Tagged: assimilation

Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Law, Crime and Deviance

Immigrants and Crime: The Importance of Destination?

Crime is a global phenomenon. From the most highly developed states to the least developed ones, crime represents a significant threat to social well-being. And because of its ubiquity, unsavoriness, and harmful qualities, criminal activity has the distinction of being a social event that is often blamed on the individuals who live on the fringes of a society. For immigrants, this tendency to place the blame of crime on the less well-off members of a society is particularly dangerous since...

Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Culture

The British National Party: ‘Still Discriminatory’?

Today, the Central London County Court has delivered its verdict in relation to the British National Party’s [BNP] membership policy. Judge Paul Collins’ decision – whilst noting the BNP’s attempts to modify its constitution – found that the party recruitment policy was ‘still likely to be discriminatory.’ Since the proceedings have been initiated the BNP has removed any requirement for members to be white, although it retains many troubling conditions. For instance: the compulsory opposition to “integration or assimilation” of...

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Media & Communication / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Immigration Reform: Misplaced Responsibility

The concept of immigration reform, like welfare reform focuses on symptoms and not the causes.  Many of the policies involved in immigration reform are band-aids, temporary solutions rather than systemic alternatives.  The New York Times recently reported on the failure of the Obama Administration to introduce a comprehensive bill designed to target immigration generally and immigrants specifically (see article below). According to sociologist and immigration activist Grace Change, such reform bills reproduce/overlook three themes.  First, the goal of ‘reform’ efforts...

Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Sociology of Culture

(Untold) Storytelling

by theoryforthemasses Immigrants’ stories of sacrifice and (re)settlement are often overshadowed by statistics about demographics like educational attainment, income, and family size; the stories themselves remain untold. A recent New York Times article explores the impact of these stories on the children of immigrant families. Each year sociologist and Hunter College professor Nancy Foner teaches a class entitled “The Peopling of New York” wherein she asks students to interview a close relative about recent family history. Given that many of...