Does an Immigrant Background Ameliorate Racial Disadvantage? The Socioeconomic Attainments of Second‐Generation African Americans1

Although there is a growing literature on the socioeconomic circumstances of the second generation, this issue has not been systematically considered for African Americans. To help fill this research gap, we investigate the extent to which the socioeconomic attainments of second‐generation African Americans differ from mainstream (i.e., third and higher generation) African Americans. Using data from the Current Population Survey and the 2000 Census, our results indicate that the schooling and wages of second‐generation African Americans consistently exceed those of third‐ and higher generation African Americans. Our findings also reveal that second‐generation African Americans do at least as well as whites in terms of years of schooling, but wage differentials differ significantly by gender. Second‐generation African‐American women earn wages that are at least as high as comparable white women, but second‐generation African‐American men earn wages that are, on average, about 16% less than measurably comparable white men. While no one theoretical perspective can account for all these results, they nonetheless indicate the continuing significance of racial disadvantage for African‐American men, including those with an immigrant background.     

Expanding Boundaries of Whiteness? A Look at the Marital Patterns of Part‐White Multiracial Groups

Using a boundary perspective (Alba and Nee 2003 ), I examine the marital behavior of three self‐identified multiracial groups: black/whites, American Indian/whites, Asian/whites. With a focus on marriage with whites, I assess whether the boundaries of whiteness are expanding to include these part‐white multiracial groups. Marrying whites at a large scale may signify that part‐white multiracial Americans are in the process of being accepted as “white.” At the same time, due to differences in the racial identity experiences of multiracial groups, marital patterns may differ by racial combination. Based on analysis of 2008–2012 American Community Survey data, I find that the majority of all three groups are married to whites, suggesting that most members in these groups are on the path to whiteness. On the other hand, multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrates that American Indian/whites and Asian/whites are more likely than black/whites to have a white spouse, relative to spouses of another race/ethnicity. Moreover, separate regression analyses by multiracial group reveal gender differences in their likelihood of marrying whites for black/whites and Asian/whites. These results indicate racial stratification in the marriage market among part‐white multiracial Americans, with further stratification by gender for some groups.     

Return Migrations of African‐Americans to the South: Reclaiming a Land of Promise,Going Home,or Both?*

Abstract Using samples of census data from the University of Minnesota Population Center's “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series” (IPUMS), we describe trends in African‐American migration to the South across recent decades, and explore the applicability of the concept of “return migration” to various demographic patterns. Our findings suggest that the return movement contains multiple migration streams involving African‐Americans of higher socio‐economic status (compared with both origin and destination populations) moving to both urban and rural destinations. These patterns represent clear differences from the earlier 20^th century's “Great Migration” of African‐Americans from South to North. The recent return migration streams suggest that the South may be replacing the North as a “land of promise” for some upwardly mobile African‐Americans, and may also reflect what Carol Stack (1996) has termed a “call to home” as a motivating factor shaping recent African‐American migration to the rural South.     

Institutionalization of Migration Policy Frameworks in Armenia,Azerbaijan and Georgia

This article is a comparative study of the institutionalization of the migration policy frameworks of post‐Soviet states Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. All three countries share common historical legacies: a Soviet past, wars and conflicts, unemployment, high emigration, and commitment to integration into European bodies. To what extent do the migration policies of these three countries (driven by contextual forces, i.e. domestic challenges) address country‐specific migration dynamics? Or are they imposed by the European Union? In which dimensions have the national policies on migration of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia evolved, and around which issues have they converged or diverged? Have these trends led to an integration of migration policymaking at the regional level in the South Caucasus?     

Slave Crucibles: Interstate Migrants and Social Assimilation in the Antebellum South

Between 1800 and 1860 almost a million American slaves were forcibly removed from the Upper South and sent to the Lower South. An outpouring of historical research has greatly contributed to our understanding of the political, economic, demographic and business aspects of interregional slave migration in the antebellum period. As yet, however, relatively few studies have examined the assimilation process of interstate slave migrants. Cast into new slave communities, newcomers were often treated – and felt – like outsiders by their fellow bondspeople, and were forced to utilise various strategies to effect their integration. How did migrants experience the transition to new slave communities? How did they forge new relationships, and what were the bases of these relationships? What institutions and strategies aided in their integration process? And to what extent do their experiences reveal a broad ‘slave identity’ in the antebellum period? This study explores these questions for interstate newcomers in the antebellum South.     

Intergenerational Mobility of the Mexican‐Origin Population in California and Texas Relative to a Changing Regional Mainstream

We combine two approaches to gauge the achievements of the Mexican‐origin second generation: one the intergenerational progress between immigrant parents and children, the other the gap between the second generation and non‐Latino whites. We measure advancement of the Mexican‐origin second generation using a suite of census‐derived outcomes applied to immigrant parents in 1980 and grown children in 2005, as observed in California and Texas. Patterns of second‐generation upward mobility are similar in the two states, with important differences across outcome indicators. Assessments are less favorable for men than women, especially in Texas. We compare Mexican‐Americans to a non‐Latino white reference group, as do most assimilation studies. However, we separate the reference group into those born in the same state as the second generation and those who have migrated in. We find that selective in‐migration of more highly‐educated whites has raised the bar on some, not all, measures of attainment. This poses a challenge to studies of assimilation that do not compare grown‐children to their fellow natives of a state. Our model of greater temporal and regional specificity has broad applicability to studies guided by all theories of immigrant assimilation, integration and advancement.     

