William Haller

Assimilation and Transnationalism: Determinants of Transnational Political Action among Contemporary Migrants1

This article presents evidence of the scale, relative intensity, and social determinants of immigrants’ transnational political engagement. It demonstrates that a stable and significant transnational field of political action connecting immigrants with their polities of origin does indeed exist. The results help temper celebratory images of the extent and effects of transnational engagement provided by some scholars. The article shows that migrants’ habitual transnational political engagement is far from being as extensive, socially unbounded, “deterritorialized,” and liberatory as previously argued. Transnational political action, then, is regularly undertaken by a small minority, is socially bounded across national borders, occurs in quite specific territorial jurisdictions, and appears to reproduce preexisting power asymmetries. The potential of transnationalism for transforming such asymmetries within and across countries has yet to be determined.

TRANSNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURS: AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF IMMIGRANT ECONOMIC ADAPTATION

The recent literature on immigrant transnationalism points to an alternative form of economic adaptation of foreign minorities in advanced societies that is based on the mobilization of their cross-country social networks. Case studies have noted the phenomenons potential significance for immigrant integration into receiving countries and for the economic development in countries of origin. Despite their suggestive character, these studies consistently sample on the dependent variable (transnationalism), failing to establish the empirical existence of these activities beyond a few descriptive examples and their possible determinants. These issues are addressed using a survey designed explicitly for this purpose and conducted among selected Latin immigrant groups in the United States. Although immigrant transnationalism has received little attention in the mainstream sociological literature so far, it has the potential of altering the character of the new ethnic communities spawned by contemporary immigration. The empirical existence of transnationalism is examined on the basis of discriminant functions of migrant characteristics, and the relative probabilities of engaging in these kinds of activities is established based on hypotheses drawn from the literature. Implications for the sociology of immigration as well as for broader sociological theories of the economy are discussed. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Segmented assimilation on the ground : The new second generation in early adulthood

Abstract We review the literature on segmented assimilation and alternative theoretical models on the adaptation of the second generation ; summarize the theoretical framework developed in the course of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study [CILS]; and present evidence from its third survey in South Florida bearing on alternative hypotheses. We find that the majority of second-generation youths are moving ahead educationally and occupationally, but that a significant minority is being left behind. The latter group is not distributed randomly across nationalities, but corresponds closely to predictions based on immigrant parents’ human capital, family type, and modes of incorporation. While it is clear that members of the second generation , whether successful or unsuccessful will assimilate – in the sense of learning English and American culture – it makes a great deal of difference whether they do so by joining the mainstream middle-class or the marginalized, and largely racialized, population at the bottom. Narratives drawn from the ethnographic module accompanying the survey put into perspective quantitative results and highlight the realities of segmented assimilation as it takes place today in U.S. society.

The Adaptation of the Immigrant Second Generation in America: Theoretical Overview and Recent Evidence

This paper summarises a research programme on the new immigrant second generation initiated in the early 1990s and completed in 2006. The four field waves of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) are described and the main theoretical models emerging from it are presented and graphically summarised. After considering critical views of this theory, we present the most recent results from this longitudinal research programme in the form of quantitative models predicting downward assimilation in early adulthood and qualitative interviews identifying ways for the disadvantaged children of immigrants to escape it. Quantitative results strongly support the predicted effects of exogenous variables identified by segmented assimilation theory and identify the intervening factors during adolescence that mediate their influence on adult outcomes. Qualitative evidence gathered during the last stage of the study points to three factors that can lead to exceptional educational achievement among disadvantaged youths, and which indicate the positive influence of selective acculturation. Finally, the implications of these findings for theory and policy are discussed.

Dreams Fulfilled, Dreams Shattered: Determinants of Segmented Assimilation in the Second Generation

We summarize prior theories on the adaptation process of the contemporary immigrant second generation as a prelude to presenting additive and interactive models showing the impact of family variables, school contexts and academic outcomes on the process. For this purpose, we regress indicators of educational and occupational achievement in early adulthood on predictors measured three and six years earlier. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, used for the analysis, allows us to establish a clear temporal order among exogenous predictors and the two dependent variables. We also construct a Downward Assimilation Index, based on six indicators and regress it on the same set of predictors. Results confirm a pattern of segmented assimilation in the second generation, with a significant proportion of the sample experiencing downward assimilation. Predictors of the latter are the obverse of those of educational and occupational achievement. Significant interaction effects emerge between these predictors and early school contexts, defined by different class and racial compositions. Implications of these results for theory and policy are examined.

