Locational Decisions and Settlement Patterns among Immigrants in the US

Question 1: Typical Immigrant Groups and Factors Affecting their Locational Decisions and Settlement Patterns

Instruction:

Answer one question below.

Q1. Based on the discussion of locational decisions and settlement patterns among labor migrants, professionals, entrepreneurial minorities, and refugees in Chapter 4 (e.g., Pp.83-85):

(1). Identify one typical immigrant group by the country of origin (e.g., Mexican, Indian, Korea, Cuban) and by the type of immigration (i.e., labor migrants, professionals, entrepreneurial minorities, and refugees) and

(2). explain the factors affecting the locational decision and the settlement pattern for each immigrant group.

Q2. Settlement patterns among recent immigrants to the United States show two contradictory outcomes: concentration and diffusion. While immigrants are found in every state and metropolitan area, a few states and metropolitan areas have received a disproportionate number of newcomers.

Based on the discussion of the concentration of immigrants in large metropolitan areas in Chapter 4 (e.g., Pp.100-106), explain why immigrants prefer to settle in large metropolitan areas.

Q3. Based on the discuss in Chapter 4 (Pp.106-109), address the following two questions:

(1) Will recent immigrants and their descendants continue to be disproportionately concentrated in a few metropolitan areas?

(2) Will they gradually disperse throughout the country?

Q4. According to Sociologist Ivan Light (2006), Mexican immigrants began to leave the three traditional states (i.e., California, Texas, and Illinois) after 1980s and settle in new settlement states, cities, and regions. Based on the supplementary reading in Pilot, “How Los Angeles Deflected Mexican Immigrants to the American Heartland,”

(1) describe locational decisions and settlement patterns among Mexican immigrants, and

(2) explain the political and economic factors affecting spatial dispersion among Mexican immigrants.

Q5. The supplementary reading in Pilot, “Contemporary Immigrant Gateways in Historical Perspective,” describes the geographic concentration and dispersion of the immigrant population in historical perspective.

One of the interesting findings is that “There are now more immigrants in U.S. suburban areas than cities.” Based on this supplementary reading,

(1) describe the rise of suburban settlement patterns in the contemporary period, and

(2) explain why that happened. ?Singer, Audrey. 2013. “Contemporary Immigrant Gateways in Historical Perspective.” Daedalus 142(3): 76-91.

Q6. Research shows that the selective immigration of Asians with positive characteristics in recent years contributes to educational achievement in the members of the 1.5 and second generation. Based on the supplementary reading in Pilot, “Hyper-Selectivity and the Remaking of Culture,” explain how selected immigration affects the educational attainment of the children of immigrants.

Zhou, Min, and Jennifer Lee. 2017. “Hyper-Selectivity and the Remaking of Culture: Understanding the Asian American Achievement Paradox.” Asian American Journal of Psychology 8(1): 7-15.

Q7. The supplementary reading, “Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Ethnic Strategies,” identifies seven common business problems that ethnic entrepreneurs must deal with. Based on this reading, discuss the strategies that ethnic entrepreneurs employ to meet problems related to their enterprises. ?

Boissevain, Jeremy, Jochen Blaschke, Hanneke Grotenbreg, Isaac Joseph, Ivan Light, Marlene Sway, Roger Waldinger, and Pnina Werbner. 1990. “Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Ethnic Strategies.” Pp.131-156 in Ethnic Entrepreneurs: Immigrant Business in Industrial Societies, edited by Roger Waldinger, Howard Aldrich, and Robin Ward. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.