ABSTRACT
In the postwar period, cultural pluralism became the dominant view of American society, underscoring the enduring importance of groups like the Poles in national life. The most pervasive attack against Polish-Americans, and the one that perhaps most undermined their ethnic identity, was the notorious "Polish joke." In the 1960s and into the early 1970s, the defensive efforts of Polish-Americans grouped around three themes. First, they tried to tackle the worrisome problem of intergroup relations. The second theme in the Polish-Americans' campaign to defend themselves featured assorted attempts to build a more positive self-image in Polish-Americans. The third prong of the Polish-Americans' defensive campaign was an attempt to wipe out anti-Polish defamation. Since the 1970s, Polish-Americans have made great strides in the social status they enjoy as a group located in the larger American society. Polish-Americans' new ethnicity—their revived ethnic identity—would survive as long as it was useful to members of the group.
