Dr. Rodriguez

Introduction to Sociology


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Notes for Sociology 3326
Key Laws

Act of March 26, 1790--
first federal activity in an area previously under the control of individual states; sets two-year residency requirement for naturalization (1798 act raised requirement to 14 years; reduced to 5 years in 1802)

Aliens Act of June 25, 1798--
first federal immigration law; authorized President to deport any alien whom the President deemed dangerous to the United States; required ship captains to report the arrival of aliens

Act of February 19, 1862--Prohibited the transportation of Chinese laborers ("coolies") on U.S. vessels

Act of July 4, 1864--
established Commissioner of Immigration, appointed by the President, to serve under Secretary of State; authorization of immigrant labor contracts and immigrant wages pledges to pay for transportation

Naturalization Act of July 14, 1870--naturalization laws extended to African-origin persons

Act of March 3, 1875--
established policy of direct federal regulation of immigration by prohibiting entry of undesirable immigrants (criminals and prostitutes); prohibited bringing of Asians without their consent; declared Asian "coolie" labor contracts a felony

Chinese Exclusion Act of May 6, 1882--
suspended Chinese immigrant workers for 10 years; Chinese in United States could stay after a temporary absence; provided for deportation of Chinese illegally in the United States; denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants; permitted the entry of Chinese students, teachers, merchants, and those coming for "curiosity" (this 1875 law lasted until December 17. 1943)

Immigration Act of August 3, 1882--
established system of immigration control through State Boards under Secretary of the Treasury; declared inadmissible as immigrants persons likely to become a public charge; 50 cents tax on each passenger brought to the country

Act of February 26, 1885--outlawed contract labor in the future, with some specific exemptions (actors, artists, some skilled workers)

Act of March 3, 1887--restricted real estate ownership to U.S. citizens and those applying for citizenship

Immigration Act of March 3, 1891--first comprehensive law for immigration control
·established Bureau of Immigration under Treasury Department
·restricted immigration of persons likely to become public charges; person with certain contagious diseases, felons, persons convicted of other crimes or misdemeanors, polygamists, aliens assisted by others by passage payments, outlawed the use of advertisements to encourage immigration
·started land border inspections

Act of April 27, 1904--reaffirmed and made permanent the Chinese exclusion laws, and clarified the territories from which Chinese were to be excluded

Key Laws, Part 2

Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906--combines government functions of immigration and naturalization into Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization; English language skills required for naturalization

Immigration Act of February 5, 1917--illiterate immigrants excluded from entry; broadens category of exclusion for mental health reasons; farther restricted Asian persons by creating the "barred zone" (the Asia-Pacific triangle), natives of which were declared inadmissible

Quota Law of May 19, 1921--first quantitative immigration law; limits immigrants to 3% of their foreign-born nationality in the United States; allow about 350,000 to enter each year mainly from Northern and Western Europe

·Immigration Act of May 26, 1924--a major immigration law creating "national origins quota system," which lasted until 1952:
·two quota provisions (2% of foreign born nationals in the country in 1890 for a total of 164,667 until 1927; from 1929 to 1952 used the 1920 population in relation to 150,000 to figure the national origins quota for each country)
·to exclude Japanese, ruled that no person ineligible to become a U.S. citizen shall be admitted to the United States as an immigrant

Act of May 28, 1924--established the U.S. Border Patrol

Alien Registration Act of June 28, 1940--requires registration and fingerprinting of all non-citizen immigrants age 14 and older; makes membership in certain organizations ("subversive") a deportable offense

Act of April 29, 1943--as a war measure to obtain agricultural labor allows the contracting of temporary foreign workers, which leads to the Bracero Program (which lasts until 1964)

Immigration and Nationality Act of June 27, 1952 (INA)--brought several immigration and naturalization laws into one law
made all races eligible for immigration
eliminated gender discrimination
modified the national origins formula; all countries get a yearly minimum quota of 100, with countries in the Asian triangle a maximum of 2,000 per country
introduced an alien address report system
repealed ban on contract labor

Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of October 3, 1965--abolishes the national quotas system and establishes a preference system a) for relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens for the reunification of families, and b) for persons with special skills


Asian Immigration in the United States

I. Introduction: Rapid Growth and Diversification

Asian immigration has accelerated the growth of the Asian American population.

