Immigrants, Crime, and the American Dream: Testing a Segmented Assimilation Theory of Crime

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2199406
Author(s):  
Wesley S. McCann ◽  
Saijun Zhang ◽  
Francis D. Boateng
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Intergenerational Differences ◽  
Criminological Research ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Theory Of Crime ◽  
Line Theory ◽  
Pathways To Desistance

The immigrant-crime relationship is often misunderstood and highly complex. To date, criminological research has largely ignored theory testing of this relationship. This paper examines the extant literature on intergenerational offending amongst immigrant youth and subsequently tests whether the segmented assimilation theory- a theory borrowed from the interdisciplinary social sciences- adequately explains immigrant offending. The study uses data ( N = 1,267) from the Pathways to Desistance Study (PTD) to examine intergenerational differences in changes to offending between immigrant youth and the native-born. The analyses largely reveal that the theory, based on its original assumptions, fails to adequately explain youth offending, and that the models provide more support for the straight-line theory of assimilation in regards to delinquency. Limitations and recommendations are discussed and proffered, respectively.

scholarly journals Early Turkish Immigrants’ Adaptation to American Culture and Social Integration

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 21-27
Author(s):  
Bilal Sert ◽  
Sebahattin Ziyanak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Turkish Immigrants ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Line Theory

AbstractImmigration studies still investigate immigrants’ offspring and later generations’ socioeconomic upward and downward motilities. When it comes to early Turkish immigrants, there is an unfilled “missing link” from a sociological point of view. This study explores early Turkish immigrants’ adaptation experiences in the United Sates through qualitative triangulation and the methods of observation. This article utilizes “Straight-line theory”, “decline theory”, and “segmented assimilation to expound early Turkish immigrants’ adaptation experiences in the United States. Drawing on archival documents next to meetings with immigrants’ off springs, this study finds evidence that immigration occurred during the second wave to the United States from Europe, among Turks from Anatolia and Rumelia and they successfully adapted their new social environment. Rather, the findings provide novel evidence on the role of religious view and their social interaction. When seeking early Turks’ socio educational background, we discover that highly educated individuals including religious leaders, professors, and businessmen migrated to Peabody, MA.

Segmented Assimilation: Issues, Controversies, and Recent Research on the New Second Generation

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 975-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The State ◽  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Future Studies

The segmented assimilation theory offers a theoretical framework for understanding the process by which the new second generation – the children of contemporary immigrants – becomes incorporated into the system of stratification in the host society and the different outcomes of this process. This article examines the issues and controversies surrounding the development of the segmented assimilation theory and reviews the state of recent empirical research relevant to this theoretical approach. It also highlights main conclusions from recent research that bear on this theory and their implications for future studies.

Forging a Diasporic Nigerian Ethnicity in the United States and Britain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onoso Imoagene
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation

Chapter 4 examines why the Nigerian second generation in both the United States and Britain did not forge a reactive black ethnicity as predicted by segmented assimilation theory. It describes how blackness can be constructed to be ethnically diverse. The chapter details how the Nigerian second generation are forging a diasporic Nigerian ethnicity in the United States and Britain via two simultaneous processes required in identity formation: signaling difference from members of other groups and establishing similarity to determine the boundaries of group membership. I thoroughly discuss the cultural, moral and socioeconomic boundaries established by the Nigerian second generation to delineate ethnic parameters between themselves and their proximal host. I also explain why the second generation in Britain does not draw as sharp of a boundary between themselves and their proximal hosts compared to their U.S. counterparts.

“You Are Not Like Me!”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onoso Imoagene
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Key Factor

Chapter 2 shows how the proximal host is a crucial actor influencing how the second generation of Nigerian ancestry identify. How the presence of the proximal host affects identity formation among the black second generation is generally overlooked in segmented assimilation theory and is a key factor emphasized in beyond racialization theory. The chapter details how relations with the proximal host in childhood, particularly feelings of rejection and exclusion based on perceived physical and cultural differences, laid the foundation for developing a distinct ethnicity in adulthood. I discuss the responses of the proximal hosts in the United States and Britain to the Nigerian second generation when they were young. What was viewed as discriminatory responses by members of the proximal host by the Nigerian second generation fostered a feeling of being black but different among the Nigerian second generation. The tense relations between proximal hosts and the African second generation required the young Nigerian second generation to start the process of defining what being black meant to them and defining a diasporic ethnic identity differentiating them from their proximal hosts.

