New Patterns Of Hispanic Settlement In Rural America

Author : Emily Wornell Seregow
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (992 download)

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Download or read book Immigrant Integration In New US Destinations written by Emily Wornell Seregow and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting in the early 1990s, immigration settlement patterns in the United States underwent an unprecedented shift. For a variety of reasons, immigrants, primarily from Mexico and Latin America, who had traditionally settled in five states began to disperse more widely throughout the entire country. Relatively suddenly, cities and small towns that had little previous experience with immigration saw significant increases in their Latino immigrant populations, and Hispanic populations in many of these places have continued to grow since. Not only did this open a new area of research new Hispanic destinations but it also threw into question much of what sociologists understood about assimilation and integration. This research contributes to both bodies of research by using the informal work as a proxy for the assimilation process of Latino immigrants in new, U.S. destinations. Moreover, by considering the development and use of networks of informal work, this research also relies heavily upon, and contributes to, the literature in both informal work and social networks. Because there is no one source of data that can speak directly to the complicated and evolving sociological phenomena of interest, this paper uses a three-paper dissertation format and employs a mixed-methods approach. The first paper uses national-level survey data on informal work to examine the role of this work in U.S. households generally. The second paper looks at the formal economic integration of Latinos in traditional and several categories of new destinations using the U.S. Census and American Community Survey data. The final paper uses a case study to examine the inter- and co-ethnic networks of informal work in a new, rural Hispanic destination in Oregon. Being positioned at the nexus of multiple established literatures and theory assimilation and integration, new destination migration, informal work, and social networks this research has the ability to contribute not only to a better understanding of each of these areas separately, but also to how they interact with one another in a way that has not been considered in the past. Findings highlight the role of informal work as a potential protection against poverty and its non-economic community building role, and they call into question the understanding that participation in informal work relies on labor force attachment and having a good job. These findings also show that returns to work and human capital are lower in rural communities and nonmetropolitan new destinations for both Latinos and non-Hispanic whites, which may make the reliance on informal work more important, but may also slow assimilation. Several policy responses are suggested, including formalizing the system of informal work, addressing inequality in rural communities, and assisting in the assimilation process and community response to changing demographics in new destinations.