Ethnic social capital: Individual and group level sources and their economic consequences

Ethnic social capital shapes economic action by immigrants by providing information, training, and credit that is otherwise unavailable. However, prior research on the effects of ethnic social capital on economic attainment by salaried workers primarily relied on case studies of specific destinations or ethnic groups. Furthermore, prior research focused on group level effects of ethnic social capital while largely ignoring the effects of individual-level utilization of ethnic ties. This study addresses these limitations by combining data from the New Immigrant Survey and the 5% file of the 2000 US Census. This allows controlling for group differences in actual utilization of familial ties and for differences between groups in their demographic makeup, legal status, and human capital when estimating the effect of ethnic social capital. It also allows addressing the potentially divergent implications of ethnic social capital for individual and group economic attainment. Results suggest that, on both the individual and group levels, reliance on ethnic social capital is associated with lower earnings for recent legal immigrants to the US.     

What determines the rejection of immigrants through an integrative model

This study tests different explanations of anti-immigrant attitudes through a model that incorporates aspects of group conflict, social identity and intergroup contact theories. Multigroup structural equation modelling was applied in three surveys, which tracked the same indicators in no similar economic and migratory contexts. In times of economic crisis, the perceived economic threat seems to lead more to discrimination and rejection of immigrants (in line with Group Conflict Theory), while sense of cultural threat is more likely to curb any desire for coexistence with them. Both threats show to be affected by the perceived size of the immigrant population, which increases the feeling of threat in those traditionally favourable to immigration. Other explanatory factors were also corroborated. Increasing contact with immigrants helps to lessen rejection, especially in the case of cultural threat. Effects due to insecurity were less marked and those relating to qualification were contrary to what was hypothesized.     

School ethnic diversity and White students’ civic attitudes in England

The current paper focuses on White British students in lower secondary education and investigates the effect of school ethnic diversity on their levels of trust and inclusive attitudes towards immigrants. Use is made of panel data of the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) to explore these relationships. Ethnic diversity is measured with the proportion of students in a grade identifying with a minority. In agreement with contact theory, the paper initially finds a positive relation between diversity and inclusive attitudes on immigrants. However, this link disappears once controls for social background, gender and prior levels of the outcome are included in the model. This indicates that students with particular pre-enrolment characteristics have self-selected in diverse schools and that inclusive attitudes have stabilized before secondary education. Diversity further appears to have a negative impact on trust, irrespective of the number of controls added to the model.     

Experiencing discrimination in Los Angeles: Latinos at the intersection of legal status and socioeconomic status

Despite its recent slowdown, immigration from Latin America continues to be a controversial issue. Some scholars argue that the social climate is increasingly inhospitable to Latinos, potentially fueling discriminatory attitudes and behaviors. However, little research has examined Latinos' experiences with discrimination, especially variation by nativity and legal status. We address this issue with research on perceived discrimination among Mexican and Central American residents of Los Angeles County, a major destination for Latin American immigrants. Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey and the American Community Survey, the analyses consider immigrants’ legal status, intersectionality, and competing perspectives on assimilation. The results show that undocumented immigrants do not report especially high levels of discrimination. Instead, young U.S.-born Latinos are the most likely to report mistreatment in interpersonal and institutional domains. Neighborhood ethnoracial and income diversity also have implications for perceived exposure to different types of discrimination.     

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

Previous studies on social integration of immigrants were predominantly of static nature. This article provides a dynamic account by distinguishing differences in social integration that develop shortly after immigrants’ arrival in the host country from changes with length of stay. We examine contacts in leisure time between natives and non-western immigrants in the Netherlands. Theories from research on ethnic intermarriage are applied to these more common forms of contact. We use pooled cross-sectional survey data from 1988–2002. The results show that on average social integration increases with length of stay. Ethnicity, migration motive and home country education account for differences in integration that develop shortly after arrival and are maintained or even increased with length of stay, while the size of the immigrant group matters mainly at entry and then loses its influence over time. Age at migration exclusively explains differences in social integration that develop with length of stay.     

