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THE SOJOURNER

PAUL C. P. SIU

ABSTRACT

The "sojourner" is treated as a deviant type of the sociological form of the "stranger," one who cling

to the cultural heritage of his own ethnic group and tends to live in isolation, hindering his assimilatio

to the society in which he resides, often for man y years. The sojourn is conceived by the sojoum er as

"job" which is to be finished in the shortest possible time. As an alternative to that end he travels bac

to his homeland every few years. He is comparable to the "marginal man."

THE

" S O J O U R N E R "

DEFINED

About forty years ago Simmel wrote in

his Soziologie an analysis of an ideal type,

with reference to race and culture contacts,

which he called de r Fremd e. ^ Sociologists

in America and abroad have done much

significant work implicitly and explicitly on

the general subject of the social type that

results from race and culture contacts. Park,

particularly, coined a term which he saw

fit to use in the study of the kind of rela-

tionship between racial hyb rids and th e

two worlds in both of which he is more

or less a stranger the marginal man. ^

I am proposing to isolate another deviant

type , for which I employ the term sojourn-

er . The sojourner, to be sure, is chara c-

teristically not a marginal man; he is

different from the marginal man in many

aspects. The essential characteristic of the

sojourner is that he clings to the culture

of his own ethnic group as in contras t to the

bicultural complex of the marginal man.

Psychologically he is unwilling to organize

himself as a permanent resident in the

country of his sojourn. When he does, he

becomes a marginal man.

Both the marginal man and the sojourner

' Georg Simm el, Soziologie (Leipzig: Duncker

& Hu mblo t, 190 8), pp. 685 -91. Englbh transla-

tions:

Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess,

Introduction to the Science of Sociology (Chicago:

are types of strangerin Simmel's sens

products of the cultural frontier.* N

doubt, in many instances, the sojourner ha

something in common with the margin

man. It is convenient, therefore, to defin

the sojo urn er as a strange r who spend

many years of his lifetime in a foreig

country without being assimilated by i

Th e sojourner is pa r excellence an ethnocen

trist.* This is the case of a large number o

immigrants in America and also of Amer

cans who live abroad. The Chinese laundry

man, for example, is a t5^ical sojourne

and so is the American missionary in Chin

The concept may be applied to a whol

range of foreign residents in any countr

to the extent that they maintain sojourne

attitudes. The colonist, the foreign trade

the diplomat, the foreign student, the inte

national journalist, the foreign missionar

the research anthropologist abroad, and a

sorts of migrant groups in different are

of the globe, in various degree, may be con

sidered sojourners in the sociological sens

In the new country the sojourner h

indeed gone through a series of adjustmen

to his present environment, and he is ve

' Everett C. Hughes defines cultural frontiers

"[where] two or more cultures are in conflic

(An Ou tline of the Prindples of Sodology,

Robert E. Park [New York: Barnes& Noble, In

1939],

p . 300) .


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THE SOJOURXER

35

be an agent of cultu ral diffusion

a process of interpen etra tion and fusion

hat the sojourner, on the contrary, tends to

The characterization of the sojourner

iven by Simmel is not that of the man

rather of the man who comes today and

tays tomorrow. The concept, let me re-

peat, is applied only in the general context

of race and culture contacts; it has no

reference to, for example, a New Yorker

who moves to San Francisco.

Social situations relative to this general

problem in different countries in our time

often set people apart, hindering the process

of assimilation or at least making it very

slow. The social adjustments and activities

of the sojourner, to be sure, vary in detail

in particular situations. There are, however,

some general and essential characteristics

which must be ascribed to the sojourner.

THE JOB

Perhaps it is logical to consider first what

it is tha t makes the sojourner go abroad and

stay on. Apparently he knows why he mi-

grates. It may be a religious mission, a com-

mercial interest, an economic adventure, a

military campaign, an academic degree, a

journalist assignment, a political refuge, or

what not. In spite of the seemingly hetero-

geneous motives and aims, there is, how-

ever, something common to all of them;

the intrinsic purpose of the sojourn is to

life beyond the accomplishing of this end.

