Origins and destinies: Immigration to the United States since World War II

Contemporary immigration to the United States and the formation of new ethnic groups are the complex and unintended social consequences of the expansion of the nation to its post-World War II position of global hegemony. Immigrant communities in the United States today are related to a history of American military, political, economic, and cultural involvement and intervention in the sending countries, especially in Asia and the Caribbean Basin, and to the linkages that are formed in the process that open a variety of legal and illegal migration pathways. The 19.8 million foreign-born persons counted in the 1990 U.S. census formed the largest immigrant population in the world, though in relative terms, only 7.9% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, a lower proportion than earlier in this century. Today's immigrants are extraordinarily diverse, a reflection of polar-opposite types of migrations embedded in very different historical and structural contexts. Also, unlike the expanding economy that absorbed earlier flows from Europe, since the 1970s new immigrants have entered an hourglass economy with reduced opportunities for social mobility, particularly among the less educated, and new waves of refugees have entered a welfare state with expanded opportunities for public assistance. This paper seeks to make sense of the new diversity. A typology of contemporary immigrants is presented, and their patterns of settlement, their distinctive social and economic characteristics compared to major native-born racial-ethnic groups, and their different modes of incorporation in—and consequences for—American society are considered.     

移民的陌生人意象:三个社会学传统

三个重要的社会学家齐美尔、舒茨和鲍曼先后以"陌生人"为核心概念建构讨论了这一群体,阐释"陌生人"的产生机制、表现形态、当地社会的反应及由此带来的困扰,这无疑为移民研究提供了新的理论视角。而这样的理论传统是以往的移民研究所忽视的,这在一定程度上导致移民研究缺乏更为一般意义上的理论思考,缺乏对流动性这一重大社会理论议题的回应,正是在这个意义上,重新审视这样的传统是有意义的。本文的目的是对三位社会学家关于"陌生人"的论断进行评述并检视这样的论述与中国移民研究的相关性。     

Acculturation and adaptation of first‐ and second‐generation South Asians in Hong Kong

This study investigates the experiences of psychological and sociocultural adaptation among 404 first‐ and second‐generation South Asian immigrants in Hong Kong. Results indicate that for first‐generation immigrants, lack of host language fluency, fewer contacts and friendships with host members, the strategy of marginalisation, and perceived discrimination are all related to higher psychological distress, lower self‐esteem and less competence in sociocultural adaptation. For second‐generation individuals, although they reported higher knowledge of the host language and higher preferences the for assimilation strategy, the levels of psychological distress were higher compared with the first‐generation group. An interesting finding of this study is the preference for the marginalisation strategy as opposed to the assimilation and/or separation strategy. The findings of this study highlight the importance of considering the unique experiences of the second generation in order to further our understanding of immigration and acculturation processes.     

Predictive factors of acculturation attitudes and social support among Asian immigrants in the USA

This study examines acculturation attitude and its relation to social support among Asian immigrants. The data were collected from 242 Korean, Indian and Filipino immigrants in the USA using the Acculturation Attitude Scale and the Social Support Index. Findings showed that Koreans had a less positive attitude toward acculturation than did Indian and Filipino participants. Acculturation attitude was positively correlated with educational level and English fluency. This study also found a negative correlation between acculturation attitude and social support. Social support from friends and English fluency were identified as significant predictor variables in determining the level of acculturation attitude. These findings not only contribute to social work education and practice, but also increase cultural sensitivity and awareness in working with these populations.     

The educational attainment of second-generation mainland Chinese immigrants in Taiwan

The social status and well-being of political immigrants’ children are seldom touched upon in literature. This paper focuses on the impact of refugee experience on the relative educational attainment of second-generation immigrants in Taiwan. In contrast with the results in van Ours and Veenman (J Popul Econ 16(4):739–753, 2003) and Riphahn (J Popul Econ 16(4):711–737, 2003) who showed that second-generation immigrants lag behind their native counterparts, this paper’s principle finding is that the father’s immigration status can help his children achieve a higher educational qualification than native Taiwanese after controlling the relevant determinants of educational attainment, including parental background and the neighborhood where the interviewee grows up. In addition, women born in the earlier cohort benefit more by their fathers’ immigration status than their male counterparts do. However, Taiwanese schooling advances across generations are impressive, whereby the gap in schooling attainment between second-generation immigrants and native Taiwanese is found to decline over time.

Parental stress and parenting in Chinese immigrant families: The mediating role of social support

As the population of Chinese immigrants has been growing rapidly in the United States, it has been understudied on the parenting behaviours as well as the roles parental stress and social support playing in parenting in this group. This study investigated whether parental stress was associated with parenting and whether this relationship was mediated by social support in a sample of 255 Chinese immigrant parents from the Survey of Asian American Families in New York City. Regression analyses with a rich array of control variables found that a higher level of parental stress and the presence of one or more stressors such as unemployment, low income, and low education were positively associated with the use of harsh discipline and parent–child conflicts and negatively associated with positive parenting practices. Social support functioned as a significant mediator in the relationships between parental stress and positive parenting practices but not in the relationships of parental stress with parent–child conflict or the use of harsh discipline.     

English proficiency in Australia, 1981 to 2016

Using Australian census data, the paper examines the incidence of poor English competency in Australia from 1981 onwards. The paper examines English competency in relation to various characteristics such as sex, age, language spoken, visa type, citizenship, duration of residence and location. It finds that there was a sharp rise in the numbers of people not speaking English well between the 2011 and 2016 Censuses and special attention is given to this rise in the paper. Recently, the Australian Government unsuccessfully legislated for the introduction of a requirement of English competency at the level of IELTS 6 (the commonly used university entrance level) as a condition for the award of Australian citizenship. The paper argues that this test would have led to a very large number of disenfranchised Australian permanent residents and this would be a highly undesirable result. Nevertheless, employment and social participation are strongly influenced by English competency and residents with poor English are disadvantaged. The policy suggestion is made that participation in a course of English language training for those without functional English skills could be made a precondition of the award of permanent residence—without the application of a passing grade.     

酒乡酒香 移民情长——浅析陆大献新作《酒乡》对三峡移民文化的重塑

陆大献先生的新作《酒乡》,通过描写三峡库区移民村寨在重建过程中的一系列矛盾纠葛,表现了移民的彷徨心态及其逐步向着积极方向转变的过程,同时对三峡移民文化给予了内涵的丰富和品格的重塑。     

从自然、社会和人的关系看毛泽东诗词的崇高美

毛泽东诗词描绘了祖国壮丽的河山,但他往往从社会、历史的高度出发,充满哲理性的沉思和奇异的想象,对人生的思考充满睿智,具有诗化哲学的特点。文章从自然、历史和人的关系上探讨了毛泽东诗词的崇高美。     

建立移民社会保障制度的可行性研究

针对非自愿移民而设计的社会保障制度是保障移民生活、保证移民目标实现的重要机制。以湖南省华容县为个案,深入分析建立移民社会保障制度的必要性和运行机制,并提出了一些制度构建和运行的看法。