Assimilation Theory Research Articles

Confucius or Mozart? Community Cultural Wealth and Upward Mobility Among Children of Chinese Immigrants

Most studies of Chinese upward mobility focus on how immigrant community institutions sustain ethnic culture to foster educational success. In contrast, I analyze how community-based music schools develop a cultural strategy to guide immigrants to pursue enrollment in prestigious colleges by utilizing high cultural capital in classical music. Chinese immigrant families take advantage of information networks in these schools to develop a bonding form of social capital that allows not only middle-class families but also working-class families to redefine the meaning of ethnicity. This is theoretically surprising, because some theory predicts that middle class status is needed to benefit from such cultural capital. Through competence in Western classical music, Asian students signify their well roundedness, an achievement that goes beyond rote learning. Chinese families pursue this musical cultural strategy to incorporate themselves into mainstream educational institutions. Research on the strategic use of nonoppositional musical culture for educational mobility suggests the limitation of segmented assimilation theory.

Segmented Assimilation, Transnationalism, and Educational Attainment of Brazilian Migrant Children in Japan

The process of international migration has recently become increasingly complex and diverse in many countries. In attempts to understand the complicated conditions for international migration, two important branches of theory have emerged: the segmented assimilation theory and theories of transnationalism. The segmented assimilation theory has emphasized that the trajectories of assimilation depend on the characteristics of the immigrants and the social environments for receiving these immigrants (Portes et al., 2005). The impact of transnationalism on educational attainment among immigrant children must also be considered, because recent technological developments in communication and transportation have enabled migrants to move regularly across borders and maintain their ties with people in the sending community (Tsuda, 2003). However, transnational activities among immigrants have not been conducted outside the local settings of immigrant communities (Itzigsohn and Saucedo, 2002). To understand the conditions for immigrants and their offspring, two important immigration theories must therefore be considered. These theoretical arguments, although useful in understanding immigrants in different settings, have been premised mainly on the experience of immigrants in the US. For instance, the model of downward assimilation in the segmented assimilation theory rests on the unique history of race relations in the US (Boyd, 2002). Widespread poverty and a high incidence of crime have been observed in American inner-city ghettos. While some immigrants in Europe reside in more deprived areas, these places have not been as seriously deprived, in terms of their social problems, as their US counterparts (Thomson and Crul, 2007). Furthermore, the segmented assimilation theory appears to neglect the national context within which immigrant children are accepted (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001). In contrast, research on immigrant children in European countries has revealed that national variations in educational systems can explain differing patterns of integration among immigrant children (Thomson and Crul, 2007). However, little is known about the integration of immigrant children in Asian countries, several of which have recently accepted large numbers of immigrants from other countries (Tsuda, 2006). The research on the educational attainment of immigrant offspring in Japan may contribute to the further development of immigration studies because the national context for the reception of immigrants differs widely between Asian and European countries (Skrentny et al., 2007).

Forecasting simulations of indoor environment using data assimilation via an Ensemble Kalman Filter

Data assimilation is widely used in weather forecasting and other complex forecasting problems such as hydrology, meteorology, and fire dynamics. Among various data assimilation methods, the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) is one of the best solutions to large-scale nonlinear problems while the computational cost is relatively less intense than other forecasting methods. In this paper, a new application of EnKF to forecast indoor contaminant concentrations is presented. The first part of the paper introduces the fundamental theories of data assimilation. The second part is a case study of forecasting the concentrations of a tracer gas in a multi-zone manufactured house by using a mass balance model with an EnKF. The benefits of EnKF and several important parameters for EnKF were discussed including numbers of ensemble members and observations, time step of observations, and forecasting lead time. The EnKF method presented is one of the first studies applied to the indoor environment field. It was shown that by using EnKF, the predictability of the simple indoor air model for the multi-zone space was improved significantly.