Th e term jo b used here is to indicate a

deviation from the term car ee r. Career

is to be conceived as lifelong work, but the

job can be only a part of one's career. It

is quite clear in some of the cases. A for-

eign student, for instance, may stay several

years in order to get his degree, but his

school work is only the beginning of his

career. A research anthropologist nmy visit

and revisit a primitive society, but it is

clear that his project may not be his life-

long career. A religious mission, on the

other hand, is relatively harder to identify

as a job or a career because missionary

workers tend to stay abroad longersome

until retirement, others several years^and

each has a particular reason or reasons for

the decision to stay or to leave. The hope

and dream of an economic adventurer is,

of course, to make a fortune, and the length

of the sojourn depends uf)on his success or

failure in the adventure. His job, like that

of the missionary, may be finished in sev-

eral years or may be prolonged for decades.

Generally speaking, it seems that the time

element varies according to individual situ-

ations, but the job itself is essentially a

means to an end. The sojourner may not

necessarily like his job and enjoy working

at it. It is rather that he is fighting for

social status at home. The job, therefore,

is tied up with all sorts of personal needs

for new experience, security, prestige, etc.

Although the sojourner plans to get

through with the job in the shortest pos-

sible time, yet he soon finds himself in a

dilemma as to whether to stay abroad or to

return home. Naturally this problem is re-

lated to the success or failure of the job

he would not like to return home without

a sense of accomplishment and some sort of

security. But this state is psychologically

never achieved. In due time tiie sojourner


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6

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OFSOCIOLOGY

plained

the

wife

of a

Chinese laundry man

in

a

letter

to him, but you

have stayed

there nearly thirty years nowl ^

This feature of staying on indefinitely

is indeed interesting. In hiseffort to make

his

job a

success,

the

sojourner stays

on

long enough to make changes in his life-

organization, so that he is no longer the

same person; in other words,he has de-

veloped a mode of living peculiar to his

present situation.He has nodesirefor full

participation in the community life of his

adopted land In other words hisactivities

tendto bewithin thel.nutof h.sown m ter-

e s t - t h e

job. He

tends

to

think

of

himself

as

an

outsider

and

feels content

as a

spec-

tator in many of the com munity affairs.

If he does take part in certain activities,

theyarelikelyto beeither m atters reUting

tohis job or matters concerning hishome-

land's social welfare, politics, etc. Essen-

tially his activities in the community are

symbiotic rather than social. The public

seldom thinksof himother than in relation

to

his job. He

therefore

is an

individual

who performsa function rather thana per-

son withasocial status.He is a person only

tothepeopleofhis own ethnic groupor to a

social circle related

to

his job.

Related

to the

symbiotic level

of the so-

journer's activitiesis another feature which

is what may be called the alien element

of the job.W hatever it is, it is something

foreign

to the

natives.

It is

either something

transplanted by the sojourner from his

homeland or something new invented by

him in his struggle for existence abroad.

In America theChinese laundry, the Ital-

ian fruit stand, the Greek ice-cream parlor,

andtheJewish clothing storeareinventions

by which these immigrant groups survive

in the highly competitive urban commu-

nity.

So, too, the

Christian church,

the hos-

pital,

the oil

refinery,

the

modern school

new elements whichmaydisturb the so

order of the folk society into which t

are introduced.

Because of the alien element in the j

at least for the time being, the sojoum

is

not

considered

as a

competitor

of

natives. Paradoxically he often finds h

self a keen competitor of thepeopleof

own ethnic group.

IN-GROUP TENDENCY

^^

^ ^

^.^

cLVrymen, if there are eno

'

^ , j ^ J ^ ^^ ..^itt,, Toky

J ^ ^ .^own, and Chi

^ ^J^ ^ for example,

> ' f f = : ^n mteresting journalis

accountof3,600 Am ericansinSaudi Ara

shows that the colony is completely

American standards;

the

Arab world

s

rounding

it is

spoken

as a

Land

of

Wa

Mafe meaning the land of plenty

^he formation of the cultural colony

synjbiotic segregation, on the o

' Whether

the

sojourner lives

wiA

?]? socialhfe t iesupw

activities

in the

racial colo

. tendency for forming m-gr

relationships. The desire to live toget

1

^^ ?

-Thecolonyin itsprocess

development does not always grow m

segregation

may

take

scattering around

an

area

maintaining onlyacenterorseveral cent

activities.

