Abstract
America is characterized by sharp socio-economic inequalities that affect patterns of immigrant incorporation. Although a high proportion of immigrants work in jobs that call for high levels of education such as in science and technology, a greater proportion of the foreign-born are represented in the lowest-paying jobs, such as in food production and service sectors. Immigrants also account for a disproportionate number of workers in small business occupations. Yet, while immigrants are heterogenous in economic and social terms, the majority of the foreign-born tend to score lower than citizen residents on most social indicators of well-being, including income, poverty, housing, hunger, and educational attainment. Particular immigrant groups are clustered at the higher and lower social and economic order, along with wide disparity within groups. These disparities challenge the ideals of the U.S. as a multiracial egalitarian democracy. How do we understand these growing unequal patterns of immigrant incorporation? What would more equitable immigrant incorporation look like and how might it be achieved? This paper seeks to address these questions by: (1) identifying structures and mechanisms the produce and reproduce stratified patterns of immigrant incorporation; and (2) advancing a transformative model of immigrant incorporation capable of challenging existing structural inequities and forging greater equity and justice. Given the fact that immigrants and their offspring comprise nearly one in four people in the U.S., and that most immigrants reside in metropolitan areas, understanding patterns of incorporation is theoretically important and a critical public policy issue.
Presenters
Ron HaydukProfessor, Department of Political Science, San Francisco State University, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Migration, Immigrants, Inequality, Structures, Incorporation, Equity, United States
