Immigration Assimilation
Immigration has a tremendous influence on the dynamics of a state, sometimes permanently transforming the demography, culture, economy, and politics of the receiving country. Today, countries like North Korea and Russia remain stagnant by these measures due to strict immigration policy and therefore extremely low immigrant traffic, whereas Western European countries are greatly impacted by immigrant populations, especially following the Syrian refugee crisis. Immigrants increasingly flock to industrialized first world countries in search of asylum and the prospect of economic stability. However, the destructive impact of immigration on global human development is made obvious through the example of the United States. In the United States, the
…show more content…
Moreover, this trend extends globally on account of overpopulation and increasingly competitive living conditions. Historically, immigration has been advantageous to human development following war or in post-industrial societies as a deliberate attempt to expand the population. In the United States, for example, “two structural conditions–the long hiatus in immigration and the economic boom that accompanied it–are primarily responsible for the remarkable assimilation of European immigrants into the United States” (Massey 643). Without these factors, assimilation of immigrants into American society would tell a dramatically different story. And in fact, “new immigrants enter a highly stratified society characterized by high income inequality and growing labor market segmentation that will provide fewer opportunities for upward mobility” (Massey 648). Not only does immigration prove detrimental to the receiving country but is also a massive risk and can have negative consequences for immigrants and their families. As evident in the United States, immigrants increasingly segregate themselves and, “national origins and geographic destinations of the new immigrants are highly concentrated, creating large foreign-language and cultural communities in many areas” (Massey 648). Such communities create a familiarity for immigrant groups but oppositely, are alien to Euro-American’s, restricting immigrants to remain inside a cultural bubble and creating tensions between ethnic
Moreover, this trend extends globally on account of overpopulation and increasingly competitive living conditions. Historically, immigration has been advantageous to human development following war or in post-industrial societies as a deliberate attempt to expand the population. In the United States, for example, “two structural conditions–the long hiatus in immigration and the economic boom that accompanied it–are primarily responsible for the remarkable assimilation of European immigrants into the United States” (Massey 643). Without these factors, assimilation of immigrants into American society would tell a dramatically different story. And in fact, “new immigrants enter a highly stratified society characterized by high income inequality and growing labor market segmentation that will provide fewer opportunities for upward mobility” (Massey 648). Not only does immigration prove detrimental to the receiving country but is also a massive risk and can have negative consequences for immigrants and their families. As evident in the United States, immigrants increasingly segregate themselves and, “national origins and geographic destinations of the new immigrants are highly concentrated, creating large foreign-language and cultural communities in many areas” (Massey 648). Such communities create a familiarity for immigrant groups but oppositely, are alien to Euro-American’s, restricting immigrants to remain inside a cultural bubble and creating tensions between ethnic