The

center

of

activi

developed intoaseg


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THE SOJOURNER 37

in Chicago, for in- tain one anotherattheir homes. Th ey share

in 1872 in a lone laun- their prid e and aspirations, hof>es and

shop located between Clark and M adi- dream s, prejudices, anddilemm as and ex

it grew press their opinions abo ut thecountryof

be the third largest Chinese colony in this their so journ. T he following na rra tive tells

of

stores and hundreds vividly wh at

may be

called

a

sojourner'

f laundry shops and chop suey houses scat- att itu de .

allabout themetropoU tan area.^Ît ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^Âm ericans was

^^^

^^^

^ ^^^^^

^êm

a

little; they had

country they could call their own. It was

the country . morever,afairly nice country; not like Russia

In the smaller cities where we found one but,in the long run,not a bad one.It coul

of have beenavery good countryifRussians had

we

found also,

at

settled

it a

few centuries ago; now

it

was

to

of the

centra l b usiness d is- l^ê; the Americans had

to

content themselves

ormore Chinese stores which are ^ ^ ^ ^. ^^ ^^^^ ^ ^ ' . ,

ofactivityforthe local Chinese ^ ^.^ ' ^ ' ^ ^ ^' ' ^^ ^ ^ ' ^ ^

I ,. rr . ., 4 * association with thenatives we arecompelled

To besure the store maynot ^ ^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^ difficuhand

as such an enterprise. It unpleasant tongue, hard and harsh, forbidding

be a

former laund ry shop converted and unyielding, lacking

the

softness and elas

astore as the local Chinese pop ulation ticityofour own Russian language. As soona

of its position our working day was over and we had shed our

ashopping cente r w here hom eland overalls, we became Russians. We wenttoour

is offered. Occasionally loca l Russian affairs; we assembled in Russian homes

of

the ethn ic group congreg ate there around Russian saniovars;

ate

Russian food,

isthe ^ ^^ ^ ^^^sian tea (the tea was, unfortunately,

for instance, in Richmond, Vir- If 1 ? êwYork) anddiscussed Russian

and Indianapolis, Indian a. In sUU affairs inRussian language.

11 4.- I l -n 4.4.1 r 1

-Kit

I . ' One of our mam topics was this country,

er cities like Ba ttle Creek, Michigan,

^^^ we

most definitely

did not

like

it.

This

is no

Chinese country was definitely inferior to Rus sia -^ve n

bu t the local Chinese usua lly congre- to Russia when we left th er e .

in therear of a downtown laundry

for

recreation and per- Although this

is a

Russian story,

yet i

contacts are available. Th e local colo- describes thegeneral reactionof allininii-

notgrown, because thelocal popu- ^^^ groups which happentobe minorities

of the ethnic group has remained too'^ ^ foreign country. This sort of at t i tude

to prevail in the mind of the so

Essentially thecolonyis an instrum ent Journer and tha t iswhyheha stoseekhis

or to re-establish some sort of countrynien as neighbors and friends. Ho me

in the

ma trix

^^^

family life, perh aps , show most inter-

to

create

a

estingly how the sojourner can m ainta in his

away from home. W hatever activities homeland cultu ral heritage abro ad. Food

sojourner may par ticipa te in, in the com- hab its seemto be the most persistent.The


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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

tongues, art, sentiments, and primary-group

attitudes fortify the sojourner in his effort

to maintain homeland culturealthough

there are variations among different ethnic

groups within one country and in different

countries. The American missionary, for

instance, can keep his homeland culture

intact better than most of the immigrant

groups in America. He is more successful

in isolating his children from the native

inffuences, sending them to an American

school and living in a segregated area. Pearl

Buck illustrated this point very well.

The American home I know very well, part-

ly from close observation of homes during the

years that I have been living in my own coun-

try but as much from my own typically Amer-

ican home in China. My parents were Amer-

ican, patriotic to the core, and simply and hon-

estly convinced, as most Americans are, that

the American home is the best in the world.

To them American home life was even a part

of the Christian religion which they felt it

their duty and privilege to preach to the

Chinese. I do not believe it ever occurred to

my parents in the goodness of their saintly

hearts to ask themselves whether or not the

Chinese had a sort of home life which was per-

haps as valuable in its way as ours, or at least

better suited to China than ours was.

