Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation

by Alejandro Portes (Author), Alejandro Portes (Author)

New
Paperback
2001
$32.82

One out of five Americans, more than 55 million people, are first-or second-generation immigrants. This landmark study, the most comprehensive to date, probes all aspects of the new immigrant second generation's lives, exploring their immense potential to transform American society for better or worse. Whether this new generation reinvigorates the nation or deepens its social problems depends on the social and economic trajectories of this still young population. In Legacies , Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut - two of the leading figures in the field - provide a close look at this rising second generation, including their patterns of acculturation, family and school life, language, identity, experiences of discrimination, self-esteem, ambition, and achievement. Based on the largest research study of its kind, Legacies combines vivid vignettes with a wealth of survey and school data. Accessible, engaging, and indispensable for any consideration of the changing face of American society, this book presents a wide range of real-life stories of immigrant families - from Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Philippines, China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam - now living in Miami and San Diego, two of the areas most heavily affected by the new immigration. The authors explore the world of second-generation youth, looking at patterns of parent-child conflict and cohesion within immigrant families, the role of peer groups and school subcultures, the factors that affect the children's academic achievement, and much more. A companion volume to Legacies , entitled Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America , was published by California in Fall 2001. Edited by the authors of Legacies , this book will bring together some of the country's leading scholars of immigration and ethnicity to provide a close look at this rising second generation. It is a co-publication with the Russell Sage Foundation.

Synopsis

One out of five Americans, more than 55 million people, are first-or second-generation immigrants. This landmark study, the most comprehensive to date, probes all aspects of the new immigrant second generation's lives, exploring their immense potential to transform American society for better or worse. Whether this new generation reinvigorates the nation or deepens its social problems depends on the social and economic trajectories of this still young population. In Legacies , Alejandro Portes and Ruben G. Rumbaut - two of the leading figures in the field - provide a close look at this rising second generation, including their patterns of acculturation, family and school life, language, identity, experiences of discrimination, self-esteem, ambition, and achievement. Based on the largest research study of its kind, Legacies combines vivid vignettes with a wealth of survey and school data. Accessible, engaging, and indispensable for any consideration of the changing face of American society, this book presents a wide range of real-life stories of immigrant families - from Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Philippines, China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam - now living in Miami and San Diego, two of the areas most heavily affected by the new immigration. The authors explore the world of second-generation youth, looking at patterns of parent-child conflict and cohesion within immigrant families, the role of peer groups and school subcultures, the factors that affect the children's academic achievement, and much more. A companion volume to Legacies , entitled Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America , was published by California in Fall 2001. Edited by the authors of Legacies , this book will bring together some of the country's leading scholars of immigration and ethnicity to provide a close look at this rising second generation. It is a co-publication with the Russell Sage Foundation.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 454
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 14 Jun 2001
ISBN 10: 0520228480
ISBN 13: 9780520228481

Media Reviews

If Marx, Weber, and Durkheim were alive at the dawn of the 21st century, Legacies is the first book they would have to read to understand just what is at stake in the new immigration. This elegant book - theoretically precise, empirically robust, and analytically savvy - will become the standard by which all subsequent scholarship on the sociology of immigration will be measured. I am buying an extra copy today to send to the new president of the United States. -Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, Professor and Codirector, The Harvard Immigration Projects, Harvard University

Author Bio

Alejandro Portes is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Director of the Center for Migration and Development, Woodrow Wilson School for Public Affairs. He is the coauthor of City on the Edge: The Transformation of Miami (California, 1993) and Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States (California, 1985). Portes is the 2010 recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association. Ruben G. Rumbaut is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. He is coauthor, with Alejandro Portes, of Immigrant America: A Portrait (California, 1996), and the coeditor of Immigration Research for a New Century: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2000) and Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America(1996).