Origin of evolutionary change in avian clutch size

Why different bird species lay different numbers of eggs is a question that has long been associated with factors external to the organism, that is, factors which operate on inherited variation in clutch size through the action of natural selection. Yet, while external factors are important, the extent of what is evolutionarily possible rests with the mechanisms developed by birds for clutch-size control. Hitherto neglected, these mechanisms generate factors internal to the organism that are central to the origin of evolutionary change. They are related to the fact that a species-specific range of clutch size arises from the differential survival of pre-ovulatory follicles undergoing growth when the signal causing egg laying to end reaches the ovary. Herein, I examine three internal factors that, together with external factors, could impact the evolution of avian clutch size. Each factor acts by changing either the number of pre-ovulatory follicles present in the ovary at the time of follicular disruption or the timing of this event. These changes to clutch size can be explained by the concept of heterochrony. In light of this, the role of phenotypic plasticity and genes determining clutch size is discussed. Finally, to account for the origin of evolutionary change in clutch size, I detail an hypothesis involving a process similar to Waddington's theory of genetic assimilation.

Smoking Prevalence among Migrants in the US Compared to the US-Born and the Population in Countries of Origin

ObjectivesSmoking among migrants is known to differ from the host population, but migrants’ smoking is rarely ever compared to the prevalence of smoking in their country of origin. The goal of this study is to compare the smoking prevalence among migrants to that of both the US-born population and the countries of origin. Further analyses assess the influence of sex, age at time of entry to the US and education level.MethodsData of 248,726 US-born and migrants from 14 countries were obtained from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) from 2006–2007. Data on 108,653 respondents from the corresponding countries of origin were taken from the World Health Survey (WHS) from 2002–2005.ResultsThe prevalence of smoking among migrants (men: 14.2%, women: 4.1%) was lower than both the US-born group (men: 21.4%, women: 18.1%) and countries of origin (men: 39.4%, women: 11.0%). The gender gap among migrants was smaller than in the countries of origin. Age at time of entry to the US was not related to smoking prevalence for migrants. The risk of smoking for high-educated migrants was closer to their US counterparts.ConclusionsThe smoking prevalence among migrants is consistently lower than both the country of origin levels and the US level. The theory of segmented assimilation is supported by some results of this study, but not all. Other mechanisms that might influence the smoking prevalence among migrants are the ‘healthy migrant effect’ or the stage of the smoking epidemic at the time of migration.

Houston's Emerging Exposure between African Americans and Whites: Evidence of Spatial Assimilation or Place Stratification?

ABSTRACTThe persistent finding of a racial gap in residential attainment between African Americans and whites has led to a critique, which argues that spatial assimilation theory does not explain the residential segregation of African Americans, even though it explains segregation for other groups. That critique is typically based on analyses of cross‐sectional data, which do not take into account demographic context. In this paper, I examine demographically adjusted exposure scores for educational categories of race and ethnic groups in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 2000. I find that starting in 1980 higher status African Americans achieved greater spatial assimilation. My findings suggest that analyses that rely on demographically appropriate measures and trend data indicate that spatial assimilation theory is relevant to changes in the residential mobility of African Americans. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Upwards, outwards and westwards: relocation of ethnic minority groups in the oslo region

Our purpose in this article is to examine socio‐economic and spatial integration of ethnic minorities in the Oslo region. We analyse relocation between 1998 and 2008 for members of ten minority groups along three overlapping dimensions: upwards in the neighbourhood hierarchy, outwards from the inner city to all suburbs, and westwards from a less affluent to a more affluent part of the region. The results provide some limited support for spatial assimilation theory. Two minority groups, Iranians and Vietnamese, comply partly with the theory. Another group, Filipinos, has stagnated in its socio‐economic and spatial integration. The remaining groups do not relocate in accordance with the native pattern, or fail to integrate in socio‐economic terms. The discrepancy between theory and results is most pronounced along the westward axis. We interpret the results in a broader context of regional and national circumstances: spatial assimilation theory may have different utility in different welfare regimes, depending on spatial inequality and the politics of place.

Academic Achievement and Loneliness of Migrant Children in China: School Segregation and Segmented Assimilation

China's rural-urban migration presents a significant educational challenge. This study uses theories of segmented assimilation and school segregation to measure the assimilation and well-being of migrant children who attend either Beijing's public schools or its informal migrant schools. Controling for other factors, we find poorer achievement and greater loneliness among migrant children who are isolated in migrant schools than similar migrant students enrolled in regular urban public schools. We show there is little difference in learning outcome or loneliness between urban native children and migrant children who attend public schools. We further discuss similarities and differences between the experiences of migrant children in China and immigrant children in the United States.

