Ethnic groups
An ethnic group is often broadly defined as a group of people who share
certain background characteristics such as
-Common ancestry
-Geographical origin
-Language
-Religion
-Culture
-Often: living as a minority group in a larger society or "host culture"
Ethnicity provides a distinct identity [sense of belonging] as seen by
members of the group - as well as by others.
Defining ethnicity is also messy
- Membership is often involuntary - but identification is fluid
[remember the difference between ascribed and asserted race]
- Different ethnic groups base identity on different traits: religion,
national origin, language, various elements of culture.
- Distinguishing between race and ethnicity isn't always clear.
Modes of immigrant integration
Acculturation: an ethnic group adopts enough of the host society's
norms, behaviors, attitudes to be able to function economically and
socially
Assimilation: blending with the host culture;
"decline of ethnic distinction" [Alba and Nee 2003]
intermarriage often used to measure assimilation
Segmented assimilation:
adoption of host culture is dependent on
migrant resources before arrival and the local context of
reception!
the context into which migrants relocate.
What is an ethnic enclave?
A geographically defined space with characteristic cultural identity and economic activity.
Examples: Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Havana, etc.
"Urban neighborhoods in which immigrant groups or ethnic minorities are residentially concentrated."
-> no longer limited to urban spaces
What is an ethnic enclave? Part II
Some forms of residential segregation arise from "community" building of shared traits, religious, linguistic..
Some cases this happens because they want it to. PREFERENCES
Other times its due to political forces and economic structure. DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION.
See Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe
Why might some ethnic enclaves be "protective and advantageous?
- capital for new migrants employment & residence opportunities
- some protection from daily discrimination
- language skills valuable
- maintains culture for the second generation
- political mobilization
Much evidence that residence
in an enclave has positive
implications for health status
One study shows that ethnic enclaves may prevent depression.
Why might ethnic enclaves have negative consequences?
- social isolation
- potentially constrained opportunities for economic mobility
The spatial assimilation hypothesis
Spatial assimilation theory is fundamentally about flows
- of longer-term migrants and their families out of ethnic "enclaves"
- of newer migrants into ethnic enclaves from sending countries.
Individual aspirations require spatial assimilation aka economic mobility
Stocks: # of immigrants in a population at a given point in time [snapshot]
Flow: # of people moving between two populations over a defined period
Challenges to the application of spatial assimilation theory
1] people may experience assimilation in other aspects of life [language, marriage] and become economically mobile but CHOOSE to live in segregated communities
2] spatial dispersion may not actually represent "assimilation"
"Ethnic community": third type of segregated community
- operates differently than spatial assimilation theory suggests
- characterized by few foreign-born residents, high concentration of ethic minority residents, low levels of poverty. Upward economic mobility observed
- Increasingly common residential pattern for Chinese-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans
Does the pattern of dispersion of immigrants
-appears to be driven by new migrants, not migrants who
have resided in the U.S. for a length of time
-Reading by Massey and colleagues [2008] points to an
alternative explanation.
4 possible causes of this dispersal
- IRCA [1986] - too late
- Proposition 187 - other pop. no mex. not affected
- Changing labor demand [other pop not affected]
- Border enforcement
Conclusion
Returning to the spatial assimilation hypothesis:
"As immigrants and their children become more like native
Americans, their
patterns of spatial mobility will become
more similar to those of the rest of the population"
Conclude:
-spatial assimilation may be important for economic
mobility, though decreasingly so over time as "ethnic
communities" increase in prevalence
-Evidence of spatial dispersal among the U.S. migrant
population is not necessarily indicative of assimilation or
economic mobility: could result instead from structural
pressure, like border militarization.