·U.S. government characterizes as Asia the following: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam

·Today the Asian American population is about 10.5 million (about 4% of the total U.S. population).

·Almost 70% of Asians counted in 1990 census were either immigrants who arrived after 1970 or their U.S.-born children.

·About 20% of the Asian American population in the mid-1990s arrived after 1990.

·Asian immigrants account for one-third of new legal immigrants in recent years (200 thousand to 300 thousand per year)

·In 1970, 96% of Asian Americans were Japanese, Chinese and Filipino; in the late 1990s these groups make up just over 50% of Asian Americans.

·Ethnic Origins of Asian Americans (10 mil), 1997

Group----------Percent
Chinese--------24
Filipino--------21
Indian----------13
Vietnamese----11
Korean---------10
Japanese-------10
Other Asian----7
Other SoutheastAsian (Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian)---------5

·Asian Immigration before 1965

Earliest Asian immigrants were Chinese and Japanese men who came to work as miners, railroad workers, farmers, and laborers in the 1850s-1920s

·The California Gold Rush spurred the first Chinese wave in the 1850s

·Transcontinental railroads construction created the second Chinese wave

·Chinese immigrant communities were mostly male communities ("bachelor societies")

·Strong anti-Chinese sentiments led to Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (first time a nationality is selected for exclusion)

·First Japanese immigrant pattern at the end of 19th century to work in agricultural

·By 1900, 25,000 Japanese lived in West Coast

·Immigration Act of 1907-prohibited Japanese immigration (Gentleman?s Agreement)

·Some Japanese attempt to circumvent 1907 Act with "picture brides"

·Immigration Act of 1924 effectively bans all Asian immigration

·Act of December 7, 1943--effectively repeals Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Immigration after 1965

·Asian immigration transformed by Immigration Act of 1965 and Vietnam War

·Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of May 23, 1975--domestic resettlement assistance for Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees (Laotians are included later)

·New waves of Asian immigrants from China, the Philippines, and other Asian countries, e.g., India, South Korea, Vietnam

·Rates of Asian immigration per year increased from 1950s to 1980s

·15,000/year in the 1950s
·43,000/year in the 1960s
·160,000/year in the 1970s
·274,000/year in the 1980s

·Many refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

·By 1990, two out of every three Asian American was foreign-born; more than 50% entered United States in the 1980s

·In 1997, according to census survey data, 61% of Asian-Pacific Islander population was foreign-born (Pacific Islander is less than 5% of Asian-Pacific Islander population)

·Of all Asian-origin population only the Japanese are not majority foreign-born (in 1990 slightly less than one-third of Japanese were foreign-born)

·Geographic Concentrations

Region/Percent of Total Asian Origin Population
West---------54
Northwest---19
South1--------6
Midwest-----11


·76% of Japanese and 70% of Filipino live in western states

·Indians are the only Asian origin population not concentrated in western states; only 25% of Indians live in western region

·Largest concentrations of Asians in 1990 census

New York City-------508,408
Los Angeles----------334,950
Honolulu--------------220,904
San Francisc---------207,901
Houston----------------65,532

·Asian American Families and Households, 1990

·Asian Americans are more likely than any other racial/ethnic group to live in family households: 78% live in family households, compared to70% of non-Hispanic whites

·Asian American children are more likely to live with both parents: 83% of Asian American children live with both parents, compared to 80% of non-Hispanic white children

V.Asian Racial and Ethnic Intermarriages

·Asian origin persons have higher intermarriage rates than African Americans:

·15% of couples with an Asian American partner are intermarriages
·6% of couples with an African American partner are intermarriages

·Intermarriage higher for U.S.-born than foreign-born Asian: 40% of married U.S.-born Asians are married to members of other racial group or other Asian group; only 17% of foreign-born Asians married to members of other racial/ethnic group (member foreign-born arrive already married)

VI.Asian Educational Achievement

·Asians have the highest level of educational attainment-42% of Asians age 25 or older have college or professional degree; the rates is 26% for non-Hispanic whites, 13% for blacks and 10% for Hispanics

·However, some newer Asian immigrant groups have lower educational attainment: 2/3 of Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian adults do not have a high school diploma


Adult Population
%Completed Less than High School
% with Bachelor?s degree or Higher
Non-Hispanic white
14
26
Black 25 13
Hispanic 45 10
Asian 15 42




Specialty Occupation Workers (H-1B)

