American immigrants are often considered symbols of hope and promise. Presidential candidates point to their immigrant roots, Ellis Island is celebrated as a national monument, and the melting pot remains a popular, if somewhat tarnished, American analogy. At the same time, images of impoverished Mexicans swarming across the Mexican-American border and boatloads of desperate Haitian and Cuban refugees depict America as a nation under siege. While governments and business interests generally welcome aliens for the economic benefits they generate, the success of these groups paradoxically stirs distrust and envy, leading to discrimination, oppression, and, in some cases, eviction. Surveying the political and economic history of American immigration, Thomas Muller compellingly argues that the clamor at America's gate should be a cause of pride, not anxiety; a sign of vigor, not an omen of decline. Illustrating that recent waves of immigration have facilitated urban renewal, Muller emphasizes the many ways in which aliens have lessened our cities' social problems rather than contributing to them. Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco, traditional gateways to other continents, have all benefited from the contributions of immigrants. To assess perceived and actual costs of absorbing the new immigrants, Muller examines their impact on city income, housing, minority jobs, public services, and wages. But Muller argues that noneconomic concerns (such as recent attempts to formalize English as the country's official language) frequently mirror deeply-rooted fears that could explain the cyclical pattern of American attitudes toward immigrants over the last three centuries. The nation, he contends, may again be turning inward, initiating a period of growing hostility toward the foreign-born. Nonetheless, higher entry levels for skilled immigrants would improve the technological standing of the U.S., increase the standard of living for the middle class, and facilitate the resurgence of our inner cities.

This volume of The ANNALS brings together a leading set of scholars to present new research on trends in the spatial forms of immigration that are transforming the American landscape—the effects of "the world in a city." With a distinct analytic focus, the volume takes a comparative approach, examining recent immigration trends, disaggregating by ethnicity or immigrant type wherever possible, focusing on core features of the nation's social fabric (e.g., violence, legitimacy of social institutions, governance, economic well-being), and empirically going beyond the big cities of traditional concern to a host of smaller cities and towns reaching into far-flung pockets of the country. The lineup includes papers on both familiar cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami; as well as places as different as San Antonio; Nashville; Boston; Dublin; Hazleton, Pennsylvania; and St. James, Minnesota. While the places studied and features of their social fabric may differ, the social processes underlying the spatial forms of immigration are shown to be largely the same. This volume will be of interest to social scientists from a broad range of disciplines who engage in research and teaching on issues related to immigration; policy-makers; and individuals working on immigration-policy research.

The continuing tendency to "continentalize" Canadian issues has been particularly marked in the area of urban studies where United States-based research findings, methodologies, and attitudes have held sway. In this book, Goldberg and Mercer demonstrate that the label "North American City" as widely used is inappropriate and misleading in discussion of the distinctive Canadian urban environment. Examining such elements of the cultural context as mass values, social and demographic structures, the economy, and political institutions, they reveal salient differences between Canada and the United States.

"This is a textbook for undergraduate students studying the Asian American experience and ethnic studies in the fields of Sociology, Political Science, History, and Cultural Studies."--Jacket.

David Ward examines the geographical relationship between migrants and the inner city and the creation of slums and ghettos.

Generations ago, immigrants came to the U.S. from Europe and Africa in large numbers. Today they are arriving mainly from Latin America and Asia. Most are documented but many are not. While the federal and most state governments have done little beyond controlling borders and ports of entry to address pressing immigration issues, public officials and community organizations at the local level have been advancing commonsense, pragmatic solutions to accommodate the newest members of American society. This collection of essays provides a handbook for developing good county- and municipal-level immigrant services. The contributors cover a diverse range of trends, issues and practices, including immigration reform, language access, identification and driver's licensing, employment, education, voting, public safety and legal assistance.

International migration is often considered a relatively new development in world history. Yet, while there has been a surge in migration since World War II, the worldwide movement of peoples is a longstanding phenomenon. So, too, are the fundamental issues raised by immigration. How do immigrants fit into and affect the polity and society of the country they enter? What changes can or must the receiving state make to accomodate them? What changes in culture and ethnic indentity do immigrants undergo in their new environment? How do they relate to the mix of peoples already present in their new homeland What determines the policies that govern their reception and treatment? In this volume, expertly edited by a leading American political scientist-lawyer and a leading French historian, twenty-one renowned experts on immigration address these questions and a variety of other issues involving the experiences of immigrants in the city, at the workplace, and in schools and churches. Their essays examine the issues of nationality, citizenship, law, and politics that define the life of an immigrant population. Focusing on the United States and France, this voluem is a social history and a legal and public policy study that comprehensively portrays the dilemmas immigrants present and face. Contributors include Sophie Body-Gendrot, Danielle Boyzon-Frader, Andre-Clement Decoufle, Veronique de Rudder, Lawrence H. Fuchs, Nathan Glazer, Philip Gleason, Stanley Lieberson, Lance Liebman, Daniele Lochak, Michel Oriol, Martin A. Schain, Peter H. Schuck, Roxane Silberman, Werner Sollors, Stephan Thernstrom, Maryse Tripier, Maris A. Vinovskis, and Myron Weiner.

Great American City demonstrates the powerfully enduring impact of place. Based on one of the most ambitious studies in the history of social science, Robert J. Sampson’s Great American City presents the fruits of over a decade’s research to support an argument that we all feel and experience every day: life is decisively shaped by your neighborhood. Engaging with the streets and neighborhoods of Chicago, Sampson, in this new edition, reflects on local and national changes that have transpired since his book’s initial publication, including a surge in gun violence and novel forms of segregation despite an increase in diversity. New research, much of it a continuation of the influential discoveries in Great American City, has followed, and here, Sampson reflects on its meaning and future directions. Sampson invites readers to see the status of the research initiative that serves as the foundation of the first edition—the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN)—and outlines the various ways other scholars have continued his work. Both accessible and incisively thorough, Great American City is a must-read for anyone interested in cutting-edge urban sociology and the study of crime.