The Threat of Downward Assimilation Among Young African Immigrants in U.S. Schools

2019 ◽  
pp. 330-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immaculee Harushimana ◽  
Janet Awokoya
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
African Immigrants ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
School Communities ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Intervention Measures

This chapter presents research implications geared toward preventing the downward assimilation trend prevailing among young African immigrants in US public schools. Secondary data from three qualitative studies of integration and adaptation processes of African-born immigrant youth in urban school settings helped identify signs of downward assimilation, especially among males. Salient signs of this trend include low academic achievement, gang inclination, and defiance towards authority. Four major theories—segmented assimilation, socio-ecological theory, intersectionality, and critical race theory—served as framework for the analysis of the risk factors that may lead young African immigrants to follow the downward assimilation path. The analysis reveals the need for intervention measures at the federal, state, and school levels to reduce the vulnerability of non-predominant minority youth in US school settings and the moral responsibility of school authorities to ensure their welfare. Recommended preventive measures include (1) educating immigrant families and school communities; (2) encouraging collaboration and dialogue between African community organizations, school administration, and policymakers purported at creating a favorable school climate for the marginalized African immigrant youth; (3) increasing intervention measures, such as school-community mediation and political representation.

Educational Expectations among Immigrant Youth: Links to Segmented Assimilation and School Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-278
Author(s):  
Christina J. Diaz
Keyword(s):  
School Environment ◽  
School Context ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Educational Expectations ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
National Education ◽  
Household Resources ◽  
National Education Longitudinal Study ◽  
First And Second Generation

Although schools are important socialization venues for all children, they also serve as sites of acculturation for immigrant youth. According to segmented assimilation theory, first- and second-generation students experience divergent trajectories of incorporation, in part, because they are exposed to school contexts that support or stifle their attainment. I argue that such a process must have social-psychological underpinnings, which I examine by relating children’s educational expectations to their school environment during adolescence. Specifically, I use the National Education Longitudinal Study to assess differences in expectations by school context among immigrant and U.S.-origin youth between eighth and 12th grades. Results indicate that students in comparably disadvantaged school environments report lower expectations, though this relationship is driven by household resources and student characteristics. I also find that most students exhibit increases in their educational expectations, and that such changes are not systemically patterned by school context. This article sheds light on the goals of immigrant youth and the extent to which these plans transform from childhood to adolescence.

Religious discrimination in young Muslim assimilation in Spain: Contributions to Portes and Rumbaut’s segmented assimilation theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-616
Author(s):  
Jordi Collet-Sabé
Keyword(s):  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Significant Barrier ◽  
Discrimination Hypothesis ◽  
Different Origins ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Do So

This article aims to consider the role of religion in the integration process of children born to immigrants in host societies (second generation) in Spain using the theory of segmented assimilation of Portes and Rumbaut and Portes, Aparicio and Haller. It is based on an exploratory qualitative research project conducted in a medium-sized city in Catalonia that examined the integration of young people of different origins and the role religion played in this process. To do so, we proffer a religious discrimination hypothesis: a scenario in which Islam, but not other religions, can become a significant barrier to positive assimilation. According to the results, this ‘religious stigma’ scenario occurs in the majority of the young Muslims who were interviewed and across many aspects of their lives.

Does the Nature of the Victimization–Offending Association Fluctuate Over the Life Course? An Examination of Adolescence and Early Adulthood

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 786-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Schreck ◽  
Mark T. Berg ◽  
Graham C. Ousey ◽  
Eric A. Stewart ◽  
J. Mitchell Miller
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
The Core ◽  
Criminological Research ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pathways To Desistance

Decades of criminological research has established that victimization is strongly connected with offending—this pattern is among the most durable in the criminological literature. However, there are plausible reasons to believe that under some theoretically defined conditions, the association can vary across the life course. Using 10 waves from the Pathways to Desistance data, which follow more than 1,300 youth from early adolescence into adulthood, we model within-individual change in the victimization–offending association as well as evaluate possible theoretical reasons for this change. Our results show that the influence of victimization on offending weakens as people age, although the association remains positive across the life course. The core substantive predictors, however, could not account for this temporal weakening of the association. We discuss the implications of these results for further theoretical development on offending.

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