PARENTAL ABSENCE DURING CHILDHOOD AND DEPRESSION IN LATER LIFE

Long-term consequences of parental absence during childhood for adult depression are examined using 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households data. Whites and African Americans, male and female, separated from a parent score higher on a measure of depression than those raised in continuously intact families. Hispanic males and females show no such differences. All reasons for parental absence (divorce, death, out-of-wedlock birth, and others) relate to elevated depression in one or another group. Educational attainment and current marital status mediated a moderate proportion of the estimated effect for whites and African American females.     

Race,Rural Residence,and Wildland Visitation: Examining the Influence of Sociocultural Meaning1

Abstract Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.     

Anger in black and white: race, alienation, and anger

Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey and the 1973 Chicago Crowding Study, we test the hypotheses that African Americans feel and express more anger than whites, that sense of control (versus powerlessness) lessens anger and mistrust increases anger, and that these indicators of alienation affect anger differently for African Americans and whites. We find that when age and gender are controlled, African Americans neither feel nor express more anger than whites, despite having a lower average sense of control and higher mistrust. This is partly because the effects of sense of control and mistrust on anger differ by race. Sense of control reduces feelings of anger and anger expression more for African Americans than whites. Mistrust increases feelings of anger for whites, but not African Americans. The results provide further evidence that, in the stress process, social structural location may moderate the effects of "detriments" and "resources" on emotional upset.     

Race,Socioeconomic Status,and Self-Esteem: The Impact of Religiosity

This research examines two factors that have an impact on the self-esteem of African Americans and whites: religion and socioeconomic status (SES). Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that for whites, belief in the Bible (i.e., that it is the literal word of God) and self-identifying as fundamentalist were significant predictors of self-esteem. For African Americans, belief in the Bible and being Catholic were significant predictors of self-esteem. However, the association between belief in the Bible and self-esteem was stronger for African Americans than whites. SES was positively associated with self-esteem for both groups. The interactions between SES and the measures of religiosity reveal a greater impact on self-esteem for lower SES respondents. This was especially true for African Americans. These findings are discussed in light of the resource compensation hypothesis.     

The Integration of Interstate Migrants in India: A 7 State Policy Evaluation

Interstate migration in developing countries is a key income generating strategy for low-income households. In India, despite the importance of migration between states, interstate migrants continue to face significant integration barriers in their destination states. The impact of state borders on migration within India is significant and large. This study presents one of the first attempts at creating a set of indicators to understand the role of state-level policies for the integration of interstate migrants in a developing country. After illustrating the process behind the creation of this tool and the tool in itself, we compare seven of the major migrant destination states of India, based on their policy frameworks relevant to the integration of interstate migrants. Out of these states, we found that Kerala state is the most inclusive of interstate migrants but that overall, policymakers in the considered Indian states have a long way to go to improve the integration of interstate migrants.     

“It's Hardly Fair to Bring a Child Into the World With the Way Things Look…”: Anomie,Mistrust, and the Impact of Race,SES, and Gender

This article examines the impact of race, socioeconomic status (SES ), and gender on subjective outlook using anomie and general mistrust as indicators. Specifically, this study addresses the following questions: (1) How do African Americans and whites compare with respect to anomie and mistrust? (2) Do racial differences in anomie and mistrust vary by SES ? (3) Do African American women have higher levels of anomie and mistrust than whites and African American men? and (4) Are African Americans becoming more or less trusting and anomic over time? Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS) (1972–2014), the analysis reveals significant racial differences in social outlook as measured by anomie and mistrust. African Americans indicate higher levels of both anomie and mistrust than whites even after controls for SES and the other variables. The racial gap in anomie and mistrust increases with increases in SES . Being African American and female is associated with higher levels of anomie but not mistrust. African American mistrust decreases relative to whites over time. More affluent African Americans’ anomie levels slightly increase relative to similar whites over time. Explanations using the “rage of a privileged class” and “intersectionality” ideas are evaluated.     

"Little" and "Big" Pictures in Our Heads: Race, Local Context, and Innumeracy About Racial Groups in the United States

Americans do not know what percentage of the nation's residentsare whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians.Using the 2000 General Social Survey, I find that respondentsof all races underestimate the percentages of whites and overestimatethe percentages of racial/ethnic minority groups and multiracialAmericans in the United States; however, they perceive theirlocal communities quite differently. As a first step towardunderstanding this discrepancy, I test whether individuals’local surroundings serve as a source of information for theirpictures of the United States. I examine the relationship between"objective" data and respondents’ subjective perceptionsof where they live, and compare their respective effects onAmericans’ perceptions of the nation. Multivariate multilevelanalyses show that respondents’ perceptions of differentracial group sizes in their communities are the strongest predictorsof innumeracy at the national level, while "objective" racialcontext measured at the local level has less of an effect. Thesefindings have important implications for research on racialcontext, which assumes that census numbers for respondents’locales are good proxies for their perceptions of the size ofracial/ethnic groups in their communities. Furthermore, thesefindings suggest that scholars need to start thinking aboutwhy whites and non-whites have similar "big pictures" of thenation, why their "little pictures" vary a great deal, and whythe motivations for over- and underestimation may differ byracial/ethnic group.     

