Revisiting Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Convergencies,Controversies, and Conceptual Advancements1

In the past thirty years, many concepts and theories on ethnic entrepreneurship have been developed, challenged, and revised to provide a fuller account of the phenomenon. This article revisits the existing literature to address some of the conceptual and methodological issues and the controversies that have lingered around them and to highlight important advancements that have broken through conventional frameworks of this lasting subject matter. It first reexamines the meaning and analytical distinction of such relevant concepts as the middleman minority, ethnic economy, and enclave economy, arguing that ethnic social structures in which entrepreneurs are embedded must be stressed in the understanding of these concepts. It then draws attention to the convergencies and controversies in research on the causes and consequences of entrepreneurship. Finally, it highlights two interrelated conceptual advancements in the study of ethnic entrepreneurship ‐ transnational entrepreneurship and the synergy of entrepreneurship in community building.     

THEORIES OF ETHNIC SOCIAL DISTANCE: COMPARATIVE EMPIRICAL TESTS FOR THREE DISTINCT ETHNIC GROUPS

Social science theories of ethnic division and antipathy are tested empirically using survey and zip code data for representative samples of whites, African Americans, and Mexican Americans in Texas. Ordered logistic regression tests estimate the effects of theoretically relevant variables on probabilities of racial and ethnic out-group social distance. Competing social science theories of ethnic and racial social distance are tested for multiple groups. Statistical support is found for group attachment/identity theories and realistic group conflict theories in explaining variance in out-group social closeness. The socioeconomic theory was not found to be an important predictor of out-group social closeness.     

Coping with perceived discrimination: does ethnic identity protect mental health?

Using data (N = 2,109) from a large-scale epidemiological study of Filipino Americans, this study examines whether ethnic identity is linked to mental health and reduces the stress of discrimination. The strength of identification with an ethnic group is found to be directly associated with fewer depressive symptoms. In other words, having a sense of ethnic pride, involvement in ethinic practices, and cultural commitment to one's racial/ethnic group may protect mental health. Self-reports of racial/ethnic discrimination over a lifetime and everyday discrimination in the past month not due to race/ethnicity are associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms. Yet ethnic identity buffers the stress of racial/ethnic discrimination. This suggests that ethnic identity is a coping resource for racial/ethnic minorities that should not be overlooked. The strong link between ethnic identity and better mental health has implications for social-psychological theories on race/ethnicity and assimilation in the United States.     

In and Out of the Ethnic Economy: A Longitudinal Analysis of Ethnic Networks and Pathways to Economic Success across Immigrant Categories1

The economic benefits to immigrants of taking jobs in ethnic workplaces, relative to the open economy, are heavily debated. We examine longitudinally differences across immigrant categories in how the choice of ethnic or non‐ethnic workplace influences the ethnic composition of social networks and how these factors impact immigrants’ economic success. Using the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, with data 6 months, 2 years, and 4 years after arrival, we find support for both sides of the ethnic economy debate when it is qualified by immigrant category. While economic immigrants benefit from non‐ethnic workplaces, family immigrants face economic penalties in the open economy and do better in ethnic workplaces. We argue that policies sorting immigrants into visa categories do much of the work of leading them into segmented paths of incorporation.     

The Threat of the “Other”: Ethnic Competition and Racial Interest

Racial conflict has been at the center of US society since its inception. Various theories have tried to explain why racial conflict arises and what the motivating factors are. The aim of this article is to examine one of these theories––ethnic competition––by reviewing the sociological literature from the 1970s to present that focuses on racial interest, ethnic competition, and racial threat.     

Toward a unified theory of ethnic antagonism: A preliminary synthesis of three macro models

This study analyzes and compares the Marxist-class, prejudice-discrimination, and middleman minority theories of ethnic antagonism by extracting the key endogenous variables in each and presenting them in abstract models. Then, a composite model is developed in a preliminary effort to combine the essential elements of the theories. In turn, this composite model is used to develop five abstract propositions on the underlying dynamics of all ethnic antagonism. These propositions argue that competition, perceptions of threat, discrimination, identifiability, and stigmatization are the basic dynamics in all ethnic antagonism. The composite model and abstract propositions are viewed as a starting point for the analysis of the common processes inhering in diverse historical/empirical cases.     

A skeleton in Poland's closet: The jedwabne massacre

This paper presents a case study of the Jewish ethnic economy in the Moldovan town of Belz across a number of historical periods, with particular emphasis on the Soviet era. Economic practices are seen as embedded in a larger context of ongoing social relations at various levels, both within the Jewish community of the town and across ethnic borders. The author argues that the ethnic economy under socialism may be conceived as a non-market response to the ideologically imposed prohibition of private entrepreneurship, and focuses on the Jewish involvement in the second/ shadow socialist economy. Within this approach, economic ideas and practices emerge as markers of Soviet collective Jewish identity.     

