ImmigrationCounting Immigrant GenerationsFirst Generation: The ImmigrantsSecond GenerationThird GenerationPolitics of Immigrant GenerationsImmigration•Soujourner s = here temporarily to work•Settlers = here to make new life•Fluid boundaries: some expect to go home and do not, others expect to stay and go home•High proportion of all immigrant groups (European, Asian, Mexican, Latino) go home.•We are the descendents of those who stayed.Counting Immigrant Generations•1) First = the immigrants•2) Second = children of immigrants•[Some call those who migrate as small children the 1.5 generation.]•3) Third = grandchildren of immigrants•NOTE: Asian immigrant groups count 0 as the immigrants, 1 as the children of the immigrants (the first generation born here). Just a different custom for talking about the same thing.First Generation: The Immigrants•Usually feel pulls between home and here.•Usually a drop in class & status position vs. home.•Experience US culture & life as alien, difficult•Self-identities rooted in home country. Know they are foreign here; doesn’t bother them much.•Interested in life back home, think about maybe going home; have to decide where “home” is.•Can decide whether to become citizens (Pre-WWII, Asians & African-descent could not become citizens)Second Generation•US-born children of immigrants (+ child migrants). •Grow up speaking English, going to US schools.•Some bilingual, others cannot speak parents’ language.•Parents often conservative, expect tighter control over children, view larger society as alien•Awareness of being “different,” concerns about fitting in.•Torn between parents’ ideas and the larger society.•Parent-child conflicts are common. •Power reversals if the child translates for the parents.Third Generation•Grandchildren of immigrants, children of the torn generation•Little real contact with grandparents’ culture, full cultural assimilation to mainstream.•Often romantic nostalgia for grandparents’ culture•Whites blend in, non-whites experience racial discrimination, become more “race conscious”•Intermarriage rates generally highPolitics of Immigrant Generations•Immigrants–Usually little interest in US politics, more in politics “back home”–Form self-protective, fraternal groups to help each other–Ethnic churches, organizations common•Children, grandchildren of immigrants–Identify as “American”–European-descent people “blend in” once they lose accents. Ethnic politics optional.–Racial minorities adopt politics of inclusion: resist
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