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 EIGHT Experiencing Success Structuring the Perception of Opportunities for West Indians Vilna F. Bashi Bobb and Averil Y. Clarke The question of social mobility is a critical one for West Indian migrants in the United States and for the lives of their children. Much of the literature on this question focuses on the success or lack of success of black immigrants relative to native-born blacks. In this chapter we explore the way first- and second-generation West Indian immigrants perceive the possibilities and opportunities for social mobility, and we analyze these perceptions as a function of immigrants’ social experience in global and local stratification systems. We use the words of our sample group and the resulting ethnographic insights to understand the social bases for ethnic identification among West Indians . By diagraming the social experiences that lead to particular types of ethnic identification for black West Indian immigrants and those born in the United States of black West Indian immigrant parents, we hope to shed light on the way social experiences and ethnic identification produce particular kinds of perceptions about the possibilities for achieving higher socioeconomic outcomes. It has often been argued that “success” among West Indian blacks is due to their West Indian culture (Kalmijn 1996; Sowell 1978) and that “failure,” “hopelessness,” or “lack of optimism” (particularly in the second generation ) may be a result of their downward assimilation into the “inner-city” culture of black Americans (Waters 1996a; Portes 1995a; Kao and Tienda 1995). Our conclusion is that racial adaptation to American society (not socialization to an “inner-city,” underclass, or otherwise aberrant black culture ) is the key ingredient for explaining how the second generation comes to lose “hope” and “optimism” when assessing the possibilities for its economic future. RESEARCH ON THE WEST INDIAN GENERATIONS Using data from the 1970 U.S. Census, Thomas Sowell (1978) argued that second-generation West Indians exceeded the socioeconomic status of the immigrant generation and that the immigrant generation showed higher status attainment relative to African Americans. Sowell suggested that West Indian immigrant socioeconomic success relative to that of African Americans “undermines the explanatory power of current white discrimination as a cause of current black poverty” (Sowell 1978: 49). Since the 1978 publication of Sowell’s writings, much debate has centered on disproving or verifying and then explaining differential success among West Indians of the first (immigrant), second, and third generations, as compared to African Americans (American-born blacks). Not surprisingly, given this emphasis, much of the research on firstgeneration West Indians has been structured to assess their success relative to American-born blacks, who are seen as a “natural” comparison group because of their shared racial ascription. These works have documented West Indian placement in labor and housing markets (Crowder 1999; Butcher 1994; Model 1991; Farley and Allen 1987; Sowell 1978), their economic success or lack thereof relative to people of African descent born in the United States (Kalmijn 1996; Waldinger 1996; Butcher 1994; Model 1991; Farley and Allen 1987; Sowell 1978), and aspects of the reception West Indians encounter in the United States and the immigrants’ adaptive responses (Vickerman 1999; Kasinitz 1992; Basch 1987a; Foner 1978; Bryce-Laporte 1972). Research on the second generation of West Indians in the United States has investigated whether they represent a model of the continued success of West Indian immigrants or if theirs is an assimilation of a different kind (Kalmijn 1996; Waters 1996a; Kao and Tienda 1995; Portes 1995a).1 Various explanations have been advanced by researchers employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, but cultural explanations for the success of West Indian ethnics are by far the most popular. West Indian success in mobility has been attributed to a seemingly superior culture, oriented toward optimism (Waters 1996a; Kao and Tienda 1995), “hard work and achievement” (Kalmijn 1996), and a commitment to socioeconomic independence from the social welfare structure (Sowell 1978). Failure (of the second generation) to thrive in schooling or in the economic arena has been attributed to “downward leveling,” or assimilation to the “inner-city culture” of blacks (Waters 1996a; Kao and Tienda 1995; Portes 1995a). We do not wish to dismiss the role of cultural values in immigrant achievement. Nor do we deny that assimilation for black immigrants often involves assimilation to a negative social niche. Yet academic analysts too often equate this negative social niche with culture—that is, the culture of American black “ethnics” (i.e., African Americans).2 We argue EXPERIENCING SUCCESS  [3.140...

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