This study investigated the relationship between different generational and social class groups within the Polish-American community and the salience of ethnicity in each group. One of the largest immigrations to America was that from Poland. By the turn of the century a dispersed and highly mobile Polish-American population was evident in the Los Angeles area. These settlers and the others who followed adopted residential patterns that represented a prototype of the later suburban developments in which ingroup associations had to be maintained across large distances and through new structures and means of communication. The adaptation processes of the Polish-Americans of Los Angeles, therefore, may offer some insights into what is now happening elsewhere as ethnic enclaves give way to the geographical and social fluidity of modern technological society. The critical research problem is the need to examine current and predicted ethnic identity in America, especially as it pertains to Polish-Americans living in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The problem of adverse stereotypes was a related consideration in terms of its impact on group continuity. If Polish identification is associated with low status, the future of the group may be very tenuous, particularly among the younger generations. (Author/JM)