Putting Down Roots: Mexican Immigrant Incorporation And The Relationship Between Homeownership and Naturalization

• In Event: 452 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 11. Race and Migration

Abstract

Because of the lack of empirical work on the relationship multiple markers may have for immigrant incorporation. It is important to focus on the incorporation of the contemporary immigrant population in terms that can be clearly understood and measured. Works like those of Huntington’s (2004), Coulter’s (2015) and rhetoric in this 2016 Presidential election cycle help convince the public not to support current immigration or immigration reform because of its claim that the Mexican case is cause for concern. There needs to be a clear understanding of what sociologists and scholars in general are using to assess facets of incorporation. Contemporary scholars have described assimilation “as a type of incorporation process” (Bean and Stevens 2003; Brown 2007; and Lee and Bean 2010; Bean, Brown, Bachmeier, and Castillo 2015). This paper uses the term incorporation to mean a more general process than assimilation. This research will focus on key aspects of economic, sociocultural and political incorporation because each is a marker of general incorporation. This research is important because there is a lack of empirical work on the relationship multiple markers may have for immigrant incorporation and on their interconnections, especially for the Mexican-born.
Key words: Migration, Incorporation, Homeownership, Naturalization, Race, Mexicans

Author

• Esther Castillo, UC Irvine