The healthy immigrant (migrant) effect: In search of a better native-born comparison group

This paper evaluates whether immigrants’ initial health advantage over their U.S.-born counterparts results primarily from characteristics correlated with their birth countries (e.g., immigrant culture) or from selective migration (e.g., unobserved characteristics such as motivation and ambition) by comparing recent immigrants’ health to that of recent U.S.-born interstate migrants (“U.S.-born movers”). Using data from the 1999–2013 waves of the March Current Population Survey, I find that, relative to U.S.-born adults (collectively), recent immigrants have a 6.1 percentage point lower probability of reporting their health as fair or poor. Changing the reference group to U.S.-born movers, however, reduces the recent immigrant health advantage by 28%. Similar reductions in the immigrant health advantage occurs in models estimated separately by either race/ethnicity or education level. Models that examine health differences between recent immigrants and U.S.-born movers who both moved for a new job—a primary motivation behind moving for both immigrants and the U.S.-born—show that such immigrants have only a 1.9 percentage point lower probability of reporting their health as fair or poor. Together, the findings suggest that changing the reference group from U.S.-born adults collectively to U.S.-born movers reduces the identified immigrant health advantage, indicating that selective migration plays a significant role in explaining the initial health advantage of immigrants in the United States.     

Partisan strength,political trust and generalized trust in the United States: An analysis of the General Social Survey, 1972–2014

The literature on political parties suggests that strong partisan identities are associated with citizens’ effective interaction with the political system, and with higher levels of political trust. Traditionally, party identity therefore is seen as a mechanism that allows for political integration. Simultaneously, however, political parties have gained recent attention for their role in promoting societal polarization by reinforcing competing and even antagonistic group identities. This article uses General Social Survey data from 1972 – 2014 to investigate the relationship between partisan strength and both political and generalized trust. The findings show that increases in partisan strength are positively related to political trust, but negatively related to generalized trust. This suggests that while partisan strength is indeed an important linkage mechanism for the political system, it is also associated with a tendency toward social polarization, and this corrosive effect thus far has not gained sufficient attention in literature on party identity.     

Level of economic development of the country of origin and work-to-family conflict after migration to Canada

Using a sample of employed adults living in Canada, this article examines patterns and antecedents of work-to-family conflict (WFC) among immigrants, relative to the native-born. We test whether the origin-country— or intermediary country of residence— country-level economic development, and length of residence in Canada interact to affect WFC differentially for immigrants. We hypothesize that origin-country economic development impacts the value and transferability of immigrants' capital in the host country. Discrepancies between the two results in underemployment, stressful work experiences, and thus greater WFC for immigrants, relative to the native-born. Results indicate greater WFC among recent and established immigrants from less developed countries and among established immigrants from developed countries. This finding, however, is conditioned by gender and particularly strong among established immigrant men from less developed countries, compared to their female counterparts.     

Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust

Since Puntam's seminal work on declining levels of social capital, the question of how social trust is formed has reached unprecedented heights of critical enquiry. While most of the current research concentrates on ethnic diversity and income inequality as the main influences driving down generalized trust, we focus on opinion polarization as another potential impact factor on trust. In more detail, we investigate the extent to which polarization over morally charged issues such as homsexuality, abortion and euthanasia affects individuals' likelihood to trust others. We hypothesize that moral issues have a natural tendency to divide societies' opinions into opposing poles and, thus, to challenge social cohesion in modern civil societies. Based on hierarchical analyses of the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) — comprising a sample of 39 countries — our results reveal that individuals living in countries characterized by more opinion polarization tend to have less trust in other people.     

Wealth accumulation among U.S. immigrants: A study of assimilation and differentials

Data from the New Immigrant Survey are used to study wealth differentials among U.S. legal permanent residents. This study is unique in its ability to account for wealth held in the U.S. and that held abroad and yields several key findings. First, relative to immigrants from Western Europe, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (who have median wealth similar to native born non-Hispanic whites), other immigrant groups have lower levels of total wealth even after accounting for permanent income and life course characteristics. Second, time in the U.S. is positively associated with the wealth of married immigrants, yet this relationship is not statistically significant for single immigrants. Third, differences in the means of measured characteristics between Western European immigrants and those from most other origin regions account for more than 75 percent of observed wealth disparities. However, for immigrants from Asia and from the Indian subcontinent, much of the wealth differential remains unexplained by these factors.     

How does gun violence affect Americans’ trust in each other?

