- The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Making of America
- The Impact of Immigration Legislation: 1875 to the Present
- European Migrations
- Asian Immigration
- Latino Immigration
- African American Migration from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women’s Lives
- Protecting America’s Borders and the Undocumented Immigrant Dilemma
- Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Making of American Nationality
- Race and Citizenship
- Assimilation in the Past and Present
- Whiteness and Race
- Race and U.S. Panethnic Formation
- Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American
- Immigration, Medical Regulation, and Eugenics
- The World of the Immigrant Worker
- Neighborhoods, Immigrants, and Ethnic Americans
- Machine Bosses, Reformers, and the Politics of Ethnic and Minority Incorporation
- Immigration, Ethnicity, Race, and Organized Crime
- The Myth of Ethnic Success: Old Wine in New Bottles
- Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980–2010
- Allegiance, Dual Citizenship, and the Ethnic Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
- Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism
- Written Forms of Communication from Immigrant Letters to Instant Messaging
- Ethnicity, Race, and Religion beyond Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Whites
- Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American Film
- Language Retention/Language Shift, “English Only,” and Multilingualism in the United States
- Melting Pots, Salad Bowls, Ethnic Museums, and American Identity
- New Approaches in Teaching Immigration and Ethnic History
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
The notion of assimilation by immigrant groups remains beset by conceptual confusion. An examination of the way that assimilation developed in the American past, especially in the period after World War II, provides a way of cutting through the conceptual fog. Key features of historical assimilation are captured by the definition of the concept in neo-assimilation theory. However, debate over the present-day role of mainstream assimilation has been renewed by the advent of segmented assimilation. Both theories can point to evidence about the second generations issuing from contemporary immigrant groups to support their claims. A mixed picture is also found in the fundamental economic and demographic trends that are prognostic about assimilation.
Keywords: Assimilation, neo-assimilation, segmented assimilation, social boundary, mainstream, non-zero-sum mobility, downward assimilation
Richard Alba, The Graduate Center, CUNY.
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- The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Making of America
- The Impact of Immigration Legislation: 1875 to the Present
- European Migrations
- Asian Immigration
- Latino Immigration
- African American Migration from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women’s Lives
- Protecting America’s Borders and the Undocumented Immigrant Dilemma
- Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Making of American Nationality
- Race and Citizenship
- Assimilation in the Past and Present
- Whiteness and Race
- Race and U.S. Panethnic Formation
- Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American
- Immigration, Medical Regulation, and Eugenics
- The World of the Immigrant Worker
- Neighborhoods, Immigrants, and Ethnic Americans
- Machine Bosses, Reformers, and the Politics of Ethnic and Minority Incorporation
- Immigration, Ethnicity, Race, and Organized Crime
- The Myth of Ethnic Success: Old Wine in New Bottles
- Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980–2010
- Allegiance, Dual Citizenship, and the Ethnic Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
- Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism
- Written Forms of Communication from Immigrant Letters to Instant Messaging
- Ethnicity, Race, and Religion beyond Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Whites
- Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American Film
- Language Retention/Language Shift, “English Only,” and Multilingualism in the United States
- Melting Pots, Salad Bowls, Ethnic Museums, and American Identity
- New Approaches in Teaching Immigration and Ethnic History
- Index