/pdf/social-capital-a-theory-of-social-structure-and-action-4m7poq6byy.pdf

Social capital: a theory of social structure and action

Economics Of Discrimination

Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World.

Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World

Richard Alba and Nancy Foner have written what will undoubtedly become the ‘‘go-to’’ book for comparisons of immigration on both sides of the Atlantic. Clearly written, meticulously researched, and insightfully analyzed, Strangers No More: Immigration and the Challenges of Integration in North America and Western Europe helps readers easily capture the broad mechanisms driving migration and integration today. Alba and Foner compare the United States and Canada, two big, settler societies that have long thought of themselves as countries of immigration, with Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Germany, which have all experienced significant immigration since World War II. They focus on ‘‘low-status’’ groups (i.e., Mexicans in the United States, North Africans in France, and Turks in Germany). They want to know ‘‘the extent to which immigrants and their children are able to participate in mainstream institutions in ways that position them to advance socially and materially’’ (p. 8). Their analysis unfolds against the backdrop of ongoing debates about (1) the strength and impact of national models of integration, (2) the effect of political-economic factors, (3) the accepted wisdom that traditional settler societies do better at integrating immigrants, (4) the idea that the United States has been ‘‘exceptional’’ in its ability to integrate immigrants, and (5) the idea that ultimately national differences will wane because of policy convergence. How integration and social mobility play out, Alba and Foner argue, has highstakes consequences for the twenty-first century. The book opens with profiles of different immigrants who have traveled to these distinct shores and of the different policies and institutions meant to aid their integration. The next chapters examine economic integration and residential integration before the authors turn to untangling the different ways that race and religion influence immigrant trajectories. The rest of the book looks at political integration, particularly the extent to which politicians from immigrant backgrounds have infiltrated the halls of political power and the experiences of the children of immigrants, with a focus on their educational performance and feelings of belonging. It concludes with an even-handed summary of the findings and an analysis of their significance for policy moving forward. I found the comparison of race and religion as comparative crucibles particularly thought-provoking. The argument, put very simply, is that race is a higher and brighter social and symbolic boundary in the United States and religion matters more in Europe. The legacy of slavery in the United States produced enduring inequalities between blacks and whites, which have been partially offset by the civil rights movement, affirmative action, and voting-rights legislation (although the latter has been recently eviscerated). Because large numbers of blacks migrated to Canada and Europe a relatively short time ago, they did not share the ‘‘same sordid racial history.’’ People of immigration origin with African ancestry have been able to integrate more successfully, using measures of residential segregation and intermarriage. On the other hand, recently arrived racialized groups will not have recourse to the same institutions and policies that have aided blacks in the United States. In Europe, by comparison, coming to grips with large numbers of Muslim immigrants has taken center stage. According to Alba and Foner, ‘‘a combination of factors— religious similarity between natives and immigrants, Muslim immigrants’ socioeconomic status, the religiosity of the native majority, and historically rooted institutional structures—explain why religion is less of a barrier to inclusion of immigrant minorities in the United States than in Western Europe. The Canadian case also points to the role of state institutions and identities in creating difficulties for the incorporation of religious minorities’’ (p. 140). The authors are cautiously optimistic however, arguing that 712 Reviews

Strangers No More: Immigration and the Challenges of Integration in North America and Western Europe

Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany

Do Gender Roles and Norms Affect Performance in Maths? The Impact of Adolescents’ and their Peers’ Gender Conceptions on Maths Grades

Educational expectations are a key predictor of educational attainment. Throughout adolescence, friends increasingly function as ‘significant others’ and, thus, can affect the development of these ...

Social influence or selection? Peer effects on the development of adolescents’ educational expectations in Germany

Previous international research has shown that educational goals are fundamental for explaining differences in the educational attainment between individuals. For a better understanding of educational inequality, it is therefore crucial to know more about the mechanisms leading to different expectations. Our paper contributes to this field of research by empirically testing how social networks affect educational expectations of mothers for their children. Furthermore, we try to disentangle the underlying mechanisms by investigating which role resources and attitudes within social networks play in influencing educational expectations. We use quantitative data gathered in three federal states in Germany. The key results indicate that network composition not only has an effect on educational expectations but also on general attitudes towards education. Both attitudes towards education and embedded resources seem to mediate the effect of social ties on educational expectations.

Attitudes and expectations: do attitudes towards education mediate the relationship between social networks and parental expectations?

Educational degrees are crucial predictors for the socio economic positioning of individuals. Educational aspirations can help to explain individual differences in educational decisions evoking long-term consequences for the academic future and chances on the labour market. Generally aspirations are based on past academic achievement and families’ endowment with resources needed to reach targeted educational levels. But, albeit performing worse at school and holding lower social status, some immigrant groups tend to express higher educational ambitions than natives. Compared to the majority group, first generation immigrants – and their descendants as well – seem to be more resistant towards familial or institutional restrictions. The aim of this paper is to discuss possible reasons drawn from different theoretical argumentations to disentangle this aspiration-achievement paradox. To test the explanatory power of these theoretical approaches data from the project “Young Immigrants in the German and Israeli Educational Systems” including families from Turkey and the former Soviet Union are used. The results indicate that the paradox does not apply to students from the former Soviet Union and that various factors have to be considered to solve Turkish minorities’ paradoxical relation between educational ambitions and performances. While native students’ aspiration patterns can mainly be explained by their parents’ education and their school achievement, an unexplained gap between native and Turkish students appears after controlling for indicators of social background and academic abilities. Thus, it is necessary to analyse differences in the factors determining the level of aspirations. The findings show that the long-term benefits of high educational degrees are valued higher by minority students than by natives. Attaining higher education to overcome structural barriers appears to be the main difference of Turks compared to the other groups. However, except for the assumption of missing information about the requirements of the educational system, all other theoretical explanations seem to contribute to the solution of the puzzle.

Zerrin Salikutluk

Papers

Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany

Do Gender Roles and Norms Affect Performance in Maths? The Impact of Adolescents’ and their Peers’ Gender Conceptions on Maths Grades

Social influence or selection? Peer effects on the development of adolescents’ educational expectations in Germany

Attitudes and expectations: do attitudes towards education mediate the relationship between social networks and parental expectations?

Immigrants' aspiration paradox : theoretical explanations and determinants of the aspiration gap between native and immigrant students