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HUNGARIAN-ÁMERICAN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
222 223
strong’s definition?? adopted by Fejős???, immigrant communities can also
be characterized as Proletarian and mobilized diasporas in terms of their
relatively high or low socio-economic status in the host society.
Adopting the theories of Clyne and Fernandez?" as well as that of
Armstrong?” and Fejös?” for the characterization of Hungarian-American
immigrant communities — depending on the date of migration (in the first
wave: between 1870 and 1914, in the second wave: between 1921 and 1940, in
the third wave: after World War II, and in the fourth wave: during and after
the revolution of 1956), and on the reasons for immigration (primarily political
or economic) — Hungarian-American immigrants can be positioned along a
four-tailed continuum as follows: the first wave of Hungarian immigrants are
tilted towards being a defiant and Proletarian type of a Diaspora with limited
opportunities for integration, while the next three waves (between 1921 and
1940, after World War II, and during and after the revolution of 1956) can
be rather characterized as conforming, mobilized Diasporas, having better
opportunities for integration.
As for the present situation, the Hungarian-American community has a more
favorable socio-economic status than the US national average. According to
the American Community Service’s figures as of 2004, Hungarian-Americans
are more highly qualified than the US average. 35.3% of Hungarian-Americans
have MA or higher qualifications, while the corresponding national figure is
24%. Although 16.1% of Americans have lower than high school qualifications,
this rate in the Hungarian-American community is only 7.5%. The annual
income per capita among Hungarian-Americans is USD 30,879 as compared
to the national average of USD 24,020. The largest segment of Hungarian¬
Americans (44.5%) hold managerial or work as professional consultants,
while the corresponding segment of the American population is significantly
lower — 34.1%. Relying on these figures, it can be concluded that in terms of
its socioeconomic and educational status, the present Hungarian-American
community is a mobilized, socio-economically highly positioned one.
222 John A. Armstrong, Mobilized and Proletarian diasporas, American Political Science Review,
70 (1976), 393-408
Zoltán Fejős, Diaszpóra és az , amerikai magyarok — hattér egy fogalom alkalmazhatésagahoz,
in: Nóra Kovács (ed.), Tanulmányok a diaszpóráról, Budapest, Gondolat, 2005, 9-24
Clyne — Fernandez, Period of residence, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1-18
Armstrong, Mobilized and Proletarian diasporas, American Political Science Review, 393¬
408
Fejös, Diaszpöra, 9-24
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