Clashing interpretations of Ponzo’s illusion: reconsideration of assimilation versus tilt-constancy theories1

Prinzmetal criticized the explanation provided by Pressey's assimilation theory of Ponzo's illusion on the basis of an experiment designed to test the theory However, it is demonstrated that their test was faulty because it did not take into account the manner in which a gap between fins and shaft alters Müller-Lyer's illusion. Additional criticisms are shown to be unfounded because implications from assimilation theory were not properly derived. Tilt-constancy theory itself was shown to be inadequate because observations about Holding's illusion, Morinaga's paradox, and a modified Ponzo illusion all contradict the theory.

Fostering Community Among African Migrant Christians in Massachusetts

AbstractThis article examines how social relationships and the feeling of “community” are fostered among African migrant Christians. It draws on data generated from participant observation, direct observation, and semi‐structured interviews as part of a larger ethnographic study of families predominantly from the African Great Lakes Region who attend two born‐again churches located northeast of Boston. Departing from classic assimilation theories of immigrants in the U.S. (e.g., Gordon 1964; Park 1930; Portes and Zhou 1993; Warner and Srole 1945), I contend that psycho‐social well‐being of immigrants is an integral part of integration. Moreover, religion as an institution and as a system of meaning (Alba et al. 2008) serves to promote that well‐being, particularly for the African diaspora, which is a smaller, heterogeneous immigrant group in the U.S. who often have strong religious affiliations. In order to understand this better, I present the characteristics and practices through which intimacy is cultivated (Bielo 2009) to engender the feeling of community and build bonding and bridging social relationships (Dryden‐Peterson 2009) among a more or less heterogeneous group of African migrants. Particularly in the case of bridging social ties, I show how cert,ain distinguishing characteristics that suggest difference are minimized (e.g. country of origin, ethnicity, maternal language, and/or immigrant status), whereas others that suggest similarity (e.g., “African” and “believer”) are maximized. This study demonstrates that religion is crucial in the study of immigration, an intersection that was once an important area of scholarly interest (e.g., Herberg 1955) and has only recently reemerged (Alba et al. 2008).

An Examination of Fourth Graders’ Aesthetic Engagement with Literary Characters

Reader response, simulation, and assimilation theories offer insights to our emotional connections with characters. Findings from a study conducted with avid fourth-grade readers show that when the children feel they are next to the character, they acentrally imagine the narrative and experience sympathy. The children also participate and centrally imagine the narrative from their own or a character's point of view when they feel they are interacting with the characters. Finally, the children identify and empathize with the character as they become that character. These children's experiences highlight the validity and limitations of existing theories and help us understand how we form emotional connections with literary characters and the importance of adopting an aesthetic stance during literary reading.

Balancing stigma and status: racial and class identities among middle-class Haitian youth

This article examines the identity formation of middle-class Haitian youth. Segmented assimilation theory predicts that the Haitian second generation will integrate into the black American underclass or maintain strong ethnic group identities. The black middle class, however, is an unexplored pathway of cultural assimilation. This paper uses the literature on the racial and class experiences of the black American middle class as a departure point for understanding the boundary work of middle-class Haitian youth. Based on qualitative interviews and a focus group, we uncover the mechanisms of identity formation for this invisible population. Racial, ethnic and class boundaries compel Haitian youths to create strategies of either empowerment or distancing. They negotiate between their middle-class status and ethnoracial exclusion in a racially segregated neighbourhood, an ethnically homogenous church and a mixed-race school setting. This study's findings extend our theoretical understandings of middle-class immigrants and their identity work.

