On the Dangers of Rosy Lenses: Reply to Alba, Kasinitz and Waters

We commend the measured tone and clearly stated arguments in Alba, Kasinitz and Waters' commentary on our article. It is particularly welcome because, in combination with our own conclusions, it lays out before the relevant audiences the substance of the debate in this field. Based on the commentary's opening statement, it would appear that there are many points of agreement and that the remaining differences are mostly a matter of emphasis, a case of the glass being half full or half empty. If this were the case, there would be little justification for our original article or for this reply. On the contrary, our results and those of other researchers cited in the article's conclusion indicate that the attempt to normalize the situation by celebrating the progress achieved by the second generation is an instance of misplaced optimism. Not all kids are doing "all right," and the substantial number at risk of social and economic stagnation or downward mobility looms as a significant social problem. It is true that right-wing commentators may pick on these findings for their own purposes, but this is certainly no reason to obscure the facts. Laying a rosy veil over them is a dangerous strategy.

Cultural and Structural Perspectives on Immigrant Assimilation

A good part of the divergence in this field has to do with an emphasis on different aspects of the process of assimilation. Many scholars privilege a culturalist perspective where the emphasis is on immigrants, and especially their descendants, becoming indistinct from the natives. After they learn unaccented English, give up loyalties and concerns in their old country, and become fully involved in things American, the process is essentially complete. It matters little, from this perspective, where they end up in the hierarchies of wealth, status and power of American society. Alba's (2008:39-40) recent elaboration of the concept of mainstream, cited in AKW's comment, lines up closely with this emphasis; the concept is defined as "those spaces where the members of the majority group, including its working-class, feel at home." Presumably, when children of migrants come to feel at home in the same spaces, they can be regarded as properly assimilated.

Contrary to the dire warnings of Samuel Huntington (2004) and in agreement with Alba and Nee (2003), we are certain that this process is indeed taking place. As reported in earlier work (Portes and Rumbaut 2001; Portes, Fernandez-Kelly and Haller 2005), knowledge of English is nearly universal in the second generation, and their aspirations and cultural orientations have become thoroughly American. What is remarkable in our findings is how fast foreign languages are abandoned and how quickly children internalize the goals, practices and concerns of the host culture. The question we thus pose is [End Page 775-] not whether second-generation youths are assimilating, but to what sector of American society they are assimilating to. This ushers in the second perspective.

The structuralist perspective defines assimilation less by whether children of immigrants lose their languages and distinct cultural ways and more by whether they are able to ascend the educational and economic ladders into the American middle class. In that respect, this perspective is closer to the aspirations of immigrant parents themselves-much less concerned with cultural assimilation than with the socio-economic progress of their offspring (Portes and Rumbaut 2001). It is evident that, under present circumstances in the United States, the fulfillment of these aspirations is increasingly difficult. AKW reject the metaphor of a labor market "hourglass," only to recognize immediately afterward the increasing inequality in occupational opportunities and incomes, which is essentially the same point: the progressive bifurcation between occupations paying near-poverty wages and those that effectively allow their occupants to lead a middle- or upper-class style of life (Massey 2007; Freeman 2007). In the present American context, dropping out of high school is almost equivalent to a life sentence of poverty.

AKW stress that there has been progress across generations and we agree, albeit with several caveats. First, "progress" is measured from the usually very low education...