Patterns of Participation in Informal Social Activities among Chinese Immigrants in Toronto

Abstract

This study addresses two questions. First, among the three major perspectives on integration (i.e., zero‐sum, pluralist, and selective integration) suggested in the literature, which is the dominant pattern of the participation level in informal social activities in the ethnic community and in the wider society among new immigrant groups? Second, how well do the factors suggested by these three perspectives explain these patterns? Based on recently collected data about Chinese immigrants in Toronto, Canada, the analyses suggest that nearly half the respondents claim a low level of social participation. Among those who do participate, the pluralist integration pattern is the dominant pattern of participation in informal social activities among today's Chinese immigrants. Though the analysis shows the consistent effect of human capital resources on the pluralist integration patterns, there is no significant effect of either human capital resources or duration in the country on the zero‐sum and selective patterns. Implications of the results are discussed.

Immigrants in the Labour Market: Transnationalism and Segmentation

“…2002). Whether ethnic entrepreneurs in destination countries, such as the Canada, Israel and USA, hire workers from their own ethnic community or from other immigrant groups, or act as ‘middle men’ liaisons between ethnic economies and wider society (Bonacich 1973; Portes and Sensenbrenner 1993), they often take advantage of the vulnerability of their workforce and offer few possibilities for language development, skill improvement and upward mobility (Bonacich 1993; Fong and Ooka 2002, 2006; Mesch 2002; Remmenick 2007). Although foreign‐born workers apply their cultural capital in the ethic economy, they remain separated from the mainstream economy.…”

Changes in immigrants’ social integration during the stay in the host country: The case of non-western immigrants in the Netherlands

“…The majority of studies on social integration have focused on ethnic intermarriages (Fu, 2001;Hwang et al, 1997;Kalmijn, 1998;Kalmijn and van Tubergen, 2006;Kulczycki and Lobo, 2002;Lievens, 1998;Qian et al, 2001;Rosenfeld, 2002;Van Tubergen and Maas, 2007). The remaining work in this field has examined weaker ties between ethnic groups, such as friendships or casual contacts (Dagevos et al, 2005;Emerson et al, 2002;Fong and Isajiw, 2000;Fong and Ooka, 2006;Quillian and Campbell, 2003;Sigelman et al, 1996;Weijters and Scheepers, 2003).…”

“…While most of the studies on social integration have been conducted in classical immigration countries, such as the US (Hwang and Saenz, 1990;Joyner and Kao, 2005;Kulczycki and Lobo, 2002;Quillian and Campbell, 2003;Rosenfeld, 2002;Sigelman et al, 1996) and Canada (Fong and Isajiw, 2000;Fong and Ooka, 2006;Tzeng, 2000), less is known about immigrants in Europe. This study focuses on the Netherlands, which has become an immigration country quite recently.…”

Social networks and immigration stress among first‐generation Mandarin‐speaking Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles

“…Additionally, we noticed that participation in multiple associations was rare among our respondents, possibly because Chinese immigrants rely mainly on family during their initial time in the USA. Similarly, low levels of social participation were also reported among Chinese immigrants in Toronto (Fong & Ooka, ).…”