The Internal Migration of Immigrants: Differences between One‐Time and Multiple Movers in Spain

ABSTRACTResearch on the mobility and residential patterns of immigrants within receiving countries is abundant. The selective nature of movers and the location of immigrants are issues that have received special attention. Most studies are premised on the supposition that immigrants move only once. However, for a number of immigrants, internal migration is a dynamic process in which more than one movement is involved. This article extends the literature by disaggregating immigrants according to their number of internal migrations. We use data from a new and rich retrospective survey to examine the determinants of migration trajectories and the effects of the location choices of immigrants. We elaborate a set of indicators to assess the importance of the spatial assimilation theory and other main theoretical frameworks. This article concentrates on Spain, a recent main migratory destination in Europe and worldwide. Results reveal the existence of significant differences between one‐time and multiple movers. The selective nature of multiple movers is explained in part by the spatial assimilation paradigm. Further results show that both one‐time and multiple movers tend to reside outside ethnic concentrations as a result of their mobility experience within Spain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Latino School Concentration and Academic Performance among Latino Children

ObjectiveTo examine the effects of the concentration of Latino students in elementary schools on Latino first graders’ test scores, and to determine if the effects vary by children's nativity status.MethodsWe use generalized estimating equations (GEE) on a sample of Latino first graders from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Class of 1998 (ECLS‐K).ResultsFor math and reading, Latino concentration in schools improves students’ first grade test scores for Latino children of immigrants, but it has no effect for Latino children of U.S.‐born parents. For general knowledge test scores, Latino concentration has no effect for children of immigrants and has a deleterious impact on the scores of children of U.S.‐born parents. We also show no effect of Latino concentration on the scores of white children of U.S.‐born parents.ConclusionsThe results suggest that Latino concentration in elementary schools promotes educational outcomes for children from Latino immigrant families, but Latino families headed by U.S.‐born parents do not benefit from coethnic concentration, which is in accordance with expectations derived from assimilation theories.

More like Us: The Effect of Immigrant Generation on College Success in Mathematics

This article investigates the impact of immigrant generation on students’ performance in college calculus courses and examines the extent to which the observed patterns corroborate or contradict various assimilation theories. It goes beyond past studies of the relationship between immigrant generation and mathematics achievement that focused primarily on middle and high school students and typically excluded foreign students. Our principal finding is that foreign students and the 1.25 generation earned the highest grades, on average, even after controlling for race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Our findings provide partial support for the immigrant advantage theory.

Fertility Change among Post-1989 Immigrants to Israel from the Former Soviet Union

Research on the evolution of immigrant fertility patterns has focused on the expected reduction in fertility among immigrants from high fertility, less developed countries who arrive in relatively low-fertility developed societies. The current research considers a different context in which immigrants from the low-fertility Former Soviet Union arrive in a relatively high-fertility setting in Israel. This research context allows us to test various theories of immigrant fertility, which cannot normally be distinguished empirically. Results from Cox multivariate regressions of parity-specific progression do not support assimilation theory, which would predict an increase in fertility following migration, in this context. We interpret the very low fertility rates of the FSU immigrants in Israel, relative to all relevant comparison groups, in terms of the economic uncertainty and hardship experienced during a difficult transition period by immigrants who have high aspirations for social mobility in their destination society.

Changing household dynamics: Children’s American generational resources in street vending markets

This article prompts a re-visioning of segmented assimilation theory by examining the household dynamics and consequences that occur when Latino immigrant children and youth become active contributors to family street vending businesses. Based on participant observation and 20 in-depth interviews with Latino children who work with their immigrant parents as street vendors in Los Angeles, the article demonstrates how adolescent street vendors contribute to household decisions. It is argued that children in street vending families share power in the household because of: (1) their contributions to their family’s income; (2) their involvement in business negotiations and decision-making processes; and (3) their ‘American generational resources,’ which include English language skills, citizenship, and technological and popular culture knowledge, all valued by their parents and useful for the family street vending business.

Decoupling Religion and Ethnicity: Second-Generation Indian American Christians

Classic assimilation theory was based on the assumption of individualistic adaptation, with immigrants and their children expected to shed their ethnic identities to become Americans. In the sphere of religion, however, they could maintain their communitarian traditions through American denominations. In contemporary society, multiculturalism, spiritual seeking, and postdenominationalism have reversed this paradigm. First- and second-generation immigrants integrate by remaining ethnic and group-identified, but religion is viewed as a personal quest. This paper examines how this paradigm shift affects the ethnic and religious behavior of second-generation Americans. It is based on research among Malankara Syrian Christians belonging to an ancient South Indian community.

