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and their memory of the old home is still fresh. Even as successive generations integrate, they inherit something from the old group identity
I wonder if there’s a bit of the group memory of old grievances that caused mass emigration: poverty, starvation and land theft foster this identity. Do Americans who’s ancestors left relatively stable parts of mainland Europe bitd identify in the same way? The American equivalent of wanting to be working class?
underuser53929-
Maybe. But there are no English Americans for very different and obvious reasons. German Americans used to have a strong identity but that quietened for other (also obvious) reasons. Before the world wars, German Americans were a prominent group despite having to be a bit cautious because their ancestors mostly fought for the British crown in 1776.
One German American 1st generation immigrant I know decided to adopt Scottish identity. I know German Americans in Minnesota but they don't make a thing of the German bit.
itsbruce
America's history is very short. If you want more than that to boost your sense of identity, the "home country" adds some.
Also, there's the fact that it's such a varied range of origins the immigrants came from, making the American identity both broad and conformist, so having an ethnic/national identity that's more sharply defined is attractive to a lot of people.
More simply, the first generations of immigrants from place X stick together to help each other and their memory of the old home is still fresh. Even as successive generations integrate, they inherit something from the old group identity.
For all its flaws, the U.S. has more tolerance of immigrants who preserve a sense of ties to their old country than Britain does.