Our home, therefore, was kept absolutely and

carefully American. We had American furni-

ture and American food, though all of us chil-

dren liked Chinese food better, and only as a

concession to our pleading did we have an

occasional Chinese meal. Beyond that we satis-

fied our craving by partaking heartily of the

servants' meals before our own and listening

in guilty silence to our mother worrying over

our small appetites. We got up in the morn-

ing and had prayers and ate porridge and eggs

for breakfast, and studied our American les-

sons, and on Sunday a Christian church bell

rang and we went to church, and the only

difference was that the Christians in that

church were Chinese instead of American. We

were trained in all the ways of American home-

But the Chinese immigrant in the U

States cannot isolate his children so

cessfully as the American missionar

China can. The Chinese immigrant ha

send his children to American schools.

Chinese child, therefore, is more like

become a marginal man. The follo

story illustrates the intrinsic character

of the cultural pattern and the proble

creates.

The relationship between father and

dren in our family, as in most Chinese f

lies,

is of a very formal nature. I never

of cracking jokes with daddy. . . .

Respect we children always observefo

stance, by carefully calling an older sister

ond older sister and never the familiar

Lo tus which only those older than she

use.

The practical result of the system is

the youngest in the family has no one

whom he can be familiar. Nothing is so e

tive in keeping this present adolescent q

as to remind him that he is the smallest; th

fore he can say nothing imprudent to any

else; nor can he safely call anything his o

It can be seen that there is little room

individuality in a Chinese family such as o

We are early instructed that we must n

bring disgrace to the family name, and

individual achievement is less significant

the resulting family glory. The indivi

claims his significance largely from the fa

to which he belongs. For instance, in Ch

town, introductions usually are no sooner u

way than one is asked (if one is young), W

is your honorable fath er? The Chinese

tempt to submerge individuality leads to

mendous family conflict here in the Un

States. My adolescent years were spent in

ing to adjust a newly learned American cul

pattern to a rigid established Chinese stand

It is revolutionary to hear one's college

fessor say, Parents should understand

children instead of demanding just obedien

Disaster results when adolescents return h

and try to educate parents to this new ide

have never tried to do exactly this with


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THE SOJOURNER

3

side of the family circle, acquiescence within.

Such adjustment has not been made without

pain and tears, for other children of the family

as well as myself. In all fairness to daddy, I

must say that if he demands respect, it is not

because he is in any way egotistical, but be-

cause lack of respect for parents results in

confusion of proper relationship. . . .

I have never been in China. My Chinese

heritage, which I hold so dear, has been trans-

mitted to me almost solely by my father in

the cultural pattern which he has stamped up-

on me; singularly, how he imposed it does not

seem to matter any

Both of the foregoing cases show parents

who obviously have sojourners' attitudes,

trying to maintain their homeland cultural

heritage; the child in the former case, how-

ever, does not suffer from cultural conflict,

while the child in the latter case does. These

differences, it seems, are due to the differ-

ent situations in China and in America.

What makes the differences in detail in race

and culture relation in these two countries

is indeed very interesting. It is not, how-

ever, the purpose of this paper to under-

take such an analysis. My attempt so far

has been to show how the sojourner behaves

as an individual, with reference to his job,

then to describe his activities as a person

among people of his own ethnic group, and,

finally, in the following section, I will at-

tempt to show his relation to the country

of his sojourn and his homeland. Indeed,

he is not t)^ically a sojourner unless he has

maintained his homeland tie.

MOVEMENT BACK AND FORTH

The sojourner stays on abroad, but he

also never loses his homeland tie. In the

beginning he ventured to take up residence

in a foreign country with a definite aim.

Soon he found tha t the job was taking much

longer than he had expected. His original

takes a trip home for a visit. The trip is a

accomplishment, but the job can never b

finished. Again he has to go abroad. In hi

lifetime several trips are made back an

forth, and in some cases the career is termi

nated only by retirement or death.

In the preceding section, we have state

that the sojourner wants the job done in th

shortest possible time. Obviously, achieve

ment of this objective depends largely upo

his ability, on the one hand, and his chanc

or luck, on the other hand. Each individua

is not exactly like another, and yet we hav

a w hole rang e of cases in which difference

can be described and compared in terms o

the type of job, homeland background, rac

and cultural situation abroad, and persona

adjustments in response to these circum

stances.

