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"THROUGH THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE" (ROGER WALDINGER).   Term Paper ID:24482 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Critical review of book on New York's immigrant garment capitalists.... More...

7 Pages / 1575 Words 3 sources, 12 Citations, MLA Format $28.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Critical review of book on New York's immigrant garment capitalists. Paper Introduction: Roger D. Waldinger, in Through the Eye of the Needle, writes that although immigrants in general have been denied access to higher economic advancement in the United States, there have been and are exceptions to that rule. His focus is on one such exceptional group: This book is a study of New York's latest immigrant garment capitalists, the business they have founded, and the industrial environment in which they have grown up. The garment industry is the paradigmatic case of immigrant enterprise (Waldinger 3). Waldinger explores these enterprises in order not only to discover their nature, but also to explore why they seem to thrive as small businesses in a business era in which bigger is better, in which conglomerates rule, and in which such small Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Another important point of the book is to show how incredibly hardthe individual members of these immigrant groups work to reach the successthey do reach. This . With respect to methods, data, and research design, Waldinger writes; This book combines a variety of research methods: nonparticipatory observation; in-depth interviewing of key informants; analysis of primary and secondary printed sources [including trade journals and government reports]; and a series of different surveys (16). . In addition, the negativeviews of natives which minimizes their desire to enter this industry,because of both economic and cultural considerations, reduces thecompetition for entrance to the industry and increases the likelihood ofsuccess of the immigrant groups which do enter. Wilken writes that "the important factors" which account for "theemergence of entrepreneurship" in general "are economic in nature and . So thorough is Waldinger's study, so sober, objective, and reliant ona broad variety of sources including many other scholarly studies as wellas extensive interviews and questionnaires given to the immigrantsthemselves, that the reader would find it difficult to doubt his findings.Waldinger documents every important conclusion which demonstrates why theseparticular groups enter and succeed in this specific industry, and whyother groups either do not enter or have withdrawn from the competition.For example, Waldinger effectively shows why Jews and Italians havewithdrawn: The changing social structure of these two groups has altered patterns of recruitment: both are now largely middle class, and while a predilection for self-employment persists, especially among Jews, it is more likely to take the form of the independent professional (Waldinger 19 ). Also important from both asociological and a human perspective is the knowledge provided by Waldingerthat the immigrant groups in large part succeed not because they areruthless or conspiratorial in some way but because other groups simply donot want to participate in that field. After all, Waldinger's research is hardly controversial or defiantof the most simple observations: the contracting side of the garmentindustry is clearly and disproportionately dominated by immigrant groups,specifically the Dominicans and the Chinese. . The combination of statistics and interviews/questionnaireswould seem to guarantee that Waldinger will indeed discover why and how theimmigrant groups under study were able to realize such success in theindustries they entered. . His focus is on one such exceptional group: This book is a study of New York's latest immigrant garment capitalists, the business they have founded, and the industrial environment in which they have grown up. . Works CitedWaldinger, Roger D. Through the Eye of the Needle. Specifically, thegarment industry involves "markets whose small size, heterogeneity, [and]susceptibility to flux and instability limit the potential for massdistribution and mass production" (46). Wilken writes: These economic conditions can be broadly divided into two classes: those which provide market incentives for entrepreneurs and those which influence the availability of capital. . Weber's contribution stems from his argument about the affinity of a particular mentality or psychology for the development of economic activity. There seems to be nothing questionable in Waldinger's findings, andnothing which contradicts or is contradicted by he arguments of Wilken orWeber. The book contains four appendixes which include consideration ofclassification of the different garment industries, an explanation of theprocedures used in the surveys, a questionnaire given to the companiesstudied, and a second questionnaire given to Jewish and Italian factoryowners. . These appendixes give the reader a clear sense of both thecomprehensive and the objective nature of the entire study and the author'sfindings. . Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex, 1979. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1958.Wilken, Paul. . . This set of conditions is met by the Chinese and Dominicans in theirrelationship with the contracting aspect of the garment industry, just asit is met by the Jewish and Italian groups with respect to manufacturing(although the latter are also involved in contracting). In addition, Waldinger explores why immigrants succeed in the garmentindustry in particular, and why they do son in greater numbers than nativeswho would seem to have greater economic access to starting a business inthis area. Finally, another fourteen pages of notes and annotations areincluded which amplify certain of those findings. However, thisintroduces an even more cogent question upon which the author focuses: "Whyis it that immigrants--and not natives--exploit these opportunities forpetty proprietorships?" (4). In the course of his research, the author narrowed the focus of hisstudy to such aspects as the differences between manufacturers andcontractors, and why the different immigrant groups coalesced in one or theother category (17). The book will not likely reduce the bigotry directed atimmigrant groups for their success and dominance in certain fields, forbigots will be unlikely to read the book, and even if they did it would notlikely dissuade them from their envy and hatred. The point is thatthese immigrant groups, the talents and resources they bring, and theeconomic needs and requirements of the garment industry, make the immigrantgroups and the industry a mutually ideal fit. Later he maintained ties with both the union and theindustry's employers in his role as consultant for the city, giving himgreat access to all the major players in the industry. Waldinger, in Through the Eye of the Needle, writes thatalthough immigrants in general have been denied access to higher economicadvancement in the United States, there have been and are exceptions tothat rule. New York: New YorkUP, 1986.Weber, Max. It is unfair and inaccurate to accuse them, as many do, ofsuch ease of access and success. The garment industry is the paradigmatic case of immigrant enterprise (Waldinger 3). Certainly the methods, data and research employed by Waldinger givethe reader confidence that the author wants to find the true answers to thequestions he asks, and that he will in fact find those answers if they areavailable. . The reader understands from the book what specialqualities and skills have proved particularly useful for Dominicans andChinese in the garment industry in New York, and the same reader willperhaps consider other immigrant groups not as strange creatures whostrangely enter and dominate a field, but as human beings with specialtalents and special social and cultural resources which allow and encouragethem to enter and succeed in that field. Roger D. One suggestion made by the author is that "there are inherent limitsto the techniques of mass production and distribution" (4), leaving gapsfor such small enterprises to spring up and flourish. Waldinger's book is important not only because it shows with suchstrong documentation why certain ethnic immigrant groups enter and succeedin this particular industry, but also because his findings can be extendedto help understand other industries and other immigrant groups' success inthose industries. use the expressionspirit of (modern) capitalism to describe that attitude which seeks profitrationally and systematically" (Weber 64). Market incentives show entrepreneurs opportunities to be exploited, and capital is the major resource needed to carry out the entrepreneurial function (Wilken 7). Again, this calls to mind thekind of steady, reasonable, organized, patient approach to success in thegarment industry taken by the immigrant groups studied by Waldinger. Waldinger was himself a working member of the International Ladies'Garment Workers' Union, "first in labor organizing and then in organizing."From there he went to graduate school where he began the research which ledto the present book. . Although Wilken is not specificallyaddressing the immigrant experience in his discussion of conditionsconducive to entrepreneurial activity, his conclusions are closely alignedto the findings of Waldinger. The thoughts of Weber are discussed by Waldinger in a way which makesclear the alignment of the findings of the two with respect to the causesof entrepreneurial success, at least as far as Weber goes in developing hispsychological rather than ethnic theme: Immigrants share unique group attributes that create a cultural or psychological propensity toward entrepreneurship. .are construed to constitute both necessary and sufficient conditions forentrepreneurial emergence" (7). The only matter in dispute is why such groups dominate this side ofthis industry. At the heart of Weber's argument about the spirit ofcapitalism is the belief that success in any capitalistic enterprise callsfor a solid system of thought and action: "We . The findings of Waldinger are supported by the writings of both MaxWeber and Paul Wilken, especially with respect to the conditions prevailingwhich make the specific markets accessible to the immigrants and encouragethe specific immigrant groups to seek out those particular markets.Waldinger finds "an explanation for immigrant enterprise that emphasizedthe interaction between the opportunity structure of the host society andthe social structure of the immigrant community" (46). They do not simply enter the country, set up shop, and reapthe benefits. To the contrary, they should be commendedfor entering an unpopular field, working hard in the kind of rational andsystematic way described by Weber and Wilken, and succeeding in accordancewith the American Dream. can be extended to explain immigrants' success in business [in that] their culture favors those attributes needed for entrepreneurial success--discipline, hard work, risk taking, and so on (Waldinger 6). For those less tendingtoward bigotry, however, he book makes sense of what may have seemed amysterious phenomenon. In fact, in Weber one does finds support for Waldinger beyond thispsychological aspect. The starting point for this argument is Max Weber's famous study, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Waldinger explores these enterprises in order not only to discovertheir nature, but also to explore why they seem to thrive as smallbusinesses in a business era in which bigger is better, in whichconglomerates rule, and in which such small businesses in general seem tobe tragically falling by the wayside under the monstrous shadows of suchvoracious conglomerates. This is a simple, statisticalfact. Entrepreneurship. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.