“Call to Home?” Race,Region, and Migration to the U.S. South, 1970–20001

This research examines recent migration patterns of native‐born blacks and whites to the U.S. South. Our primary research questions concern race and regional migration dynamics, and whether new insights into such can be gleaned by comparing migrants to the South with persons moving within the non‐South. Using samples of 1970–2000 census data, we focus on race differences in the tendency to choose the South as a migration destination, and whether whites and blacks differ in key selection mechanisms shaping movement to different regional destinations. We observe increasing rates of black (compared to white) migration to the South. Additionally, patterns of selectivity within this growing African‐American migration stream are especially dramatic when southern migrants are compared to persons moving within the non‐South. Our analyses also show that black migrants are targeting particular parts of the South (e.g., states where blacks are a larger share of the population), suggesting that future research should disaggregate the “Census South” region to provide a more comprehensive picture of contemporary interregional migration in the United States.     

American Indian migration and economic opportunities

This article examines interstate migration and labor force participation among White, American Indian, and intermarried Indian/White couples in the US. The results show that endogamous American Indian couples are much less likely to change states of residence than are the other 2 groups of couples. The effect of interstate migration on labor force participation does not vary across the 3 groups of couples. The implications of these results for the assimilation and internal colonial models of race relations and for federal Indian policy are discussed     

Local Labor Market Characteristics and the Occupational Concentration of Different Sociodemographic Groups1

Abstract This paper analyzes the extent to which employment opportunities for different sociodemographic groups are concentrated in a limited number of occupations within their local labor market areas. Data from the STF-4 file of the 1980 Census of Population and Housing are used to measure the occupational concentration of these groups in 318 labor market areas (LMAs) in the United States. Regression analysis demonstrates the significance of local labor market characteristics for the occupational concentration of women and men and of whites and blacks. Gender differences in occupational concentration are strongly related to the differential effects of the industrial composition of the local labor market. Racial differences in occupational concentration are affected by the fact that working in larger, more densely populated LMAs is more significant for blacks than for whites.     

Into the Mainstream? Labor Market Outcomes of Mexican-Origin Workers

We evaluate recent revisions of assimilation theory by comparing the labor market performance of Mexican immigrants and their descendents to those of native white and black Americans. Using the Current Population Survey Contingent Worker Series, we examine public and non-standard employment and fringe benefits in addition to earnings. We find little evidence that Mexican Americans cluster in non-standard work, noting instead intergenerational improvement in benefits and pay. However, all Mexican-origin workers are disadvantaged relative to native whites in terms of benefits. It is only within the public sector that the labor market outcomes of Mexican-origin workers converge with native whites.     

The Determinants of Racial Disparities in Perceived Job Insecurity: A Test of Three Perspectives

Why do African Americans report higher levels of perceived job insecurity than whites? We analyze data from the 1996 and 1998 General Social Survey to test alternative predictions from the compositional, inclusive‐discrimination, and dispositional perspectives concerning the sources of the racial gap in perceived insecurity. Results from ordered probit regressions provide most support for the inclusive‐discrimination perspective, which maintains that employment practices associated with “modern racial prejudice” induce perceived insecurity on a widespread and generalized basis among African Americans. Accordingly, compared to whites, African Americans experience perceived insecurity net of human capital credentials and job/labor market characteristics. Additional analyses provide one qualification to these findings: dynamics associated with the inclusive‐discrimination perspective are more pronounced in the private sector than the public sector.     

The internal migration and spatial redistribution of the foreign-born population in the United States: 1965-70 and 1975-80

"This article examines the importance of place of birth [for] the internal migration and spatial redistribution patterns of the foreign-born population in the United States during the 1965-70 and the 1975-80 periods, relying principally on the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for our input data. The diverse nationalities are aggregated into eight different regions of origin: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Rest of South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, Canada and the Rest of the World. First, the regional distribution of these eight groups at the 1970 and 1980 censuses are examined. Next, the spatial redistribution of the foreign-born population and its changes over time are studied...." This paper was originally presented at the 1990 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America.     

A Case Study of Mortgage Refinancing Discrimination: African American Intergenerational Wealth*

A case study approach is taken to examine differences between African Americans and white Americans in their respective approval/denial rates for home mortgage refinancing. Data from a regional banking institution is used for the case analysis. These data indicate that African Americans are significantly more likely to be turned down for mortgage refinancing than their white American counterparts. We suggest that refinance discri‐mination is one contributing factor to the continuing wealth or net worth gaps between blacks and whites. The inability to access the potential capital resident in one's home impedes the ability of African Americans to transmit advantage from one generation to the next.