Alejandro Portes

Seeks to pull together the many strands of our available knowledge of the new wave of immigration to America and to grasp the diversity and the underlying structures of this immigration.

The Urban Caribbean studies urbanization in five countries - Costa Rica, Haiti, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica - during the 1980s and 1990s, when the region's economy shifted from one heavily dependent on imports to one directed more to producing exports. This shift caused producers and entrepreneurs to rely more on microenterprises, thus challenging the informal economy networks of the central cities. Sociologist Alejandro Portes and the other contributors use rich, in-depth data to examine both qualitative and quantitative changes in these five countries. Their research method allows them to make generalizations applicable to all five economies while retaining the concreteness of the similarities and differences that make each country unique.

"Exceptionally well researched and data-rich study. A brief summary chapter on recent Caribbean Basin urban trends is followed by two longer in-depth studies of Costa Rican changes (esp. in metropolitican San José) and of Guatemala City. Close attention is paid to 30-40 years of economic changes, including topics such as migration, maquiladoras, the informal sectors, economic differences across the capital-city areas, and urban policies"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

The Economic Sociology of Immigration forges a dynamic link between the theoretical innovations of economic sociology and the latest empirical findings from immigration research, an area of critical concern as the problems of ethnic poverty and inequality become increasingly profound. Alejandro Portes's overview of sociological approaches to economic phenomena provides the framework for six wide-ranging investigations into ethnic and immigrant labor networks and social resources, entrepreneurship, and cultural assimilation. Mark Granovetter illustrates how small businesses built on the supposedly archaic bonds of ethnicity and kinship can not only survive in a modern economy but, under certain conditions, flourish remarkably well. Bryan R. Roberts demonstrates how immigrant groups' expectations of the duration of their stay influence their propensity toward entrepreneurship. Ivan Light and Carolyn Rosenstein chart how specific metropolitan environments have stimulated or impeded entrepreneurial ventures in five ethnic populations. Saskia Sassen provides a revealing analysis of the unexpectedly flexible labor market networks maintained between immigrants and their native countries, while M. Patricia Fernandez Kelly looks specifically at the black inner city to examine how insular cultural values - particularly views on adolescent pregnancy - hinder the acquisition of skills and jobs outside the neighborhood. Alejandro Portes also discusses cultural maladaptation in the inner city, depicting the clash between the attitudes of American-born youths and those of recent immigrants, and its effects on the economic success of immigrant children.

"A New York roofer requests payment in cash. A Bogota car mechanic sets up "shop" on a quiet side street. Four Mexican immigrants assemble semiconductors in a San Diego home. A Leningrad doctor sells needed medicine to a desperate patient. All are part of a growing worldwide phenomenon that is widely known but little understood. The informal or underground economy is thriving today, not only in the Third World countries where it was first reported and studied but also in Eastern Europe and the developed nations of the West. The Informal Economy is the first book to bring together studies from all three of these settings and to integrate them into a coherent theoretical framework. Taking an international perspective, the authors dispel a number of misconceptions about the informal economy. They make clear, for instance, that it is not solely a province of the poor. Cutting across social strata, it reflects a political and economic realignment between employers and workers and a shift in the regulatory mission of the government. Throughout, the authors' theoretical observations serve not only to unify material from diverse sources but also to map out directions for further research."--Back cover.

Cuban and Haitian immigrants were interviewed upon their entry into the United States (Florida) in 1983-1984, with follow-up interviews in 1986 and 1987. The project sought to examine change in attitudes, change in social and economic status, and language assimilation.

712 p. : 23 cm

The children of the recent influx of immigrants compose a second generation far different from any this country has known before. Largely nonwhite and from the world's developing nations, these children struggle with complex problems of racial and ethnic relations in multicultural urban neighborhoods where good jobs are increasingly scarce. The New Second Generation chronicles the lives of second-generation youth in Miami, New York City, New Orleans, and Southern California. The contributors balance careful analysis with the voices of the youngsters themselves, focusing primarily on education, career expectations, language preference, ethnic pride, and the influence of their American-born peers. Demographic portraits reveal that although many immigrant youths are poor, this disadvantage is partially offset by the fact that their parents are typically married, self-employed, and off welfare. Historical analysis of language preferences among Miami's Hispanic youth also reveals their unequivocal preference for English. Still other essays explore the process of adaptation and self-definition among immigrant youth, especially the influences of neighborhood, ethnicity, and family. . As immigration continues to change the face of the nation's cities, we cannot ignore the crucial issue of how well the children of immigrants will adapt. The New Second Generation provides valuable insight into issues that may spell the difference between regeneration and decay across urban America.

468 pages : 23 cm

"Comparative, historical study of Caribbean urbanization includes chapters by S. Manigat on Haiti, D. Gordon and S. Dixon on Jamaica, and W. Lozano and I. Duarte on the Dominican Republic. Each chapter reviews governmental economic policy and its effects on urban areas, class divisions, urban ecological differentiation, and internal and international migration"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.