Typical examples of the movement back

and forth are the missionary's furlough and

the immigrant's trip home. This movemen

is characterized by ethnocentrism in th

form of social isolation abroad and socia

expectation and status at home. In othe

words, one has gained some sort of recog

nition of his accomplishment by his friends

and relatives both at home and abroad

While staying abroad, the sojourner keep

his home tie by writing letters, exchanging

gifts, and participating in home social and

political affairs. In contrast to his role on

his job, these activities seem to be purely

on the basis of convention, and there is

nothing to indicate the element of expedi

ency, as in the activities of his job. The

return trip is the result of a social expec

tation of members of his primary group as

much as of his individual effort; their senti-

ments and attitudes make his trip meaning-

ful.

The trip shows that he is a person to b

admired, to be appreciated, to be proud of

and to be envied.


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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

a life-cycle comparable to that of the mar-

g ina l man.

Mr. C. came to America in 1919 at the age

of 19, two years after his marriage in his

native village in China. Soon after his arrival

he began to work with his father and two cous-

ins in a laundry shop uptown. Their laundry

shop was established about twenty-five years

ago by his father and two partners. It had been

very prosperous and was in need of helpers

badly. A young man working with them was

a great help. Th e work was hard, said Mr.

C , as he recalled his experience in the bygone

days, I almost wan ted to give up. But what

else could I do? After all, the old men were

working just as hard as I was. What could we

Chinese do in this country? You don't know

even how to speak their language [Eng-

lish]. . . .

The newcomer was encouraged to attend the

Sunday school conducted by one of the church-

es in town, for some of his young clansmen

were also pupils there and they went together.

The church maintained Sunday school classes

every Sunday afternoon especially for the

Chinese, teaching them English and Bible les-

sons.

For the first time Mr. C , a country boy

from China, met his Sunday school teacher,

Mrs. J., a housewife. He attended the class

steadily for several years. Gradually he could

speak English to his customers but was not

converted. He admitted that his English was

not adequate and he was not able to read

newspapers (English pap ers). Who ever

thought of staying in this country so long?

Mr. C. recalled that he expected to retum to

China in a few years and stay home for good.

And that was why he had no incentive to

leam more English. In fact he had no time to

study at that time, as the business was very

good and they had to work day and night

except Sunday.

Besides his acquaintance with the church

people and his impersonal business contacts

with his customers in the laundry shop, Mr.

C.'s social activities were largely among his

clansmen and his fellow-countrymen in China-

town. He became an active member in C.

in the Chinese newspapers every now and th

In 1925 the laundry shop was sold, and

father and son went back to China. The

man thought it was time for him to retire, a

it was his fourth trip back home. But Mr.

could have stayed here longer. Why had

to leave too? He said he was afraid someth

might happen to his father on the way; the o

man was too old and was taking a large sum

money with him. Of course his wife wrote a

urged him to come home too, for they had

children as yet. The real reason, which Mr.

did not tell explicitly, was that he and

father thought that they had enough money

live in style in China even if Mr. C. decid

not to retum to America again. The fam

was known in their native district as bei

well-to-do even before Mr. C. came to Ame

ca to join his father in 1919. His father was

good provider and hom e bu ilder in all

years. They had lands and business inve

ments and a good semi-Westem-style house

the n ative village. At this time, they took ho

with them about forty thousand dollars.

In the year after the father and son reach

home, the C. family married away Mr. C

younger sister. It become known in the who

district; people said that the dowry for t

young bride consisted of 25 American gold d

lars and a full possession of teakwood fur

ture, dozens of dresses, and, what was mo

a slave maid.

Later, Mr. C. invested a large sum of mon

in a textile enterprise in the city of Canto

Unfortunately it turned out to be a compl

failure, for which Mr. C. blamed the d

honesty of cousins and the incompetency

the management.

The spending was excessive and the loss w

unexpected. Mr. C. had to come to Amer

again and again worked in another laund

shop with one of his relatives, and the busin

was very good. In a few years he was able

save enough to make another trip. In 1929

family urged him to retum. At this time

father had died and his mother wanted to s

him before her passing away.

