From Multiracial Subjects to Multicultural Citizens: Social Stratification and Ethnic and Racial Classification among Children of Immigrants in the United Kingdom (original) (raw)
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This paper examines the situation of children in immigrant families living in the UK through an analysis of 2001 census data according to the country of birth of children and their parents. The foreign-born population in the United Kingdom reached 4.9 million in 2001, representing 8.3% of the total population. Around 2.1 million children (16.3% of all children in the UK) were living in immigrant families. A fifth of these children were born outside the UK with the remainder being born in the UK with at least one foreign-born parent. More than 40% were in families from Asia, around 20% from Africa and around 20% from countries in Europe. Pakistan, India, the Republic of Ireland, Germany and Bangladesh were the main countries of origin. Although there is significant variation in the socio-economic status and living conditions of immigrant families from different regions and countries of origin, it is clear that immigrant children are faring less well overall than their native-born counterparts. Levels of employment are higher among the parents of native-born children despite the fact that parents in immigrant families generally exhibit higher educational attainment levels. Immigrant children are more likely to be living in overcrowded housing that is not owned. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that an ethnicity-focused approach alone is inadequate for addressing the present and future needs of immigrants and their children or in understanding the dynamics of immigrant inclusion and exclusion.
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This paper examines the situation of children in immigrant families living in the UK through an analysis of 2001 census data according to the country of birth of children and their parents. The foreign-born population in the United Kingdom reached 4.9 million in 2001, representing 8.3 per cent of the total population. Around 2.1 million children (16.3 per cent of all children in the UK) were living in immigrant families.
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A longitudinal analysis of second-generation disadvantaged immigrants
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In this paper we consider the relative academic achievement in primary school of second generation immigrant children in the UK. We use data for a cohort born in 1970 and find that children born to South Asian or Afro-Caribbean parents have significantly lower levels of cognitive achievement in both mathematics and language in primary school. We then investigated the progression
Children of Immigrants: A Statistical Profile
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Children of Immigrants in the United States are Growing in Number and Facing Substantial Economic Hardship Recent data from Census 2000 show that the foreign-born population in the United States has increased 57 percent since 1990 to a total of 30 million. In 2000, one out of every five children under the age of 18 in the United States was estimated to have at least one foreign-born parent, and one in four poor children had at least one foreign-born parent.* Empirical evidence on immigration and inequality suggests that many of the more recent immigrants will remain economically disadvantaged throughout their working lives, and this disadvantage may be partly transmitted to their children. In order to develop strategies to address the economic hardship experienced by children of immigrants and their families, it is important to identify the particular demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of this population. As this report-which focuses on children in poverty-demonstrates, firstand second-generation immigrant children are distinct from third-or latergeneration children across a range of characteristics, including parental employment and education, family structure, and race/ethnicity. Most research on poverty among immigrants has focused on families or adults. This report examines the unique position of the children of immigrants in American society.** _______________ * Based on 2001 March Current Population Survey. All succeeding numbers in this report are based on averaged data from the U.S. Census Bureau, March Current Population Surveys (CPS) for the years 1994-2001. ** Three distinct categories of immigrant status are used for this report: first-generation children (ages birth to 18), also referred to as immigrant children, are defined as those born in a foreign country; second-generation children refer to those born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent; and third-or later-generation children are native-born with native-born parents. (Based on categories in Hernandez, D. J., ed. (1999).
2011
and integration does not work well in depicting what takes place on the ground. Instead, several distinct paths of adaptation have been identified, some of which lead upwards as portrayed by the conventional assimilation model; other paths, however, lead in the opposite direction, compounding the spectacle of poverty, drugs, and gangs in the nation's cities. Segmented assimilation is the concept coined to refer to these realities. This alternative model has both charted the main alternative path of contemporary second generation adaptation and identified the main forces at play in that process (A. Portes and Zhou 1992; Zhou and Bankston 1998; A. Portes and Rumbaut 2006). Specifically, three major factors have been identified: the human capital that immigrant parents bring with them, the social context in which they are received in America, and the composition of the immigrant family. Human capital, operationally identified with formal education and occupational skills, translates into competitiveness in the host labor market and the potential for achieving desirable positions in the American hierarchies of status and wealth. The transformation of this potential into reality depends, however, on the context into which immigrants are incorporated. A receptive or at least neutral reception by government authorities, a sympathetic or at least not hostile reception by the native population, and the existence of social networks with well-established coethnics pave the ground for putting to use whatever credentials and skills have been brought from abroad. Conversely, a hostile reception by authorities and the public and a weak or nonexistent coethnic community handicap immigrants and make it difficult for them to translate their human capital into commensurate occupations or to acquire new occupational skills. The mode of incorporation is the concept used in the literature to refer to these tripartite (government/society/community) differences in the contexts that receive newcomers (A. Portes and Rumbaut 2001, chap. 3; Hirschman 2001). Lastly, the structure of the immigrant family has also proved to be highly significant in determining second generation outcomes. Parents who stay together
Group Differences in Educational Attainment Among the Children of Immigrants
Using the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, this article examines the group differences by national origin in university educational attainment among the children of immigrants in Canada. We found that children of immigrant parents in most source region groups achieve higher university completion rates than children of Canadian-born parents, partly due to higher education levels of their parents. Children of Chinese and Indian immigrants particularly attain higher academic achievements than children of Canadian-born parents. Parental education was also important in explaining the relatively low university completion rates among the second-generation Portuguese.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008
Given the long history of racism in the United States, observers have been concerned that labeling the children of immigrants as “nonwhite” could lead to their downward assimilation. The success of at least some members of the contemporary second generation points to another possibility. The institutions and strategies developed by previous waves of immigrants, the struggles for equality by long-standing minorities, and changing attitudes about race have become a source of opportunity and constraint for immigrant children. Drawing from the New York Second Generation Study, the author of this article argues that programs originally intended to address the needs of earlier immigrant waves and those of native minorities, particularly African Americans, have become increasingly multicultural in focus. These programs have broadened their definition of what minority means and have, however unintentionally, come to serve as an aid to incorporation for members of today's second generation.