Sociology of immigration
1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias The sociology of immigration involves the sociological analysis of immigration, particularly with respect to race and ethnicity, social structure, and political policy.
From 2000 to 2001,[clarification needed] sociologists have paid particular attention to the costs and benefits of the new diversified immigration population on American institutions, culture, economic functions, and national security.
[1] After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, sociologists closely analyzed the symbolism of increased anti-immigration rhetoric, directed at Middle Eastern immigrants, stemming from Americans.
Structural functionalist theorists have also studied the effects of mass migration—resulting from wars, economic insecurity, and terrorism—on the social institutions of host nations, on international law, and on assimilation rates.
In the late 1930s, American historian Marcus Lee Hansen observed "distinct differences in attitudes toward ethnic identity between the second generation and their third-generation children".
[citation needed] Symbolic interactionism is a "micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions".
[12] Public opinion polls have demonstrated "that the percentage of Americans who wanted immigration decreased to be very low immediately prior to 1965, but had begun an upward incline from 1965 to the late 1970s at which time it thereafter increased dramatically".
Moreover, immigration legislation, such as the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, increased anti-immigration sentiment, and nativist rhetoric, and social movements in the United States.
[13] Fear of foreigners altering aspects of the established culture, such as the native language, results in nativist sentiment and further polarization.
After the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Arabs and Muslims (as well as Latinos, South Asians, and other individuals who were mistakenly perceived to be Arab or Muslim based on their skin color, dress, or organizational affiliations) suffered an unprecedented outbreak of backlash violence" because of assumptions by others that they were terrorists who intended to do harm to Americans.
[15] In the days and months following the 9/11 attacks, Muslims and Arabs were subject to hate crimes based on personal characteristics such as their clothing, accent, facial hair, and skin tone.
[19] Drawing on the ideas of sociologist Émile Durkheim, society through this sociological lens is thought of as a living organism—similar to the nineteenth-century theory of organicism.
Structural functionalists believe that, whether the effects are positive or negative, immigration significantly impacts the level of social cohesion in the workplace.
This analysis is perhaps more concerned with the relational dimensions of immigration, particularly in terms of the ways in which families and relationships are maintained when members migrate to another country.
