 1920s. Concerning the second indicator, the residence patterns of immigrants, the index shows a certain level of segregation in the largest cities such as Buenos Aires, but with two important caveats. On the one hand, these levels were similar to the internal and Latin American immigrants. On the other hand, the international comparison shows that Buenos Aires was one of the least 1 Susana Torrado: La transicién de la nupcialidad. Dindmica del mercado matrimonial, in Torrado, Susana (comp.): Poblacién y bienestar en la Argentina del primero al segundo Centenario. Una historia social del siglo XX, Buenos Aires, Editorial EDHASA, Vol. 1, 399438.
