College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item WHAT'S RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT?: EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF RACE ON THE IMMIGRATION-CRIME RELATIONSHIP(2024) Henry, Diomand; Vélez, Maria B; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Existing literature on immigration and crime suggests a negative correlation betweenimmigration and neighborhood crime rates. However, the influence of race on this relationship has been understudied. This thesis addresses this gap by examining the immigration-crime relationship at the neighborhood level with a focus on the racial background of the foreign born population and the dominant racial composition of the community. Utilizing data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study II (NNCS2) and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, this study incorporates race in three ways: categorizing immigrants by racial group (Black, White, Latino, and Asian), analyzing the impact of immigration across distinct racial neighborhoods (Black, White, Latino, and Multi-Ethnic), and examining the interaction between the racial groups of immigrants and neighborhood types on crime rates. The findings reveal that: (1) consistent with prior literature, immigration is associated with lower neighborhood crime rates; (2) the strength of this relationship varies across different racial backgrounds of immigrants and (3) the relationship differs across varying levels of racial composition at the neighborhood level, indicating that race significantly influences the immigration-crime dynamic. Overall, the results underscore the critical importance of incorporating race into discussions about immigration and crime.Item Past and Present: Immigration and Museum Exhibitions in the Anthracite Coal Region(Museum Anthropology, 2024) Aryn Neurock Schriner; Paul A. Shackel; AuthorsNortheastern Pennsylvania was home to the anthracite coal industry for about two centuries. The area was originally settled by various waves of immigrants, first from Western, then Southern and Eastern Europe. The new immigrant miners faced many forms of prejudice and were exploited in a system of unchecked capitalism. They were racialized and placed at the bottom of the job hierarchy. Some capitalists did not consider them human and, therefore, not deserving of safe working conditions, decent housing, and equal pay. At the turn of the twenty-first century, a new wave of Hispanic immigrants from the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America entered the region to work mainly in low-paying fulfillment center jobs. Their arrival is being met with various forms of xenophobia, much like the immigrant miners faced over a century ago. The online exhibition “We Are Anthracite,” hosted by the Anthracite Heritage Museum, addresses the call from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) for museums to be civically engaged, build social capital and connecting new populations to place. The exhibition bridges the experiences between the past coal mining communities and new Hispanic immigrants. The state operated museum hosting this exhibition lends validity to the new immigrants’ place in this region, creating a narrative that their experiences are similar to the region’s inhabitants’ ancestors. By connecting common experiences, past and present, we are creating a form of bridging social capital that connects these different populations. While the northeastern Pennsylvania immigrant story is not well-known, it is rich and complex, like many Rust Belt communities undergoing similar major demographic shifts.Item Using Risk to Assess the Legal Violence of Mandatory Detention(MDPI, 2016-07-05) Koulish, RobertImmigration mandatory detention is a particularly harsh example of the structural violence embedded in immigration enforcement. It deprives liberty without bond for immigrants with prior crimes, and assigns many individuals to the harsh conditions associated with unnecessary and even wrongful detention. Mandatory detention has been justified on the grounds that mandatory detainees are a danger to public safety. This article puts to the test this presumption of dangerousness among mandatory detainees, and finds, to the contrary, that immigrants with prior charges or convictions are no more dangerous than any other category of individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Using the risk classification assessment (RCA) tool, which the author is the first to obtain through the Freedom of Information Act, the article contributes to the growing criticism of mandatory detention, providing evidence that many of those in mandatory detention should probably have never been detained.Item DOES PRESIDENTIAL POLICY CHANGE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT? DOCUMENTING THE SEVERITY OF ALLEGED OFFENCES BY ICE IMMIGRATION ARRESTEES IN THE OBAMA AND TRUMP ADMINISTRATIONS(2018) Neal, Adam David; Lynch, James; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The federated nature of U.S. immigration enforcement invites tensions between levels of government, which both cooperate and clash with each other. A hierarchical description would claim that states and localities are responsive to federal authority, yet this presumes that federal agencies themselves implement the policies of senior officials like the president. Whether either or both of those hypotheses is correct, however, is an empirical question. Using federal arrest data from FY2015–FY2017, this research explores evidence for these hypotheses by asking whether executive changes to enforcement priorities led to more (or less) serious offenders being arrested by federal authorities in relation to those policies. Using an innovation from policing literature known as the crime harm index (CHI), analysis showed little difference in arrestee crime from before to during and after a Presidential policy, nor were any changes observed consistent when disaggregated by 24 regional jurisdictions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Item Discourse and Dissent in the Diaspora: Civic and Political Lives of Iranian Americans(2013) Zarpour, Mari Tina; Freidenberg, Judith N; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the political agency of Iranian immigrants. Through the rhetorical device of "political talk" which encompasses politically- and civically- oriented discourse, action and ideology, this research follows political talk as it presents itself in two locations within the public sphere: in the life course of Iranian Americans, and through online discourse. Methods used included a combination of conventional ethnography (participant observation, informal interviews, life history interviews), and virtual ethnography to develop a typology of political and civic action. Life history interviews provided an understanding of the meanings informants assigned to political and civic action within the larger trajectory of their lives, especially within the context of migration experiences. Virtual ethnography involved the analysis of three different Iranian digital diaspora communities. First, this research found that the civic and political spheres of engagement are linked, and that Iranian immigrants use organizations to learn participatory democracy. It illustrates how ethnic organizations, online and offline, act as both vehicles and activators for immigrant political participation and further civic engagement in the U.S. Additionally, this research uncovers how factors (age at migration, length of time in