Jennifer Tapp

Hansen’s Law or Hansen’s Flaw?

While talking to my mother about my immigrant literature class, we got on the topic of immigrant assimilation.  My mom used to teach a multicultural course, and started telling me about how her students always liked discussing Hansen’s Law.  When I asked her what Hansen’s Law was she said it was what I had been referring to as the three generation theory of assimilation. I did not know it had a specific name, so I started to research to learn a bit more. ‘Hansen’s Law’ was supposed to explain the progression for assimilation for immigrants when coming to America, or when immigrating anywhere really.  So I researched a bit about the author of the ‘Law,’ Marcus Hansen, and the specifics of ‘Hansen’s Law.’

Marcus Lee Hansen, born in Neenah, Wisconsin in 1892, was an American historian who is best known for his work on his law of three generations (Hansen), also referred to as Hansen’s Law. Hansen’s Law is based on the hypothesis of ethnicity being preserved among immigrants, followed by a weakening of ethnicity among the immigrant’s children, but with a returning ethnicity by the grandchildren (Dewey).

The first generation is the generation born on foreign soil, raised to another culture and maybe even another language.  Upon moving to another country, the first generation immigrant will seek to maintain “the language and customs of their Old World identity” (Dewey).  Avery is a first-generation American. Avery made the decision to move to a new country and raise a family there.  Although Avery purposefully set out to live a new, and perhaps better, life in America, Avery still clings to the language and customs of the home left behind. When Avery has children, he will teach his children his native language and native culture.

The second generation immigrant is born in the new country.  As a second generation immigrant, the goal is “to assimilate into the American identity [by] deliberately distanc[ing] themselves from the customs and language of the ‘Old World’” (Dewey). Avery’s first born is Bristol, a second-generation American.  Bristol only grudgingly learns the language and customs of Avery’s native country.  Bristol instead attempts to be as American as possible, dressing in American styles, listening to American music and striving to act like every other American around.  Although Bristol works hard to be as American as possible, there is still an influence from Avery. 

The third generation immigrant is the second generation to be born in the new country and is no longer considered an immigrant. The language and social constructs of the new culture have become the dominant language and social constructs of the generation. The third-generation immigrant is fully assimilated into the new culture they live in; however, it is in this third generation when there is attempt to seek to “recover the original ethnic identity” (Dewey). Cameron, as Bristol’s first born, is a third-generation American. Cameron is interested in the culture and language of Avery’s native country and may even begin to incorporate some of those customs into his/her own life.  

This was Marcus Lee Hansen’s law of three generations. After reading all about Hansen’s Law and thinking about it, I believe there is a bit of a flaw in the hypothesis.  While the third generation may be interested in the cultural or linguistic background of the first generation, I am unsure how intensely the third generation would attempt to adopt those customs.  I think it would be far more likely that the third generation would integrate Americanized versions of some of the customs.  I think the third generation would learn about the first generation, and pick and choose the customs which appeal to them, take those customs and alter them to provide a link to their genetic ethnicity without compromising the culture they were raised in. 

For example, I am third generation Irish, I wear a claddagh necklace, make corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s day, and I love just about anything made out of a potato, but I have absolutely no interest in learning Gaelic.  I pick and choose the aspects of my ethnic ancestry I wish to integrate into my very American life, and I adjust the customs to suit me. I wear the necklace, but not to seek or acknowledge a spouse. I cook the meals, but add different spices to change the flavor I have taken the traditions and made them my own, because genetically I’m Irish, but mentally I’m American.  I would have to assume that other third generation immigrants would feel and do the same.

I am not alone in this thought of the limitations of ‘Hansen’s Law.’  Matthew Frye Jacobson, author of the book Roots Too, believes ‘Hansen’s Law’ is “overly simple . . . [and he] contends that the Hansen school overstates the generational change and misses the significance of the ethnic revival”( Barnhill).  Reed Ueda, a published historian and history professor at Tufts University, described “Hansen's law [as] historically bound, a phenomenon of an earlier polity predicated on the assimilation of national identity (491).  Ueda, wrote how immigrant assimilation was predicated as much on political and tactical awareness of society and “not just the personal and psychological escapism noted by Hansen” (489).  Ueda also commented on the idea of regaining ethnic identity as a means of “remediation and the distribution of rights” (491) to some immigrants who felt forced to give up their ethnic identities.  He was specifically discussing the Japanese immigrants in post WWII America, but he intimated that the concept may be true of other groups.

I found a few other articles that kind of criticized Hansen’s Law, but I think for the time period he lived and in a kind of general sense, his “law” is true. If nothing else it led to a greater understanding of the assimilation process and even if that process has changed, in reaction to global events,   it provided a stepping stone for later generations to formulate theories about cultural assimilation. 

Works Cited:

Barnhill, John H. "Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post Civil Rights America." Canadian Journal of History 43.3 (2008): 570+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA196439892&v=2.1&u=txshracd2512&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=0701b844b460ea294dadb231f7691aa5 >.

Dewey, Joseph. "Hansen Effect." Immigration in America. N.p., 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://immigrationinamerica.org/540-hansen-effect.html>.

"Hansen, Marcus Lee." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2013.Encyclopedia.com. 10 June 2014. <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Silverman, William. "Move over, Murphy: some 'laws' of the sociology of religion." Sociology of Religion 54.4 (1993): 421+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA14983099&v=2.1&u=txshracd2512&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=36ac28b7da46fcfb600c0f4249649084 >.

Ueda, Reed. "American National Identity and Race in Immigrant Generations: Reconsidering Hansen's "law"." The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 22.3 (1992): 483-491.JStor. Web. 9 June 2014.