Ethnic Enclaves

An ethnic enclave is a geographic location within an urban setting that is predominantly occupied by a population of individuals of a specific culture, nationality, or ethnicity. The enclave consists of a variety of local businesses that meet the general and specific commercial needs of the community. According to Alejandro Portes, ethnic enclaves are a product of past generations, who through ethnic solidarity, established diverse businesses that enabled socio-economic mobility within the enclave and outside, within the mainstream economy. Through these enclaves, individuals can economically transition into a new urban environment, without having to rapidly adopt the preexisting culture, language and educational standard of that environment.
For example, among original enclaves, Jewish and the Japanese communities established rotating credit associations which continuously financed new commercial operations within the enclave. Additionally, individuals work for low wages for an owner, and in return are compensated by the owner with financial support and future work/business opportunities for the worker. Therefore, this system allowed for businesses to operate with low labor costs that keep the enclave’s firms competitive in the open economy, while providing labor in abundance. In response to Portes’ work, a study conducted by Victor Nee and Jimy M. Sanders explain the negative consequences of ethnic solidarity on the socio-economic attainment for immigrant minority groups. Their findings on Cuban enclaves in Miami and Hialeah, and Chinese enclaves in San Francisco, show that workers in the enclave are not better off than other minorities living outside the enclave, because their income and standard of living were similar to those of immigrants living outside of the enclave or greatly disadvantaged. Based on their data, Nee and Sanders attribute this effect to the fact that business owners have a higher rate of economic success in the enclave because they
Traditionally, ethnic solidarity has been the basis for economic mobility within ethnic enclaves, In addition to ethnic solidarity, the Silicon Valley ethnic enclaves embrace the education of American managerial and economic principles in business rather than only maintaining traditional customs, which allow for the Silicon Valley’s newest immigrant entrepreneurs to develop professional and social networks that span national boundaries and facilitate flows of capital, skill, and technology. Since these enclaves coexist in the same geographical area, and are not isolated, it is easier for them to create international communities that share information, contacts, trust, and capital in order to fully participate in the global