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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.^^It ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^Am ericans was
^^^
^^^
^ ^^^^^
^^em
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^^e; 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 ? ^ewYork) 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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8
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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4
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
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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 ^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ow" culture, or at leas
strange. The Jews have been sojourners for ^
^ ^ ^^^^
sufficiently not to be greatly
centuries. The soda l solidarity of the ghetto ^^^^urbed by the culture of the dominant
as well as international political change, g^o"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
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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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