Dominant Themes and Intergenerational Differences in Ethnicity: The Greek Americans

The purpose of this study is to define the dominant themes of Greek American ethnicity as manifested in northeastern Ohio and to examine the intergenerational differences in this phenomenon. Employment of factor analysis on data collected from six northeastern Ohio Hellenic communities demonstrates that Lingua, Culture, and Politika — language, sociocultural activities, and politics are the three dominant and interrelated themes which define Greek American ethnicity. The utilization of Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), reveals a sharp intergenerational decline in the use of Greek, a less pronounced decrease in the interest in politics, and little variability in participation in sociocultural activities.