  • American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWLA)--115,000 for fiscal year

  • 1,262 H-1B approved in first five months of FY2000

  • 43% of H-1B granted to Indians

  • computer related occupations account for 43% of the total H-1B petitions

  • second most popular occupation is architecture, engineering and surveying (13%)

  • more than 47% of approved petitions were for system analysts or programmers (89% of the persons in the computer related field)

  • median annual wage is $50,000

  • half of the workers earn between $40,000 and $65,000

  • income range is from $31,100 for religious workers to $130,000 for fashion models

  • 56% had a BA; 31% Master's; 8% Doctorate; 2% Professional degree


The Battle for the Border


II. Introduction

    1. By the late 20th century, capital and labor have become highly mobile

    2. Nation-state boundaries lose ability to ?contain? economic and cultural activities because of this mobility

    3. Billions of dollars of capital migration (money and factory)

    4. Millions have migrated to other countries

    5. Governments and others feel that the stability of borders and nation-states is threatened

    6. Governments and others launch a battle to maintain strong borders (keep undocumented migrants out and restricts legal migrants)

    7. My assumption: 1) the social change we see is not a result of deviance; it is the result of social historical forces, which as before, affect many levels of social boundaries and organizations (e.g., the nation-state), 2) we are in a process of transformation because of globalization brought about by the actions of capital and labor

    8. The battle for the border is really the battle for the nation-state, for maintaining a way of global organization


II. Autonomous Migration

    1. Autonomous migration (self-directed) is a part of the social forces of transformation

    2. Autonomous (extra-legal) migration is undertaken by the communities as a survival strategy when other resources are limited and when national governments fail to help communities maintain an adequate quality of life

    3. Autonomous migration is a result of community social energy of civil society, which has produced shantytowns for poor, community kitchens for unemployed families and social movements for democratization.

    4. Like impersonal institutional forces (the labor market, etc.) autonomous migration help reshape community structures

    5. Autonomous migration lessened the relevance of the border in earlier times


III. Transnational Communities

    1. Large-scale autonomous migration led to the development of transnational communities, which transcend the border socially, culturally, and economically (politically?)

    2. Economic actors also helped the growth of transnational migration and transnational communities

    3. Big U.S. highway construction lobby obtained $129 billion to build 45,000 miles of interstate highways

    4. AT&T and other communications industries have invested billions of dollars to increase communication (long distance) abroad

Transnational communities also represent "political spaces," e.g., unite with domestic sectors to resist immigration laws, labor struggles, promotion of multiculturalism, opposition to governments back home, support of foreign political movements.


IV. Government Actions Against Autonomous Migration

    1. Reinforce the border physically, symbolically, and politically

    2. Pass very restrictive immigration laws

    3. Implement intensive enforcements operations


V. Conclusion

    1. Economic globalization and autonomous migration seriously challenges the existence of rigid nation-state boundaries

    2. Social scientists have failed to see the existence of autonomous migration as a community force (the research focus is mostly on the individual and not the community)

    3. Undocumented migrants are seen as passive ?poor little people (pobrecitos)? and not agents of historical change (the general prejudice against the working class)

    4. Continuing migration and capital's search for new markets will continue to challenge rigid borders


Guidelines for Writing the Immigration Paper

Note: It is important to keep in mind from the beginning that the paper should have a sociological tone. Therefore, it is important to use sociological concepts and terms when writing the paper.

1. Select a topic relevant to the course. Sources for topics can be lectures, textbook, or the reader. You may want to discuss the topic with the instructor before you start to pursue it.

2. Select a specific research or policy question or issue concerning your topic. This specific question or issue will help guide your review of the literature.

3. Review at least three (3) social scientific sources (journals and books) concerning your topic and research question.

4. At a minimum the paper should contain the following sections (you can include additional sections if you want):

  • Introduction-1) describe the topic and the research or policy question or issue you are writing about, 2) explain why the topic and question are important (why they are worth writing about)

  • Review of the literature-describe the relevant findings in the journals and books you have reviewed (you can review and cite newspapers and magazines but these will not count for the required social scientific sources)

  • Discussion-critique/evaluate the sources you have reviewed. What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do the sources compare? Do you agree or disagree with the findings, why?

  • Conclusion-What can you conclude about your research/policy question or issue? Answer your initial questions, and make suggestions for new research or policy formulation regarding your topic.