Immigrant Integration Through Mediating Social Institutions: Issues and Strategies

With nearly 40 million foreign-born residents, the United States is the country with the largest immigrant population in the world (Nwosu, Batalova, & Auclair, 2014). This amounts to 13% of the current US population and has fueled debates about the role of immigrants in American society and about what it means to be American (Batalova & Lee, 2012; Hing, 2004). The issue of immigrant integration is at the center of this debate and is also the focus of this study, which examines immigrant integration in two U.S. cities: San Francisco, California and Chicago, Illinois. This study is part of a larger 2007 multi-country study of immigrant integration practices conducted by CeiMigra, a migration research institute based in Valencia, Spain. This study analyzes data collected in the two U.S. study sites, which consists of 19 extensive qualitative interviews with politicians, policy makers, labor leaders, and nongovernment (NGO) and migrant association leaders regarding issues that affect and strategies that facilitate immigrant integration. The interviewees identified two primary points of integration: the economy and local communities. Common barriers affecting both documented and undocumented immigrants were identified, as well as local strategies that promote integration into the economy and the community. Study participants noted the burden on local communities to address immigrant incorporation and called for stronger and more systematic integration programs and policies at the federal level.     

Understanding the Role of Immigrant Families' Cultural and Structural Mechanisms in Immigrant Children's Experiences beyond High School: Lessons for Social Work Practitioners

The destinies of the contemporary immigrant generation are challenged by the profound reshaping of the U.S. economy and the increasing diversity of new immigrant communities from the Latin American and Asian regions. Family represents a key link between immigrant children's social adjustment beyond high school and relationships with mainstream society. Placing an emphasis on culture and social structure, this article reviews contemporary literature and provides a framework for knowledge that helps social work practitioners and policy planners explore the distinguishing features of immigrant families that confer an advantage within their children's post-secondary education or labor market participation. Also considered is how culture and social structure overlap and interact to exert a significant influence on the future economic prospects of immigrant children.     

东北移民创业文化的历史变迁与当代价值

在时空语境转换和社会结构变迁的背景之下,梳理东北移民群体的创业历程,挖掘东北移民文化的创业精神,找寻移民创业文化的内在特质,建构符合时代需要的新型创业文化,是振兴东北老工业基地的题中之义。东北移民创业文化大致可以分为三个阶段:新中国成立前的"被动生存型"移民创业文化;新中国成立后至改革开放前的"组织动员型"移民创业文化;改革开放以来的"自主发展型"移民创业文化。改革开放以来,新兴移民创业文化的注入,有利于营造尊重创造创业的社会氛围,有利于培育东北本土的区域文化精神。     

基于业态创新的长三角零售市场一体化研究

长三角正处在经济结构提升,经济发展方式转轨的关键时期。探索、分析、研究长三角零售市场一体化建设,有着积极的现实意义。零售业态的创新是建设的核心。明晰基于业态创新零售市场一体化的生成环境、成长要素、发展趋势,以及把握业态创新内涵,即启动特征、进展特征、趋势特征,实现理念、技术、产品、管理、布局创新,是建设长三角零售市场一体化的关键。     

论企业并购后的知识资源整合

并购是企业进行产业整合和发展中常见的一种经济活动,并购成功与否,不仅取决于并购双方现有物质资源的整合策略和整合效果,而且取决于并购双方知识资源的整合策略和整合效果。为此,不仅应对并购后形成的物质资源实施合理的整合策略,而且还必须对并购双方企业的知识资源进行整合,以减少或消除并购后因双方知识存在差异而产生的不协调甚至冲突问题,形成符合并购后建立的新企业发展要求的知识资源,确保企业竞争优势的持续性。     

Talking about culture in social work encounters: immigrant families and child welfare in Finland