The transnational dimensions of identity formation: Adult children of immigrants in Miami

Abstract This article draws on the insights of research on transnational migration to reconsider the process of identity formation among children of immigrants and the patterns of acculturation associated with different trajectories of segmented assimilation. Extending the research on segmented assimilation and identity formation among children of immigrants in early adulthood, the article uses the third wave of the Miami CILS sample to examine the relationship between segmented assimilation outcomes, nationality, and behaviours and attitudes associated with transnationalism. Key findings include evidence associating selective acculturation with greater transnational involvement, but also some limited evidence of downward assimilation associated with higher rates of sending remittances among some nationalities. Rather than contradicting each other, these findings suggest a diversity of transnational patterns that are both stratified by class and contoured by nationality and ethnicity. We conclude by outlining some of the questionnaire items and aspects of research design we would like to see implemented in future studies of transnationalism and its relationship with segmented assimilation.

Moving Ahead in Madrid: Aspirations and Expectations in the Spanish Second Generation

This paper examines determinants of aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants based on a statistically representative sample of 3,375 second generation youths interviewed in 101 public and private secondary schools in metropolitan Madrid. We review the past literature on status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations, in particular, and draw from it a set of six hypotheses to guide the analysis. Most theoretical statements in this field have been developed on the basis of U.S. data; studies in other immigrant-receiving countries, especially outside the Anglophone world, have been scarce. The study thus provides an opportunity to test and refine existing hypotheses in a different national context. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and type of school attended. This is followed by multivariate regressions of all four dependent variables on these three plus other predictors suggested by the research literature. This analysis ends with structural equation models – recursive and non-recursive – that provide an integrated theoretical statement of the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. Implications of our findings for theory and policy are examined. Suggestions for future research in this field are discussed.

The cosmopolitan—local continuum in cross-national perspective

This article examines whether the cosmopolitan—local continuum is present among advanced industrialized world regions. Strictly comparable factor analyses show that its nation-based and place-based variants are observable across world regions. Results indicate that, from 1995 to 2003 among the regions analyzed, place-based localism is declining everywhere. This finding suggests that globalization’s effects on personal lives are consequential in terms of decreasing people’s attachments to their traditional locales. From 1995 to 2003 nation-based localism has been increasing in most world regions. This finding suggests that nation-based localism — often under the guise of revamped nationalism — is a reaction to globalization’s effects on personal lives. But unlike the citizens of other advanced industrialized countries, Europeans have been reducing their own attachment to national societies.

Fit to Miss, but Matched to Hatch: Success Factors among the Second Generation's Disadvantaged in South Florida

This article examines the elements of successful outcomes among disadvantaged members of the South Florida immigrant communities and assesses the utility of rational choice theory and the Wisconsin model. The findings are derived from ethnographic interviews and analysis of two of the most underprivileged South Florida districts, Little Haiti and Hialeah. The article builds upon the elements of success as identified in the lead article of this volume, which include items relevant to the family, the individual, and the broader community context. The authors add the following to those success factors: (1) ignorance (or disregard) of the barriers to success and the odds against overcoming them; (2) emotionally motivated responses to the surrounding social conditions or to specific (cathartic) events; and (3) exiting underprivileged neighborhoods of origin to facilitate access to resources, mainly educational.

Industrial Restructuring and Urban Change in the Pittsburgh Region: Developmental, Ecological, and Socioeconomic Trade-offs

This article traces the steel industrys restructuring during the 1980s and its consequences for older industrial regions tied historically to steel production. These regions contained large working- class communities that declined because of deindustrialization and restructuring. This article first examines the transition of the steel industry from its roots in extractive and primary manufacturing to a scrap-recycling industry that minimizes labor and raw material inputs. This transition parallels the structural changes in other industries addressed by political economic perspectives, such as the new international division of labor and globalization of production. The article then focuses on the socioeconomic and structural changes, using the Pittsburgh region as an example, including the employment and land-use consequences of deindustrialization and the relationship between losses in manufacturing employment and increases in persistent joblessness and poverty associated with growth of the urban underclass.