Civic Inequality and Civic Stratification in Immigrant Communities

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Civic Incorporation and Belonging

Abstract

Immigrant incorporation research must consider “meso-level” non-profit organisations and civic associations. Doing so lets us investigate civic inequality and stratification, concepts we elaborate. Civic inequality carries consequences “downward” for individuals since organisations provide services, recreation and solidarity, and it carries “upward” implications for immigrants’ ability to affect social change. We develop three measures of organisational presence based on official registration data, a count of publicly present organisations from fieldwork, and a reputational measure from interviews with decision-makers. Examining immigrant organisations in Silicon Valley, California, we find a low proportion of organisations oriented to immigrants, only half of what we might expect from the region’s demographics. Field research also reveals civic inequality between immigrant communities: the Indian-origin community has greater organisational density and reputation than Portuguese- and Vietnamese-origin communities, while those of Mexican-origin face civic stratification. Civic inequality has roots in resource inequalities, legal status and differential reception of migrant and refugee groups by local, state and federal governments. Speaking to nonprofit scholarship, we find little support for a ‘demand’ perspective for organisational presence, but significant evidence for ‘supply’ and legitimacy arguments and, when studying immigrant communities, we draw attention to legal status and reception contexts.

Author

• Irene H.I. Bloemraad, University of California, Berkeley