Children of Mexican Immigrants: Crisis and Opportunity

The Crisis of the Second GenerationA significant proportion of the children of Mexican immigrants are on track to becoming a large, poorly educated, and disadvantaged segment of the U.S. population. According to the U.S. Census, there are over 11 million Mexican-origin youth aged 17 and under, accounting for 15% of all children in this age bracket (Pew, 2010). As this sizable group comes of age and seeks to enter the job market, it will be at a severe disadvantage given its low levels of education and lack of skills, putting it at risk of what immigration scholars are calling (Portes, Fernandez- Kelly, & Haller, 2009). Compared to other major ethnic and racial groups in the United States, Latinos, and Mexican-origin youth in particular, drop out of high school at a higher rate, they have the highest rates of teen pregnancy, and they are more likely to have exposure to gangs. At a time when the labor market increasingly demands workers with at least some college education, only 9% of Mexican Americans hold college degrees, compared to 17% of blacks, 30% of whites, and 50% of Asians.1A landmark study conducted by Alejandro Portes and his collaborators examined the different ways children of recent immigrants adjust and become incorporated into American society. Known as the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), it compared the fates of children of parents from a range of origin countries in Asia and Latin America.2 The study documented levels of education, employment, and earnings, as well as incidents of arrest and incarceration, and found especially stark contrasts between the children of Asian and Mexican immigrant parents (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). With respect to education, the children of Chinese and other Asian immigrants interviewed in Southern California were highly successful in school, and fewer than 10% had failed to pursue postsecondary studies. In contrast, among second-generation Mexicans, close to 40% did not advance beyond high school.3 When the researchers examined encounters with law enforcement, they found that 20% of young Mexican-origin males had experienced incarceration, compared to none of the young Chinese-origin males and fewer than 7% of second-generation Filipino males.4 They argue that this is the strongest evidence to date that downward assimilation is indeed occurring for second-generation Mexicans (Portes, Fernandez-Kelly, & Haller, 2009, p. 1088).ApproachThis article aims to stimulate discussion on new approaches for improving the prospects of Mexican-origin youth by linking theory and practice. The theory in this case is segmented assimilation, as developed and refined by Alejandro Portes et al. over the course of analyzing and reporting the findings from their CILS work (Portes & Zhou, 1993; Portes, Fernandez-Kelly, & Haller, 2009). The practice, on the other hand, concerns specific activities and projects undertaken by Mexican immigrants, primarily by hometown associations. Examples of some of these practices are drawn from the literature, others from the author's own experience with the Mexican immigrant community as a researcher, a volunteer, and as a guest. The article focuses particular attention on the activities of one hometown association, the Los Haro Support Committee, and its efforts on behalf of the second generation. It weighs the group's accomplishments and its shortcomings. It concludes with a proposal for a program that builds on resources from within the Mexican immigrant community itself in order to reverse the tendency toward downward assimilation and put the second generation on a path to positive integration into U.S. society.Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Mexican Immigrant ExperienceDownward assimilation is one of several possible outcomes predicted by the segmented assimilation model put forth by Portes et al. This theory rose as a challenge to the classic model of immigrant assimilation that was dominant until about 20 years ago; it held that the descendants of immigrants, as they set aside strong ethnic traits, will, over time, transition into the mainstream of American society and achieve some degree of upward mobility. …

‘I want to be all I can Irish’: the role of performance and performativity in the construction of ethnicity

Over the past few decades, ethnicity, amongst third generation and beyond descendants of European immigrants in America, is thought to have evolved from a group-oriented protectorate to a more individualized form of identity. ‘Symbolic ethnicity’ is the name given by sociologists, who, working in the 1980s and 1990s within the confines of traditional assimilation theory, thought this to be the final step in that process. More recently, however, research within the social sciences has moved on, not just in how assimilation is considered, but also to newer immigrant and ethnic groups. In this study, I return to the concept of symbolic ethnicity and to those ‘older’ ethnics who, despite the assimilation process, continue to construct and maintain powerful links to an ethnic ancestry and homeland. From my observations of and interviews with dozens of individuals learning the Irish language throughout North America, I attempt to uncover why this connection persists, beginning with the subjective nature of symbolic ethnicity and ending with concepts of performance and performativity. I argue that these Irish not only knowingly construct their ethnic identities, but also unconsciously conform to a discourse of Irishness based on their perception of authenticity and tradition.