The Social Consequences of Participating in the Ethnic Economy1

This study examines the effects of working in ethnic economy on social integration of immigrants. The analysis is based on a recently completed survey of the Chinese ethnic economy in Toronto. Our findings show that working in ethnic economies hampers participation in the social activities of the wider society. Results also suggest that those who gave a favorable evaluation of their own group, those who are independent class and family class immigrants have a higher likelihood of participation in social activities in the wider society. However, if those immigrants participate in an ethnic economy, they have significantly less participation in social activities in the wider society. Although previous research has documented that employment in ethnic economy is an “alternative avenue” for immigrants to achieve economic advancement in a new country, our study suggests that the social cost is substantial.     

Social mobility allowing for ethnic identification: reassertion of ethnicity among Moroccan and Turkish Dutch

The emergence of middle‐classes that articulate their ethnic distinctiveness leads to discomfort and bewilderment in many societies. This rejection arises from assimilationist demands and straight‐line integration assumptions which dominate the integration discourse. Relying on social‐psychological theories, this mixed‐methods study explores the ethnic identification of university‐educated second‐generation Moroccan and Turkish Dutch. The findings once more underscore that ethnic and national identifications are not mutually exclusive, nor are ethnic identifications mere acts of ethnic retention. The findings suggest that social mobility shapes processes of ethnic identification in particular ways, in the sense that the belonging and self‐esteem that come with achieving an advanced socio‐economic status allow for (and even encourage) assertion of the ethnic‐minority identity; an ethnic identity that is partially reinvented. The insights of this study can help nuance the increasingly polarizing and exclusionary integration debates.     

Urban poverty,ethnicity, and personality development

There are multiple factors which contribute to the development of the individual's personality. Many of these factors have been amply discussed in traditional theories of personality formation. An area that has been neglected in these discussions has been the role that poverty and ethnic and cultural factors may have in this regard. This paper offers a discussion of these issues with special emphasis on cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors which tend to characterize the lives of Latino and Black individuals. Recommendations are made for a re-evaluation of the traditional theories of personality when applied to poor and minority individuals.     

Urban Poverty,Ethnicity, and Personality Development

There are multiple factors which contribute to the development of the individual’s personality. Many of these factors have been amply discussed in traditional theories of personality Jonnation. An area that has been neglected in these discussions has been the role that poverty and ethnic and cultural factors may have in this regard. This paper offers a discussion of these issues with special emphasis on cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors which tend to characterize the lives of Latino and Black individuals. Recommendations are made for a re-evaluation of the traditional theories of personality when applied to poor and minority individuals.     

Too Many Preachers? Black Participation in the Ministry in Northern U.S. Cities during the Great Migration

Past studies have claimed that during the Great Migration the church participation of southern black migrants in northern cities was weakened by the circumstances of urban life. The present study, building on theories of subculture formation and the ethnic niche, challenges this claim by examining the participation of blacks in a religious occupation: the ministry. An analysis of Census data suggests that, in those northern cities with relatively large black populations, a "critical mass" of blacks created by in-migration helped to support the entry of blacks into the ministry. The findings are consistent with the assertion that the Great Migration stimulated the church participation of blacks in these cities. They are also in agreement with the argument that the size and distinctive cultural traditions of an ethnic minority group may, together, sustain some of the group's members in a special occupational niche.     

Ideational Origins of Modern Theories of Ethnicity: Individual Freedom vs Organizational Growth*

It is argued that sociological theories of ethnicity can be subsumed under two basic paradigms. One assumes modernity means increasing individual freedom (an assumption derived from classical liberalism) and then emphasizes the effect of that freedom on ethnicity. The other equates modernity with organizational growth, and emphasizes the effect of that growth on ethnicity in modern society. A discussion of assimilationism, pluralism, ethnic conflict theory, and ethnic mobilization theory is provided in this context.     

Global Civil Society and Ethnic Social Movements in the Contemporary World

Studies on ethnic movements have largely overlooked the global dimensions of ethnic social movements. Drawing on social movement theories and the world culture approach, I argue that linkage to global civil society gives rise to ethnic mobilization because it diffuses models of claim-making based on human rights ideas, while intergovernmental networks suppress ethnic mobilization as they enhance state power and authority. Tobit analyses on violent and nonviolent ethnic mobilizations show that, controlling for domestic factors, linkage to global civil society raises the potential for ethnic social movements, while intergovernmental networks do not have a strong impact on ethnic mobilization.     

