Immigration and Assimilation

Immigration has long shaped American society. This first-year seminar asks how immigrants and their descendants become incorporated over time, and how they transform the society they enter. We examine these questions through the lens of assimilation, an indispensable but contested concept. We trace its early twentieth-century origins, fall into disrepute, and revival in studies of the post-1965 second generation. We discuss models of classic, segmented, and neo-assimilation, as well as its critical race critiques. In doing so, we evaluate how assimilation is measured, how immigrants reshape the mainstream, and related concepts such as replenished ethnicity, ethnic options, and ethnic attrition.