Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration

Abstract

"We argue that assimilation theory has not lost its utility for the study of contemporary immigration to the United States. In making our case, we review critically the canonical account of assimilation provided by Milton Gordon and others; we refer to Shibutani and Kwan's theory of ethnic stratification to suggest some directions to take in reformulating assimilation theory. We also examine some of the arguments frequently made to distinguish between the earlier mass immigration of Europeans and the immigration of the contemporary era and find them to be inconclusive. Finally, we sift through some of the evidence about the socioeconomic and residential assimilation of recent immigrant groups. Though the record is clearly mixed, we find evidence consistent with the view that assimilation is taking place, albeit unevenly."

Contextual Influences on Ethnic Identity Formation: A Case Study of Second-Generation Korean Americans Baby Boomers in Midlife

“…Historically, race marked Asians as racial foreigners despite American citizenship. Assimilation and inter-racial marriages with Whites did not result in acceptance into the mainstream for Asian Americans (as it did for European Americans) because of their persistent image as racial foreigners (Alba and Nee 1997). On the other hand, assimilation undermined Asian Americans' ability to be accepted into their own co-ethnic communities as they were perceived to be cultural foreigners.…”

“…However, due to variability in contexts, assimilation is not experienced uniformly between peoples and across time. The classic assimilation model explains the European immigrants' (circa 1850-1913) adaptation to their new lives in America and incorporation into the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant middle class (Alba and Nee 1997;Gordon 1964). Race plays a significant role in the ease of assimilating into the White mainstream, whereby European immigrants experience higher degrees of acceptance.…”

Vancouver’s newest Chinese diaspora: settlers or “immigrant prisoners”?

“…The greatest challenge is employment; it is very difficult to get a job. Such a curve would reflect the influence of length of settlement on an immigrant's adjustment, as assumed in traditional theories of immigration (Gordon 1964;Alba 1997). The PRC immigrants would then be no different from conventional immigrant settlers who face all the concomitant struggles of settlement during the first few years but adapt to the ''receiving'' country over time.…”

Across the Pacific: Transnational Context in the Japanese Plantation Workers’ Cemetery in Pāhala, Hawai’i

“…Gordon's understanding of discrimination and its impact on immigrant lives has been followed by various recent researchers focusing on immigrant assimilation (Alba and Nee 1997;Gjerde 1999, p. 49;Mahler 1998, p. 85;Neckerman et al 1999, p. 964;Zhou 1997, p. 981). Over the past few decades, however, many researchers have rejected assimilation theory in favor of what Gans (1997) has termed ethnic retentionism, due to increased levels of immigration and the collapse of the Soviet Union and former colonial empires (Addis 1997, pp.…”