This article aims at analysing the ways in which people talk about ‘culture’ in social work encounters involving child welfare in immigrant families. The empirical material includes conversations between immigrant clients, their social workers and co-operating professionals at six Finnish social service offices, as well as interviews with the persons participating in these meetings. The theoretical and methodological frames of reference are social constructionism and discourse analysis. The study suggests three ways in which the concept of ‘culture’ is used by social workers and their clients: firstly, as a means of explaining ‘the ordinary and normal ways’ of raising children; secondly, as ‘a difficulty’ in the interaction between social workers and clients; and thirdly, as ‘a methodical tool’ in creating dialogue with clients. As far as the practical implications for social work are concerned, it is emphasized that in order to avoid ethnocentric practice or ‘culturalization’ of problems, it is important for social workers to be conscious of the various meanings of ‘culture’ both in their own practice and in the ways their clients employ cultural symbolism.     

Building alliances: Defending immigrant rights in rural Oregon

Political participation in the rural United States has often been narrowly defined within the confines of electoral politics. Increasingly, participants in rural US social movements have highlighted the shortcomings of democracy defined purely in terms of electoral politics in favour of a more participatory model of politics that focuses on the social and cultural rights of those who are often formally or informally excluded from the liberal definition of citizenship. This article highlights the process of claiming rights as cultural citizens in a political context where there are efforts through the formal political system—usually in the form of ballot referendums at the state or local level—to further limit the rights of specific constituencies such as gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals or immigrants. A second focus of this article is on the dynamics of solidarity and alliance building between different kinds of social movements acting in concert to push for cultural rights and then formal rights for each other's constituencies. The article specifically seeks to illustrate how two organizations that share quite different constituencies and agendas can effectively collaborate in regional and state-wide campaigns in the rural state of Oregon, while also honestly discussing their differences and difficulties in working together.     

大学生民族团结教育进课堂研究

对当前大学生民族团结教育进课堂内容进行了探讨,明确提出了民族团结教育进课堂要深入开展＂四项基本教育,＂即民族常识教育、民族理论教育、民族政策教育和民族法律法规教育。     

Disentangling the role of income in the academic achievement of migrant children

Poverty has a well-established association with poor developmental outcomes in children but is often found to be a weak predictor of outcomes for migrant children. Building on theory focused on the developmental competencies of minority children, the current study used a systematic and novel analytic approach to disentangle the relationship between income and developmental outcomes for different groups of migrant children. Utilizing a population-based cohort of children in British Columbia, Canada (N = 23,154), the study examined whether income differently predicted the kindergarten to Grade 7 (K-7) literacy and numeracy trajectories of migrant children (economic, family, and refugee groups), in comparison to non-migrants. By applying Group-Based Trajectory Modeling (GBTM), the study found that lower income was generally associated with lower K-7 literacy and numeracy achievement trajectories. The relationship between income and achievement did not differ for migrant children in comparison to non-migrant children, with the exception of one sub-group of high-achieving economic class migrant children, which appeared to be less impacted by low income levels. Follow-up binomial logistic regression analysis found that parental education levels at migration and English language ability predicted which migrant children would be high literacy and numeracy achievers despite low income. The results suggest that basic associations between poverty and the outcomes of migrant children mask an underlying complexity: For most migrant children, poverty was just as predictive of detrimental academic outcomes as it was for non-migrant children and being in the exceptional sub-group of high-achieving, low-income migrant children was partly accounted for by other protective factors.     

Review of female immigrant entrepreneurship research: Past findings,gaps and ways forward

We conduct a review of the literature on entrepreneurship by females with an ethnic minority background based on immigration to a new country and focus on entrepreneurial resources, entrepreneurial strategies, outcomes, and context. The intersection of gender and ethnicity influences entrepreneurship in specific ways that we discuss. The literature review indicates that particular (human, social, and financial) resources help shape entrepreneurial strategies, which in turn result in particular outcomes at the individual, firm, and societal levels. These factors are influenced by the co-ethnic and host country cultural and institutional contexts that we review. Situating our study in the mixed embeddedness perspective, we organize and synthesize extant research on the business endeavors of female immigrant entrepreneurs and discuss important gaps that provide opportunities for future research. We also address policy and practice implications.