Transnational social spaces exist both 'from above' and, in the case of contemporary immigrants, 'from below'. This article is intended to offer conceptual clarity to current research agendas concerned with transnational immigration in general and the establishment of transnational immigrant communities in particular. It does so by first exploring theoretical developments in the analysis of social space and connecting these developments to the idea of transnational social spaces. It next turns to the topic of transnational immigrant communities within those spaces, suggesting the importance of examining those communities in terms of the rates of circulation between homeland and migratory setting, the production of an institutional structure, and the social horizons of immigrants. This leads to the final section which, in making a case for construing transnationalism and assimilation as potentially complementary, points to the role of the state in either facilitating or inhibiting a politics of multicultural incorporation.
School that he came to appreciate the importance of social theory for making sense of the social issues that are important to him. His major interests revolve around exploring the implications of racial and ethnic groups living in a society that is both capitalist and democratic. His dissertation research, for example, involved a historical excursion into the world created by Finnish American political radicals, which appeared as his first book, Immigrant Socialists in the United States (1984). He coauthored, with Ronald Glassman and William H. Swatos, Jr., For Democracy (1993) and published Multiculturalism in a Global Society (2002). He has recently published a second edition of his brief theory text for Pine Forge titled Key Ideas in Sociology (2004). With Thomas Faist, he is currently working on an edited book on dual citizenship.
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