Mr. C. was soon in China but he did n


8/12

THE SOJOURNER

toschool soon.

C. said, "butI

not let my songrowupwithouta school

So for thegoodof thevillageaswell

had to be a school for the chil-

I

spent over

a

thousand dollars

for it, but

I did not take the lead,no one seemed to

to do it.

And whenI arrived in this country again,

r.C.continued, it was 1930 and it was the

of the great depression. Life washard

too but not as bad as in China.The peo-

lehadbeensopoor thatit sickenedmyheart.

I was in China, friends andrelativesall

for money,one way or theother.It was

to

deal with them without hurting their

did notbelieve thatI hadspent

all mymoney. After all, I had to keep

to support my family and for my trip

Thisis a wonderful coun try, saidMr. C,

to a question about hisfeelingto-

d America. Eve rything is orderly accord-

gto the law. Lookat their industryI don't

can follow it up.After all,

are

just staying here temporarily.

e are just outsiders. Outsiders, particularly

the nonwhite race, have not much of a

arevery niceto you,

in their hearts you are still, they

own. So we should

be prosperous and

day and we can gohomeand do

of workingasslavesin

and chop suey house.

From 1930 to 1940 Mr. C. had been in

in two chop suey

At thebeginning,Mr. C.

as a cookfor two or three years; later

a waiter. The business was very

of the depression. Both of the

in which he was in partnership

he wasemployedas awaiter

one of the best chop suey restaurants in

It wasabout 1940 and Mr. C. was thinking

or of

arranging

for

son to cometo this country.It was a hard

that his son was under the care of relatives.

His relatives wrote and urged him to retum

for a reunion.

M r.C. waswithhis family againassoonas

he could arrange

his

trip. Soon after

he was

home,

his

wife died. Then

he

took

his son to

Hong Kong, where the youth was sent to a

missionary school. At this time, he married a

woman twenty years younger thanhe. He said

he bought a house for his young bride and

stayed with her only four months. Then he

had to leave for America again.

After Mr. C. reached here, he retumed to

his old job in the restaurant. A few months

later,he heard that his second wife had given

birth

to a

baby girl.

At the

present time

(1948),Mr. C. isvery much interested in get-

tinghis son over to this country.He was told

that he could apply for American citizenship

so that hecouldget his wife into this country

nonquota.His son,however, can not comenon-

quota,for when theyouthwas bom his father

wasnot naturalized^noris henaturalizedyet.

It seems thatMr. C. cares mostly to havehis

sonin this country; like mostof his country-

men,

his

wife's coming

has not

been

in his

mind.He is not goingto apply for citizenship

now.At leasthe has not madeup his mind.

We have in this case a representation of

the stages of adjustment: first, Mr. C. has

learned to be an individual who must do

his job while, socially, he joins his coun-

trymen in isolation in tiie racial colony and

plans to return to the old country when it is

possible; second, he soon finds himself in

an anomalous position with reference to his

homeland and the country of his sojourn;

third, he projects a hope that someday he

may accomplish his aim, but meanwhile he

goes home for a visit, and the cycle closes

when he makes his final trip home and re-

tires. Comparable with the case of Mr. C.

is that of an American couple who went to

China soon after their marriage, took fur-

loughs every few years, lived in a segre-

gated compound among fellow-missionaries,


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42 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOFSOCIOLOGY

The problem here is to inquire into the home or perhaps only one trip^and t

situation that makes the sojourner stay on is no hope for the finalone. As they

abroad. Again each individual case varies now old,poor, andsick, they become

in detail according to thesituation. After different. Sometimes whena man is a

a period of residence abroad,one is likely howlonghe hasbeen in this country

to

be

confronted with personal problems answer reffects self-scorn: "Only five

o

both directly and indirectly affecting his weeks is that enough?"Inrealityaw

plan. In attempting to solve some of the means seven years.If hesayshe hasb

problems, he sooner or later finds himself here "five weeks," it means thirty-

in the midstofconstant emotional conflicts, years. When asked whether he has b

As time goes on,hebecomes, unconsciously backtoChinafor avisit,hemay mix g

perhaps, moreof asharerinthe racial colo- humor with pity in replying: I have

ny, developing a mode of living which is deed sent letters home several times

totally characteristic neither of his home have never sent myperson "

