Reaping What You Sow: Immigration, Youth, and Reactive Ethnicity

Abstract

Applied Developmental Science 22, 2 (2008): 1-4. Special Issue on “Civic Engagement in Immigrants.” Reaping What You Sew: Immigration, Youth, and Reactive Ethnicity Ruben G. Rumbaut E very day we are reminded of—indeed, we are surrounded by—the myriad ways in which the United States remains a “permanently unfinished” society, a global sponge remarkable in its continuing capacity to absorb millions of people of all classes and cultures from every continent on earth. There are today nearly 40 million foreign-born persons in the U.S.—of whom 12 million are estimated to be undocumented, most from Mexico and Central America—and another 30 million of foreign-parentage. This immigrant-stock population, the largest ever, is a youthful one—and today’s U.S.-born second generation, with a median age of 12, is poised to explode into adulthood in the coming 10 to 20 years. They are “coming of age” in an aging society undergoing profound social and economic transformations, all of which will have, inevitably, political ramifications. A great deal of how tomorrow’s social contract between natives and newcomers is worked out, and how the commitment to democratic values of equity and inclusion is met, will hinge on the mode of political incorporation and civic engagement of newcomer youth today (Tienda 2002; Tienda and Mitchell, 2006). The essays in this issue provide a glimpse of the possibilities. Table 1 sketches a profile of basic characteristics of young adults 18 to 34 in the U.S., of whom there were 67 million in 2006. “Non-Hispanic whites” and “blacks” are overwhelmingly long-term natives (nearly 90%), whereas 95% of “Asian” and 80% of “Hispanic” nationalities are of foreign birth or parentage. The newcomers in turn are situated at the polar ends of the opportunity structure. Educational and related inequalities between whites and blacks seem narrow compared to the gulf that separates Asians (at the top of the educational hierarchy, with more than 60% having college or advanced degrees) from Hispanics (at the bottom, with 40% of young adult males having less than a high school diploma). The latter, however, are half as likely as young black men to be jobless, and much less likely to be incarcerated. In these widely varying contexts of social inequality, the way young newcomers come to define themselves is significant, revealing much about their social attachments (and detachments) as well as how and where they perceive themselves to “fit” in the society of which they are its newest members. Self- identities and ethnic loyalties can often influence long-term patterns of behavior and outlook as well as intergroup relations, with potential long-term political implications. And the decisive turning point for change in ethnic and national self-identities can be expected to take place in the second, not in the first generation. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1878106