The level of ethnic discrimination influences the average socioeconomic status and upward mobility of the second generation immigrant minorities. This is the most notable distinguishing factor followed by the different rates of cultural assimilation between the immigrant minorities and the non-immigrant majorities.
Ethnic/racial discrimination
This issue determines the level of socioeconomic growth and the rate of upward mobility due to the existence of racial and ethnic inequalities that deny them chances they otherwise would have.
The Asian Americans are less discriminated by the vast non-immigrant population in America, especially when it comes to structural discrimination, as compared to the Latino Americans who are structurally more discriminated by the different generations of non-immigrant minorities. Thus they are less favored then Asian Americans are.
Social economic status of the immigrant parents influences the level of bias. It means if a person from a minority group happens to have well-to-do, prosperous parents, a child tends to be less discriminated as compared to the fellow immigrants whose parents have a low socioeconomic status.
Hence this affects their relations to other people as well as their socioeconomic status since those who are less discriminated have more chances to succeed socially and economically than their discriminated counterparts do.
The racial appearance of a person from the minority group includes one’s skin color and specific racial features. Black people face more discrimination than those who have white skin do. Discrimination of the Hispanic Americans is considered to be higher as compared to that of the Asian Americans due to a more intense skin pigmentation of the first group.
Different rates of cultural assimilation
This is the second most significant factor that determines the difference in the average socioeconomic status and mobility of minorities of the second generation immigrants. Assimilation refers to the process of adaption to the cultural practices and norms of the indigenous population by an immigrant group.
The Hispanics are less assimilated as they are bilinguals, which makes them belong to two cultures at the same time. They also tend to have a stronger ethnic identity than their Asian American counterparts do.
Hispanics identify themselves by their nationality primarily, which refers to their country of origin and implies that if a person is a Cuban American, he/she considers him/herself as a Cuban or simply as the one having a pan-ethnic Latino identity.
The strong pan-ethnic identity shows that there is an increase in the ethnic and cultural diversity in the Latino community.
The Hispanics also have a high rate of intermarriages; there are about thirty percent of marriages with people from the other non-minority and nonimmigrant communities. Thus they have a high rate of assimilation and acceptance among the indigenous communities.
Though the number of non-Hispanic white Americans will considerably reduce in the future, they will still be socially and economically powerful since they will continue to hold high positions in the American society.
Cultural assimilation is vital since the rate of upward mobility is directly proportional to the rate of cultural assimilation. The intermarriages lead to a higher rate of acceptance of the second generation.
This creates a new race of biracial people, which leads to the elimination of ethnic and racial prejudices. Such a situation will lead to reduced racial discriminations, prejudices and inequalities, hence creating a free and fair second generation with a high rate of upward mobility.