nor

of the

dominant group. That

is why

The second category

of

the nondepart

so many sojourners do not take the trip, cases^which constitute only a small

particularly among the migrant groups. A tion of the Chinese are those whoh

study of the large congregation of aged their wives andchildren with them in

personsinChinatown revealsaninteresting country. The return trip in such cases

angleofthe situation which deservesacare- volves theattitudes of different memb

ful analysis in detail in another paper. From

of the

family; particularly, there

are

a sample of individual caseswefind, first, problems of the second generation. Ot

men whocould never save enough money factors, such as economic difficulties, b

to take

the

trip. The main reason

is

largely ness commitments, political unrest,

due to personal disorganization as a result may prevent departure. However, the m

of gambling, prostitution, or drug addiction, fact that one has never made his ret

Others

had

large sums

of

money once

or

trip

is by no

means proof that

he is n

twice in their lives but were forced to sojourner. He is, in fact, very much

stay onbecauseof immigration difficulties, sameas hiscountrymenwho domake

These are the men whoreside inAmerica trips. Although he must forego the sa

lllegally, and, even if they had money faction of a homeland reunion such a

enoughtotakeatrip home, they would not more fortunate countrymen and frie

do

so

unless their economic security could have enjoyed,

yet the

return

to the

ra

be assured.

One of the

ways

to

play safe colony

for

retirement

is to

some degre

would be to secure a return permit from substitute for a home away from ho

Yr ^ r f T y ^ o t h e o W p o o r a n d s ic k s e e k re f u g e i n

been no immigration provisiontoadjust the ^ ^ ^

^l

'^J ' ^' ^^ ' '

status of most of the illegal entry cases ,

"Jf^^,

interracial marriages ret

until recently.i These, together with other ^^^"^"^"y

^^

^ eracial colony. Thesa

personal problems, often causethe sojourn-

^^^"^^*"'

doubt although in diffe

er

to

stay

on for

twenty, thirty, forty,

or

*^g'' c^ is developed among other eth

more years without taking a single trip back g''"Ps: "The world at largewascold


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THE SOJOURNER 4

Another situation connected with this q uite gotten over the freedom of comin

problem of homeland tie is the phenome- and going. ^

non of mass migration due to war and po- Being a potential wanderer, the sojourne

litical persecution, which often resulted in is a skeptic on the subject of homeowne

such disturbed conditions at home that re- ship. If he does own real estate, he tend

turn became impossible. Under such cir- to think of it as a business proposition, an

cumstances people perhaps arrive at a new he does not suffer a sense of loss when h

orientation and adjustment. The political sells it. His furniture tends to be eithe

refugees, the White Russians, the German such as he can dispose of without too muc

Jews, and the so-called "displaced persons," sacrifice or things he has treasured an

for instance, moved into a developed coun- would like to keep wherever and wheneve

try and became its minorities. In a report he moves. If he secures any valuables, the

on recent imm igration from Europe to the are likely to be portable objects.

United States, Professor Davie states that

among the i,6oo recent political refugees,

METHODOLOGICAL NOTE

96.5 per cent replied that they would re- Th e concept of "sojourner" develope

main in this country and only 3.5 per cent from my unsuccessful effort, about ten year

of them indicated that they would return ago, to analyze materials gathered w hen

to their respective countries when the situ- employing the concept "marginal man."i

ation permitted them to do s o ." It is sig- No ne of the Chinese laundrymen I studied

nificant to note, however, that in this small could be considered as a marginal man

proportion there are many professional Conseq uently it became necessary to look

people and also people from countries where at the subject matter differently. After a

the political system has not been so radical- few years of pondering over both Chines

ly uprooted. and non-Chinese materials, I was convinced

This is the place to raise the question that he should be treated as a deviant type

whether the state of Israel is the work of from the concept of the stranger which

the sojourner. Here is perhaps a unique Simmel described with such peculiar insight

example of the fact that a people can main- I was also inspired by Stoneq uist, who

tain a cultural heritage in the ghetto and stated that "some of the members of the

return to the place where it originated two subordinate or m inority group are able to

thousand years afterward without feeling ^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ôw" culture, or at leas

strange. The Jews have been sojourners for ^

^ ^ ^^^^

sufficiently not to be greatly

centuries. The soda l solidarity of the ghetto ^^^ûrbed by the culture of the dominant

as well as international political change, gô"P-'"'. The term "sojourner," however

p e r h a p s , m a d e the m o v e m e n t p o s s ib l e . T^ rr V^T t PV "" T T t ^

