1975/05/01 by Ivan Light, Charles Choy Wong · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy #Cultural Industries and Urban Development
paper · doi:10.1086/225994
openalex publication_date 1975/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
In the compettitio between institutional and cultural theories of American poverty, the success of Chinese-Americans has provided telling evidence for the cultural view. However, recent events in American Chinatowns show that the cultural interpretation was overdrawn. The dependence of Chinatowns upon the tourist in dustry has constrained residents to suppress visible manifestations of social unrest and pathology in order to attract customers. The inability of the tourist industry to keep pace with recent immigrations is now bringing these previously suppressed manifestations to the surface. The Chinatown case suggests that the industrial division of labor will prove a fruitful place to seek a synthesis of cultural and institutional theories.