The transplanted then and now: The reorientation of immigration studies from the Chicago School to the new social history¹

This article argues that assimilationist theory (seen as a specific instance of process theory) had a profound impact on immigration studies in the United States from the 1920s into the 1960s, but that this mode of conceptualization has been subsequently challenged theoretically by developments in social history. Specifically, exegetical evidence is offered for viewing the challenge as hinging on a reconceptualization of the meaning of culture and the role of social actors in creating their own history. The case is made by examining in depth two exemplars of immigration research published in different time‐periods: for the assimilationist model, W. I. Thomas et al.’s Old World Traits Transplanted, and from the new social history, John Bodnar's The Transplanted. To illustrate the impact of assimilationist thought on scholarship for nearly a half century, analyses are provided of a select number of ‘classic’ studies written between the respective appearances of the two aforementioned books.