Color Lines, Country Lines: Race, Immigration, and Wealth Stratification in America

Chapter 1. Introduction

Introduction T his book is about the impact of immigration on wealth stratification in America and the wealth assimilation of immigrants. The term immigrant refers to anyone who has crossed the U.S. border and settled in the United States for a substantial period, regardless of legal status. The era that followed the 1965 immigration law was characterized by a spike in immigration, mostly from Latin America and Asia. The volume, continuity, overwhelming racial and ethnic diversity, and high proportion of low skilled individuals have raised renewed concerns about the adaptability and assimilation of immigrants. Less attention, however, is paid to the impact of immigration on American society. My central argument is that to understand assimilation we must consider the impact immigration has on society and that to make a valid assessment of this impact we must consider assimilation. Why would immigration affect the host society? If immigrants were similar to the native-born population in all aspects—such as race, education level, skill composition, and culture and lifestyle—and if resources and opportunities were abundant, the impact of immigration would be minimal. Contemporary immigration to the United States, however, does not follow this pattern. Scholars have emphasized how contemporary immigration has transformed the American population. It has been noted, for example, that immigration counts for 60 percent of U.S. population growth; one in nine are foreign born and one in five children have a foreign-born parent; about half of Hispanics and Asians are foreign born; many cities now have predominantly minority populations; and whites are projected to account for less than half of the population within a few decades. Such a large-scale, ongoing population change can profoundly interfere with the social structure and social processes of a society , most notably in the stratification system. Stratification distributes a country’s population across the spectrum of well-being. Scholarly attention to immigrants does not for the most part reference the larger picture of immigration-induced social change. This book is devoted to bridging the gap. Chapter 1 1 Why is assimilation so important? Beyond humanitarian and nationalist concerns, the future of the United States depends, to a great degree, on the assimilation of generations of immigrants. The classical literature on assimilation was established in the mid-1940s during a period of historically low immigration, which had followed a peak around the turn of the century. Without a large immigrant generation, studies focused on the assimilation of second and higher generations. Recent literature has focused on the changing demographics of contemporary immigration and continued to study second and higher generations. Both classical and contemporary assimilation literatures thus deemphasize the assimilation of the immigrant generation. The assimilation of higher generations , however, hinges on it. The heredity of social class and the intergenerational transfer of resources and of status all point to the linkages between generations. Thus, to understand the assimilation of second and higher generations, one must first understand the assimilation of the immigrant generation. This book is about the assimilation of the first generation . Wealth is a promising vehicle for answering this book’s questions about the impact of immigration on American society and about assimilation under immigration-induced social change. Unlike wages, income, employment, and occupation, wealth is a multifaceted concept that absorbs the consequences of many economic activities. As a concept, it encompasses assets and debts. In turn, assets and debts manifest earning, saving, consuming, and portfolio allocating behaviors. These embody cultural values and lifestyles that govern people’s expectations for their children, their plans for asset building and future consumption, and their preparations for old age. The balance between assets (homes, stocks, mutual funds, and retirement accounts) and debts (mortgages and credit card debts) constitute wealth. In addition, wealth is accumulated over time. The level of wealth at any given time reflects all previous behaviors and cultural practices. Thus, by providing people with strong economic security and creating future opportunities, sufficient wealth acts as a marker of middle-class status. These unique features of wealth make the wealth stratification system an ideal tool for studying the impact of immigration on American society . The black-white wealth disparity is much more severe than the black-white income disparity. Less is known about the wealth of Hispanics and Asians. Human capital differences and behavioral differences in saving and consumption can differ among racial groups. Given the racial and ethnic diversity, the high proportion of the low-skilled, and the cultural diversity of...