This article examines how Americans' actual experience of gun victimization affects their trust in others and how this further connects to the widely-discussed association between gun crime and trust at the place level. Analyzing data from the U.S. General Social Survey (GSS), I find that, regardless when it occurred in life, Americans who were victimized by guns trust much less in others than those who had no such experience. In terms of the size of the effect, repeated gun victimization has the strongest effect, followed by adulthood victimization, and then childhood victimization. I also find that individuals who later achieve higher socioeconomic status are better able to recover from the psychological effect of childhood gun victimization, lending support for the experiential theory of trust that people can update their trust according to changing experiences later in life. Finally, combing the GSS data with data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I also show that higher percentages of nonfatal and fatal gun violence victims lead to lower levels of trust both across and within the U.S. census divisions over time. Findings of this study demonstrate that America's gun violence affects not only just those killed, injured, or present during gunfire, but it can also sabotage the social and psychological well-being of all Americans.     

The bright side of migration: Hedonic,psychological, and social well-being in immigrants in Spain

The aim of this study was to examine the multi-dimensional structure of well-being in immigrant population, as well as to explore the complexity of well-being disparities between immigrants and host nationals. We analyzed hedonic, psychological, and social well-being in a sample of 1250 immigrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Morocco, Romania and Sub-Saharan Africa, together with that of 500 matched host nationals from Spain. Participants were selected by means of probability sampling with stratification by age and sex. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the re-specified tripartite model of well-being, including hedonic, psychological, and social components of the individual’s functioning, was the best fitting model, as compared to alternative models. Importantly, after adjustment for perceived friendship and support, marital status, income, sex and age, immigrants presented higher levels of well-being than host nationals. Compared to host nationals, immigrants reported especially higher eudaimonic well-being: social contribution and actualization, personal growth, self-acceptance, and purpose in life, and lower levels of well-being only in terms of positive relations with others and negative affect. These results are discussed in the context of positive psychology.     

Social structure and homicide in post-Soviet Russia

The Russian homicide rate is among the highest in the world. Local rates are not uniform, however, but instead show tremendous variation throughout this large nation. As a result of varying levels of development, differential access to natural resources, past Soviet economic and social policies, and the varying pace of the social, political, and economic transition, there are also large differences across Russia in structural factors thought to be related to interpersonal violence. In this study, newly available vital statistics and socioeconomic data were employed to estimate the effects of social structural characteristics on homicide rates in the Russian regions (n = 78). Results revealed that commonly tested covariates such as poverty and single-parent households were positively associated with regional homicide victimization rates, as was a proxy for heavy drinking. Further, homicide rates in the Northern Caucasus and the regions east of the Ural mountains are significantly lower and higher, respectively, than in the rest of the country. These results are discussed in terms of the current Russian situation and integrated into the broader literature on social structure and homicide.     

“村改居”群体城市社会融入的影响因素研究?

社会融入是社会行动的结果，而经济活动是社会行动的首要活动。根据对陕西省西安市的调查数据，以“是否持续参与城市社会经济活动”考量“村改居”群体的城市社会融入与否，运用二元Logistic回归模型，从自身特征、经济资本、人力资本和社会支持4个方面分析“村改居”群体城市社会融入的影响因素，结果表明：“村改居”群体的城市社会融入与年龄、性别等自身条件无关，经济资本中分红、房租等可替代收入变量和人力资本中高层次职业变量的影响不显著，社会支持等外部因素的影响也不显著；交往能力和政策制度变量在各自的类别模型中对“村改居”群体的城市社会融入具有显著影响，但未能进入最终模型；就业收入、文化程度和一技之长对“村改居”群体的城市社会融入具有显著正向。因此，“村改居”群体提高就业收入和文化程度以及拥有一技之长，均有助于其城市社会融入进程。     

Does community social embeddedness promote generalized trust? An experimental test of the spillover effect

Despite the theoretical relevance attributed to the spillover effect, little empirical research has focused on testing its causal validity. Addressing this gap in the literature, I propose a novel experimental design to test if the overall density of social links in a community promotes trustworthy and trusting behaviors with absolute strangers. Controlling for social integration (i.e. the individual number of social connections), I found that density fosters higher levels of trust. In particular, results show that people in denser communities are more likely to trust their unknown fellow citizens, encouraging isolated subjects to engage with strangers. However, evidence did not support the idea that community social embeddedness causes an increase of trustworthiness, indicating that the spillover effect works only with respect to trust.     