M^rn^

T>i u * V r *"g Glick's "T he Ch inese M igrant in H a-

Marco Polo, whose traveling was famous ^ ^ j j , since he used the terms sojourner's

both at home and abroad, returned finally attitu de s and settler's attitudes.' '^^

to Italy after niany years in the court of Th e sojourner seems to be prim arily a

La thay as a sojourner. Th e sojourner may social type of the urba n com munity. In the

make several trips back and forth, he may folk society the sojourner prob ably tend s

make only one trip , or he may not make to be more isolated in priv ate life bu t more


11/12

44 TH E AMER ICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

active and more influential. T he more it is At the presen t time our knowledge

a folk grou p, however, the more difficult i t social types resu lting from race an d cult

is for the sojourner to live in it. One of the con tacts is only fragmentary , and th ere a

mo st interesting projects on this general large areas unexplored. T o achieve a s

problem would be a stu dy of the activities tem atic knowledge of the typ e, one of

of the sojourner in the folk society in com- best w ays is thro ugh com para tive stud

parison with his behavior in the urb an com- of the typ es of situation . Race an d eth

m un ity. Studies of different minority groups differences an d conflicts are ty pes of so d

within a given society in comp arison with bond related to the grow th of personal

a particu lar m inority group in different and institution s.

coun tries would be promising. Co mparative Pro bab ly ano ther angle of this proble

studies of this sort w ould put the research Js ano ther type which has arisen in times

sociologists in a strategic position to sys- mass migration, when people have mov

tem atize their knowledge of the social types into new territories as a result of m ilita

th at results from race an d culture contacts invasion and colonial expansion. Th ere

and confficts. newcomers become the dom inant grou p, p

Sociologists generally agree th at the first- utically if not cu lturally . T he building

genera tion im m igrants, occidental as well empires an d mass em igration seem to c

as orien tal, would not be completely assimi- ate anoth er typ e of stran ger the settl

lated any wa y. I t is, therefore, a question jj g nioves to a cou ntry where there is, m

of the degree of assimilation or isolation Q J. jgss, a frontier and where the nat

amo ng a whole range of individual cases have had their own cultu re bu t not an

which, although different from one another ^jjing th a t we m ay call civilization . At

in detail, yet are similar to one ano ther in beginning the social process seems to

general cha racteristics. Ev entu ally, we have pred om inantly the p henom ena of conf

to consider the borderline cases which are an d accom mo dation. Between the ne

neither typically sojourner nor typically comers and the natives an d amon g gro

marginal nian. I t will be necessary to stud y of newcomers, the intergro up relation wo

the similarities and differences between the even tually bring some sort of un ity throu

two typ es, using the concepts as extreme a long process of acc ultura tion. Tho se w

poles, and to classify them categorically ^^^ the pioneers were the settiers.

and inquire into the situation in which the ^^^^^^ ^as no problem of assimilatio

variation derived. seems tha t in terms of conflict and acco

I t seems th at, m dealing with the pro b- , ,. ., .., u J c J

1 * 1

*

^ u X 1 1 ~^, ^. modation the settler may be defined

lem of social typ e, the typological techn ique i i rm.

should be more profitable L d promising ^^S'^} .= ^- T he sojourner on

than any other method. As Burgess states: * ^ ' ^ ^' ' = * y * product of m

migration but rather a member of a

The method of typology has proved partic- no rity group whose cu ltural heritag e is s

ularly appropriate for the collection, classifi- jec ted to eith er sodal isolation or assi

cation, and analysis of cases. It is, in fact, a Jation

large part of the case-study method so far as

it consists in grouping cases under a given class BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

or classes and then developing a new class for Ernest W. Burgess, Sociological Rese

any negative case, i.e., one that does not fall Methods, American Journal of Sodohgy


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