Verified Document

Migration To The US Term Paper

Pyong Min's Mass Migration to the United States reviews the vast influx of people from Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Russia and the Caribbean into the United States that has occurred since 1965. The book is a compilation of chapters written by different authors addressing different aspects of this new immigration. These chapters both discuss general issues related to immigration and the concerns of specific ethnicities and cultures that have immigrated. Such topics address the difference between this wave of immigrants and the last, anti-immigration sentiments, and the immigration of Jews and Asians. Particular attention is paid to the difference between the immigration period that began in 1880 and ended in 1930, and that which started in 1965 and continues today. In chapter 1, Charles Jaret explores nativist sentiments that have accompanied the respective waves of immigration. He addresses both the concerns that immigrants will dilute the American way of life and American intelligence. He reaches two conclusions: that recent years "have seen anti-immigration attitudes and behavior undergo some significant realignment, reformulation, and diminution" and that "many of the core beliefs and fears that created and sustained anti-immigrant perspectives in the past are still widely held." (Pg. 21) Certain nativist contentions, such as mental inferiority, were common in the past and only occasionally alluded to today due to sensitivity. However, other reasons for not liking immigrants, such as the spread of disease, he notes are almost identical to similar concerns a century ago. Many ideas posited a century ago reflect concepts of eugenics and race-identity that have since become taboo.

Among the most entertaining passages quoted from nativists is this: "Aryan technology...plus Aryan treason [reason?] made possible what was impossible for these mongrel peoples to accomplish. They, who have never dreamed of steam or jet power, land on our shores daily." (Pg. 26) Other nativists voice concerns that have political relevance, Jaret notes, such as fears that young fundamentalist Muslims will...

This he likens to anti-German sentiment during the teens.
The Changing Face of America: Immigration, Race/Ethnicity, and Social Mobility, Chapter 2 of the book, reviews contemporary immigration and its effects on American society. He contrasts the backgrounds of new immigrants with old immigrants, noting the settlement of new immigrants as being different as well. He also contrasts differences between immigrants from Asia and their less sophisticated Latin American and Russian counterparts. He claims, for example, that the average income of an Indian immigrant family is 48 thousand, whereas average American households pull in 30 thousand and that of a Dominican or former Soviet family is a mere 20 thousand.

The third chapter explores the relationship between immigration and racial conflict. Examples the authors give are conflicts between blacks and Koreans, anti-Mexican riots in the 1940's, and anti-Chinese sentiments in the 1880's. The authors note that "it became clear that there was a growing distinction and debate over which immigrant groups were white and which were not" (Pg. 101) arguing "that ethnic immigration played a pivotal role in organizing and redefining U.S. Racial boundaries."

The fourth chapter reviews structural factors that give contemporary immigrants advantages over the earlier white immigrants in passing down their culture from generation to generation. However; it doesn't mention the primary beneficial effect on American society of such transfers: the culinary tradition of the country.

The fifth chapter, by Dorothee Schneider, focuses on the effect of historical quotas on immigration, and the waning of race and gender restrictions. The author notes that immigrants were denied 'rights' to things such as social programs, Social Security, and mothers' pensions. She fails to draw the connection between these entitlements and any adverse selection in the pool of immigrants that eventually emerged.

The sixth chapter, as a statistical study, was the most interesting in the…

Sources used in this document:
Chapter eight, by Steven Gold, deals with the difference in Jewish migration between the two immigration periods. He is first to note the obvious similarities: many Jews now, as before, come from Russia. Interestingly, he doesn't mention Ukraine, and as the Nazis killed most Jews in the Baltic region, referring to new Jewish immigrants as being from the "former Soviet Union" isn't specific enough. The article mostly focuses on the family structures of immigrant Jews now vs. At the turn of the century. One point that he seems to mischaracterize is the intra-Jewish conflict between German and Russian Jews that has largely been abandoned by the Jewish community. He portrays the German Jews as having helped out their Eastern neighbors, when in fact many disassociated themselves from the newcomers.

The final chapter compares pre and post-1965 Asian immigrant businesses. Here he notes the climb that Asian immigrants made into the middle class. He contrasts Japanese immigrants from the 30's, who were mostly rural peasants and blue collar, with those today, who come from middle class backgrounds as the Koreans do. He describes them as merging with American culture to a greater extent.

All of the essays in the book tend to address immigration exclusively in the context of civil liberties. This presents a poor picture of immigration, as immigration as a right has little basis for appreciation outside libertarian circles. The book also fails to note the waves of immigration from Spanish-speaking countries and the interplay between these cultures. His chapters focus on what we might call 'middle class' immigrants: Asians and Jews, while failing to adequately portray the nature of Latin American, Dominican, and Mexican immigrants. Many differences exist, both culturally and economically, between these ethnicities. The book also fails to review the role of immigrants in the American Southwest. Although the book didn't address the Middle East and concerns about immigration and terrorism, this can be attributed to how recent this became a national issue. However, terrorism and immigration can be seen in a historical context: he could contrast 9/11 and the prior World Trade Center attack with the Haymarket Square riots, Sacco and Vanzetti, Emma Goldman and her New York-based anarchists. Despite these points, the book was well-compiled and provided a good picture of differences in immigration trends.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Migration in the UK Evaluate Claim Migration
Words: 1699 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Migration in the UK Evaluate claim migration positively valued UK-essay Sources:Chapter 4 main source information material Chapter 5 Exploring Social Lives, Milton Keynes, Tne Open University. Illustrate support arguments.. Migration is the process by which humans move physically from one location to another, in order to stay there permanently or semi-permanently. There is voluntary migration where an individual moves at their own will within their own region, country or overseas. Involuntary migration

Migration: A Threat to National
Words: 2995 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

However, eventually people stopped paying much attention to the color of the threat level for that day, and the news media stopped talking about it. Now, it is not discussed at all. Was it effective? Perhaps as a short-term measure, but certainly not as a long-term solution. The government argues that the American people are much safer today, because there have been no more terrorist attacks. However, correlation does

Migration Is a Better Preservation
Words: 1275 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

(Dressler, 2010, paraphrased) Emulation is held in the work of Oltmans and Kol to be "more cost-effective for preserving large collections, despite the relatively high initial cots for developing an emulation device." (Dressler, 2010, p.1) Emulation is contrasted to migration in that migration is applicable to all the objects in a collection respectively, creating high ongoing costs" whereas emulation chaining for the future is likely to detract from this. Emulation

Migration and Globalization Migration Is
Words: 1006 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

According to Schiller this unequal regulation of migration may have a great deal to do with the strength or weakness of transnational networks. The author explains that in most cases people have strong bonds to their homeland and send a portion of their wages back to relatives that are still in their home countries. In addition immigrants from certain countries in Europe such as Italy have strong support systems

Migration - UK the History of Humanity
Words: 2845 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Migration - UK The history of humanity is also the history of migration, according to professor Harzig and colleagues. The original Homo sapiens migrated out of East Africa and spread slowly across the world (Harzig, 2009, 8). Essentially, migration is the cross-border activity that individuals carry out in order to relocate for a number of potential purposes. The five basic aspects of migration are as follows: a) migration "within a cultural

Migration Habits of Humans Migration Is As
Words: 1501 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Migration Habits of Humans Migration is as common a biological factor as exists in the world. Birds are known to migrate over thousands of miles, sometimes even over open ocean, to get back to prime nesting sites. Possibly the longest migration occurs when the leatherback sea turtle migrates from the southern coasts of South America to the frigid northern waters of the Asian Bering Strait. These biological migrations occur yearly, but

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now