Shopping in Mumbai: transnational sociability from the Netherlands

In this article, I present the concept of sociability as a preferable alternative to current network theories. I apply Simmel's concept of sociability to the bonding that occurs among ethnic networks at both the community and global levels. I argue for the need to separate the sociability elements of enjoyment and pleasure in time and place. I focus on the diaspora tourism of Dutch Hindustanis to show that joy and pleasure occur both when shopping in India and when giving gifts in the Netherlands. Furthermore, I argue that gifts purchased in India create bonding within close ethnic circles. As a result, these gifts become part of the material culture of the group, contributing to a feeling of home, ethnic consciousness and transnational bonds. Finally, I suggest that this joy and pleasure can be repeated because many of these moments are recorded with video cameras and photographs. Through this analysis, I demonstrate that transnational sociability, exemplified in diaspora tourism (specifically in shopping and gift giving), generates bonding both at the ethnic group and global level. I thus aim to add specificity to studies of transnational ethnic networks.     

Enclaves and Entrepreneurs: Assessing the Payoff for Immigrants and Minorities1

Self‐employment and work in sectors with high concentrations of owners and workers of the same ethnicity have been identified as potential routes of economic success for immigrants. This study uses 1990 census data to assess the effects of self‐employment, ethnic employment, and their interaction on the odds of being at work, on number of hours worked, and on earnings of individual members of several representative groups. These groups include Cubans in Miami; African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Koreans, Chinese and Dominicans in New York; and African Americans, Koreans, Chinese, Mexicans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles. Work in ethnic sectors of the economy has no consistent effects, although work in their niche in the public sector offers greater rewards than any other type of employment for African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Findings are mixed for self‐employment, and its estimated effect on earnings depends on model specification. We conclude that the self‐employed work longer hours but in many cases at lower hourly rates. The effects of self‐employment are the same in ethnic sectors as in the mainstream economy.     

Toward a Theory of Fertility and Ethnic Social Capital

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of ethnic fertility differentials that incorporates the intersection of both the macro societal influences as well as the micro actor level influences. It first contextualizes ethnic fertility differentials within the global fertility decline literature. Then it reviews the extant theories of fertility decline. It then turns to an examination of fertility choices in the developed world. A summary of three major approaches to ethnic fertility differentials is examined and then incorporated into a more eclectic perspective provided by Goldscheider. Finally, this paper merges the Goldscheider perspective with the social capital perspective, as applied to fertility decisions, into a conceptual model of ethnic fertility differentials. Lastly, the new conceptual model is used to reflect upon the current state of global fertility decline.     

The context of employment discrimination: interpreting the findings of a field experiment

Although field experiments have documented the contemporary relevance of discrimination in employment, theories developed to explain the dynamics of differential treatment cannot account for differences across organizational and institutional contexts. In this article, I address this shortcoming by presenting the main empirical findings from a multi‐method research project, in which a field experiment of ethnic discrimination in the Norwegian labour market was complemented with forty‐two in‐depth interviews with employers who were observed in the first stage of the study. While the experimental data support earlier findings in documenting that ethnic discrimination indeed takes place, the qualitative material suggests that theorizing in the field experiment literature have been too concerned with individual and intra‐psychic explanations. Discriminatory outcomes in employment processes seems to be more dependent on contextual factors such as the number of applications received, whether requirements are specified, and the degree to which recruitment procedures are formalized. I argue that different contexts of employment provide different opportunity structures for discrimination, a finding with important theoretical and methodological implications.     

The Use of Incarceration in Canada: A Test of Political and Social Threat Explanations on the Variation in Prison Admissions across Canadian Provinces, 2001–2010

Recent scholarship has indicated that political and ethnic threat theories—which maintain that the use of prison is not only determined by the extent of crime in society but also by various features related to power, ideology, and access to resources—provide powerful accounts as to why the use of punishment varies within and between societies. However, no study to date has tested these theories within Canada, a country in which such theories are quite plausible. This study begins to fill this void by assessing these theoretical claims using a pooled time series analysis of the variation in imprisonment rates across Canadian provinces from the years 2001 to 2010. After accounting for several measures including charge rates, the results show that Canadian incarceration rates are largely driven by ethnic threat. The size of the Aboriginal and visible minority populations across each province are the most significant determinants of the variation in punishment. Furthermore, we find a nonlinear relationship consistent with a political version of the threat hypothesis. Results, however, do not support political accounts which stress the power of right‐wing parties or a conservative public.