Ages, Life Stages, and Generational Cohorts: Decomposing the Immigrant First and Second Generations in the United States
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 September 2004
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Migration Review
- Vol. 38 (3) , 1160-1205
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00232.x
Abstract
This article focuses on problems with the definition and empirical identification of immigrant “first” and “second” generations in the United States. These loosely conceived aggregates are decomposed into a typology of distinct generational cohorts defined by age and life stage at migration for the foreign born and by parental nativity for the U.S. born. Differences in educational and occupational attainment and in language and other aspects of acculturation are then examined to consider whether the practice of “lumping” these generational cohorts together, or “splitting” them into distinctive units of analysis, is empirically supported by available evidence. The paper concludes with some thoughts on data needs and methodological considerations in the study of immigrant generations. “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages …” – William Shakespeare, “As You Like It,” Act II, Scene 7.Keywords
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Demographic Diversity of Immigrants and Their ChildrenPublished by University of California Press ,2001
- Triumphant Transitions: Socioeconomic Achievements of the Second Generation in CanadaInternational Migration Review, 1998
- Internal Ethnicity: Iranians in Los AngelesSociological Perspectives, 1997
- The Problem of Generations (1928)Published by Springer Nature ,1996
- American Immigrant Groups: Ethnic Identification and the Problem of Generations (1965)Published by Springer Nature ,1996
- Today's Second Generation: Evidence from the 1990 U.S. CensusInternational Migration Review, 1994
- Second‐generation decline: Scenarios for the economic and ethnic futures of the post‐1965 American immigrantsEthnic and Racial Studies, 1992
- Children of the Boat PeoplePublished by University of Michigan Library ,1991
- Part II: The Analytic Framework: Exile and Resettlement: Refugee TheoryInternational Migration Review, 1981
- The Refugee in Flight: Kinetic Models and forms of DisplacementInternational Migration Review, 1973