Immigration is a common phenomenon in the modern world, as people aim at the improvement of their economic wellbeing while expanding their possibilities for development. Nonetheless, the immigrant’s mobility is affected by various factors, which are vehemently correlated to socioeconomic statuses such as levels of the discrimination, socioeconomic status of the relatives, cultural assimilation rates, and immigration policies.
It is apparent the all of these matters are critical for the immigrant’s stability in a new country, but the ranking of the difficulties has to be established. As for me, I believe that the level of discrimination and assimilation have a critical impact on the socioeconomic flexibility of the immigrants due to the ability of the society to create stereotypes while the financial stability of the previous generations and policies have less effect in the context of the presented case. In this instance, the primary goal of the paper is to determine the influence of the factors on the immigrant’s mobility while using the examples of Hispanic and Asian Americans. In the end, the conclusions are drawn to summarize the critical findings of the paper.
Firstly, it is apparent that the discrimination is one of the factors, which has a high influence on the socioeconomic mobility due to its ability to define a person’s position in the society depending on his/her ethnicity. For instance, some subgroups of Hispanic immigrants experience difficulties while getting a job due to the increased level of discrimination and association with “blacks“ (Marger 221).
In turn, it could be said that people tend to depict similar perceptions about the Asian-American and claim that they consider the marriage with an Asian person inappropriate while showing displeasure of the potential migration of this ethnic group to their neighborhood (Marger 271). Based on the information provided above, it is apparent that this factor defines the socioeconomic mobility, as the level of prejudice and stereotypes determine the capabilities of the immigrants while decreasing the possibility of their financial opportunities.
In turn, the social phenomenon such as discrimination is highly correlated to the cultural assimilation, as the ability for integration defines the capability of the immigrant to become a regular member of the American society. Meanwhile, the underestimation of this matter can be regarded as the primary limitation of social mobility due to the creation of prejudice related to the immigrant group. For instance, the representatives of Chinese and Japanese cultures often disregard the essentiality of cultural assimilation while being vehemently isolated from society and limiting the actions of their children in the future (Marger 275).
A similar trend is present in other minorities in the United States of America has a vehement influence on the flexibility of the individuals in American society, and its role cannot be underestimated due to the high dependence on the level of prejudice and discrimination.
In turn, the well-being of past generations has a substantial effect on mobility. Despite belonging to a particular ethnic group, some of the Hispanic immigrants tend to have a high level of income while occupying managerial positions (Marger 222).
This aspect assists in understanding that the status of an immigrant could be modified by his contribution to the community while altering the perceptions concerning this ethnic group. Nonetheless, this matter is applicable in the context of any member of the society, as the wellbeing and socioeconomic status of any individual are dependent on his/her background while the stereotyping covers each segment of the population and generates potential misjudgments.
Lastly, the role of the immigration policies cannot be underestimated, as the actions of Hispanic Americans are often viewed as being illegal and tend to create an association with the criminal culture (Marger 212). Nonetheless, nowadays, the sophisticated and well-developed policies tend to minimize the illegal migration while causing the change related to the immigration policy. As for Asian Americans, this matter has no substantial impact on their social mobility, as the policies tend to regulate the actions of the initial immigrants. Meanwhile, immigration policies have a considerable effect on the first generation of immigrants.
Consequently, this approach does not cover the mobility’s possibilities of subsequent generations of the immigrants. Based on the features provided above, it is evident that this feature is less important to the social flexibility of the individuals.
In the end, the essay revealed that various factors have a dissimilar influence on the mobility of the immigrants, as they tend to affect their initial position in society. In the context of the paper, it was revealed that the level of discrimination and assimilation are the most critical matters, which affect the immigrants’ ability to change their social status and economic condition. These issues are highly interdependent, and the vitality of these aspects was depicted with the assistance of the examples of behavioral patterns of Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Nonetheless, the immigration policies and well-being of the previous generations play a role related to social mobility but cannot be regarded as the most critical aspects in this instance due to the vast application to other social groups.
Work Cited
Marger, Martin. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives, Sydney: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.