中西社会信任结构之比较

一个社会的信任格局由信任链、信任圈和信任网三种结构组成。从信任结构视之,中西社会信任有着显著差异：中国社会信任呈现为链式和圈式结构,西方社会信任呈现为网式结构,这些差异是导致关于中西信任观点分歧的重要原因。中西信任结构背后的经济、社会、文化和法律基础的不同是引起中西信任认知差异更深层次的原因。中西社会信任结构是信任结构的两种历史形式,或者说,中西社会信任之间有着结构性不同,这种不同导致两者功能、作用的差别；中西信任结构在社会中各自发挥着独特的功能和作用,不能简单地以一种信任结构未评价另一种信任结构,亦不能轻易地设想用一种替代另一种。     

Race Composition and Earnings: Effects by Race, Region, and Gender

For more than 40 years, studies have reported that the higher the proportion of blacks in a community, the more white men earn, but the less black men earn. Researchers have speculated that black men earned less because earnings discrimination increases with percent black. Others have suggested that the negative effect of black representation on black men's earnings reflects black men's limited occupational opportunities. This study (1) investigates whether pay discrimination and regional location condition the relationship between black representation and workers' earnings and (2) examines the relationship between black representation and earnings for women. The results, based on 1980 Census data for black and white workers from 267 SMSAs, show that black representation was associated with higher earnings for white men and lower earnings for black men in both the north and south, and that part of the effect for southern black men stemmed from earnings discrimination. Southern black men's earnings gains from black representation offset some of the effects of discrimination, while northern black men encountered costs of black representation even in the absence of earnings discrimination. These findings reflect the disparate economic opportunities of black men in each region as manufacturing jobs have disappeared from the north and relocated to the south. For women, black representation led to higher earnings for blacks and whites. I argue that black representation does not lower black women's earnings because occupational sex segregation prevents black women from threatening white men's economic status.     

Re-thinking the decline in trust: A comparison of black and white Americans

Generalized trust in other Americans has never been so low. Explanations of this decline draw attention to the role of generational replacement and to period effects stemming from macro-level economic and political changes. In this paper, I consider generational and period trends in trust for black and for white Americans. Although race is considered one of the most important predictors of levels of trust, few studies have analyzed how race relates to larger generational and period trends of decline. General Social Survey data is used to test whether the decline thesis applies equally to black and to white Americans’ trust levels. I consider both the widely used index of generalized trust and the individual items comprising this index. The results show that although the war baby generation (1935-1944) of white Americans was more trusting than other generations, there has been no corresponding variability across generations for black Americans. At the period level, while there has been a decline in generalized trust and each of its sub-components for white Americans, the period-based trends for black Americans are more variable across measures. The use of a general index to study trends for black Americans masks important period-based trends. The decline in trust is related to race and what is missing from most accounts of the race gap in trust is a discussion of structural forces that advantage white Americans and hence inflate their trust levels.     

论新移民作家的中产阶级化写作

随着经济条件的优化和中国国际地位的提高,新移民的境遇已经得到极大的改善,他们在异域三十余年的积累一方面使得他们不再囿于物质条件而遭遇生存困境,另一方面,他们也逐渐实现在地融入,文化的冲突更多为文化的复合互渗、互相融合所代替。这种状况表现在创作上,就形成了新移民作家的一种中产阶级化写作倾向,描写的笔触从异域生存的艰难和冲突逐渐转向对新移民中产阶级群体内心的关注和精神的追求,探索人类普遍的生存困境及突围的途径。     

进步时代“美国化”的公民教育与反思

20世纪前后,大量东欧、南欧新移民涌入美国城市,受到本土主义者的强烈排斥。＂新＂、＂旧＂移民团体之间的对立,导致美国社会面临撕裂的态势。社会各界广泛参与,共同确立了公民教育的＂美国化＂目标,有效地促进了新移民子女对城市主流文化的了解、对民主思想观念的认同以及对美国主流生活的融入,保障了美国城市化的快速发展及长治久安。进步时代＂美国化＂公民教育的举措,引发了对目前我国农民工及其子女如何融入城市的反思。