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Title: Immigrant America: A Portrait by Alejandro Portes, Ruben G. Rumbaut ISBN: 0-520-20765-3 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: January, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Eye opener.
Comment: If you want to know more about the United States and the real stories about the people who build it and live there, this is the book for you. This isn't about the people who came over on the boats in black & white times; it's about the people who are coming here now. It discusses how the land we live in is being sculpted by the immigrants who arrive every day. I think people forget how incredibly diverse the United States is. And people most certainly forget about the challenges and triumphs of the people who come to the U.S. from other lands, and why they came in the first place. The authors clearly describe the stories of the people who make America 'America'.
Rating: 4
Summary: Attributes that enable immigrants to assimilate US culture.
Comment: Immigrant America cites the Immigration Act of 1965 and world politics and economy as reasons for the second wave of immigrants in the twentieth century. The Act encouraged existing immigrants to bring members of their immediate families into the United States outside of government created quotas. Immigrants with "special skills" such as physicians, and professional engineers were given preference. In addition, certain refugees were given some preference. The majority of Immigrants after 1965 came from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean Islands. There was immigration from European countries but in less numbers than in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Immigrants from Asia included refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and opportunity seekers from South Korea and China. Latin American and Caribbean immigrants came for similar reasons.
Assimilation and Acculturation
Portes and Rumbaut frame their discourse around the ability of different ethnic groups to become accepted into American society. Assimilation is the process of responding to new situations in conformity with what already exists in a culture. Acculturation is the cultural modification of people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. It is also defined as a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact. The factors that influence assimilation and acculturation for new Americans include: the policy of the receiving government, conditions of the new country's labor market, and individual characteristics of the immigrant. The ability to use English was found to be of paramount importance in the assimilation process. Unlike other countries that are tolerant and accustomed to multilingual populations, the larger American community insists on the use of the native language of English by immigrants as a requirement for acceptance. In return the United States appears more tolerant of the practice of diverse cultural customs and religions than other counties. Therefore it is imperative that immigrants learn English, preferable unaccented English, for acceptance into the larger community. The authors point out that the assimilation process is hampered by the tendency of new immigrants to live in ethnic conclaves. This tendency is easily understood for the support value of living in a community where people share common language, customs, and history. The ability to transcend the ethnic conclave to mainstream American society is difficult for first generation immigrants. The assimilation and acculturation process is easier for subsequent generations, the rate of which is dependent on language and education. Immigrants who are fluent bilinguals have greater self-esteem and can assimilate more quickly than those who rely on their old language or have an ineffective use of English. Race continues to be a barrier to assimilation since the majority of Americans are of white European ancestry. Again, the mastery of unaccented proper English can ameliorate the discriminating effects of race. The higher than normal, two to three times, suicide rates among immigrants is remarkable and is purportedly related to the level of satisfaction of immigrants in their new situation. The highly educated and skilled immigrants who are unable to work at their chosen profession in the new county are most vulnerable as well as those immigrants who feel isolated from their families left in the old country. The inability to speak English well in the United States further intensifies this sense of isolation and leads to despair. The geographical location of immigrants impacts their rate of assimilation. Immigrants located in urban and rural areas may become acculturated into groups that are outside the main stream. Second generation immigrants attending school with marginalized social groups may adopt habits and values that run counter to the larger society. The generation gap between first and second generation immigrants is so wide that parents are dependent upon their children for clues on how to perform routine activities outside the home such as making purchases and obtaining services. Portes and Rumbaunt classified immigrants into three categories: those who live in ethnic conclaves with limited exposure to the larger society; ethnic middlemen who interface with the larger society as merchants; and sophisticates who by education, occupation, or command of unaccented English have successfully assimilated into mainstream American society.
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Immigrant America makes use of research and statistics performed by the authors themselves, and others. Immigration data from the US Government is frequently analyzed and presented in tabular form and well explained. This work reads easily for non-academics who enjoy a technical and well research look at immigration without getting bogged down in theories and proofs. It would serve well as a supplemental reading for academic course work in American history, sociology, urban affairs, and family studies.
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Title: Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation by Alejandro Portes, Ruben G. Rumbaut ISBN: 0520228480 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 07 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America by Ruben G. Rumbaut, Alejandro Portes ISBN: 0520230124 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 03 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Children of Immigration (The Developing Child) by Carola Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozoc ISBN: 0674008383 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Remaking the American Mainstream : Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration by Richard Alba, Victor Nee ISBN: 067401040X Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Between Two Nations: The Political Predicament of Latinos in New York City by Michael Jones-Correa ISBN: 0801483646 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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