U.S., particular migration experience) impact notions of belonging and solidarity. It unpacks immigrant political agency to demonstrate the range of behaviors and activities which constitute political and civic participation. It contributes to understanding modes of citizenship and belonging by relating individual, historical, and situational variables in order to understand the relationship between homeland events, immigrant politicization and political behavior. Analysis of the three digital communities evidenced the multiple ways that digital diasporas can be a forum for engaging politically and in creating political community by allowing for a diversity of voices. Finally, merging conventional and virtual ethnography highlighted the dominant discourses about participation in larger society, and demonstrated the formation of a distinctly Iranian-American civil society.Item CITIZENS, FOREIGNERS, OR GERMANS? THE STATE AND PERSONS OF IMMIGRANT BACKGROUND IN THE MAKING OF MEMBERSHIP IN GERMANY SINCE 1990(2012) Williams, Daniel Aaron; Kestnbaum, Meyer; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines citizenship and nationness in contemporary Germany. It argues that citizenship and nationness represent two forms of membership which are constituted at the level of state and at the level of prospective citizens. At the level of the state, it considers changes in German citizenship policies in 1990, 1992, and 2000. At the level of prospective citizens, it examines forty-seven persons of immigrant background and their understandings of German citizenship and their own nationness. Though not the same, citizenship and nationness may be related in various ways. Previous scholarship shows that nationness has been a key category and criterion for who may become a citizen at the level of state, as expressed in citizenship policies. Similarly, the self-understandings of individuals as members of the nation may inform their decision to become citizens. Equally, their citizenship status may inform their sense of their own nationness. Finally, understandings of citizenship and nationness which are institutionalized in the state may inform the understandings of persons of immigrant background. Beginning in 1990, citizenship policies became increasingly more liberalized and accessible to persons of immigrant background without German descent. This dissertation shows that these changes after 1990 are explained by understandings of nationness, as expressed in narratives of political parties about immigrants and foreigners, Germany and the nation, and citizenship as an institution. Contrary to scholarship emphasizing nationally-specific traditions of citizenship, as well as shifts towards liberalizing access to citizenship, this dissertation shows that understandings of nationness differ mainly by political parties. The self-understandings of persons of immigrant background reflect some, but not all, of the changes at the level of the state. In particular, most persons of immigrant background see themselves as German and as belonging in everyday life in Germany. However, their citizenship status is largely independent of their sense of national belonging. This suggests that national belonging and citizenship are largely disconnected for ordinary people. In addition, the disconnect between nationness and citizenship is more pronounced for persons who are citizens, indicating that they view their membership as citizens should be met with a sense of national membership.Item FROM MANY IDENTITIES TO ONE VOICE?: ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM FORGED FROM THE POLITICS OF ISOLATION(2010) Skuratowicz, Katarzyna Zofia; Kestnbaum, Meyer; Dance, Lory J; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation answers key questions about the reasons behind the mobilization and consolidation of Arab American collective identities expressed in political activism. Summarized into one overarching question, these key questions examine what encourages and challenges the mobilization of a consolidated political voice of Arab Americans in the American political arena. The ultimate goal of this project is to understand the reasons behind the existing political weakness of Arab American voices in the American socio-political arena. More specifically stated, the key questions are: "What, in the history of immigration of Arab American, impacted the current weakness of the collective, Arab American political voice?;" "What impact did political events and policies have on the mobilization of the consolidated Arab American identity?;" "What are the challenges and motivations for consolidation of the Arab American political voice related to the heterogeneity of Arab American communities?;" and finally "What role does counter-mobilization, namely pro-Israeli lobbies, play in affecting the intensity of Arab American voices in American politics?" The general answer, which was acquired through tracing the process of formation of this mobilization and consolidation of the Arab American identity, demonstrates that political isolation is the predominant mobilizing factor for identity-based activism and consolidation of Arab American identities. This study concludes that Arab Americans face political isolation due to several factors such as the relatively short presence of Arab immigrants in the United States, their brief political engagement in the American political arena, the heterogeneity of Arab American communities preventing a development of strong leadership uniting the communities, and the presence of counter-mobilized communities such as well established pro-Israeli lobbies which are often in opposition to Arab American political efforts. Historical events such as the 1967 War or the attacks of September 11 make Arab American activists aware of their political isolation. Thus, unlike many ethnic minorities motivated by cultural and economic factors, Arab American motivation is predominantly politically driven. In regard to methodological approaches, this research draws on interviews, life histories of members of self-labeling Arab American organizations in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area and document analyses to learn about their organizations and motivations behind identity-based political activism. In regard to pre-existing scholarship, this study engages the literature about panethnic mobilization and the incorporation of immigrants into a host society. A recurrent theme in this literature is how panethnic mobilization is driven by economic or cultural factors. However, economic and cultural factors are not key catalysts driving panethnic Arab American identities. At the collective level Arab Americans enjoy all elements of citizenship: legal status, rights and a sense of belonging yet their path to full participation in U.S. political arenas remains a challenge. The consolidated identity-based activism of Arab Americans focuses on gaining a political voice and creating an influential political constituency. As this study reveals, Arab American panethnic organizations strive to disrupt the monolithic and negative discourse about Arabs and Arab Americans in the popular and political culture of the United States by taking ownership over the "Arab American" label. Thus, the use of the monolithic label of Arabness is ultimately a strategic move towards gaining political voice(s). The complexities and nuances of this political isolation and corresponding political mobilization unfold in the chapters below.Item Firm Owners and Workers: An Analysis of Immigrants and Ethnic Concentration(2009) Garcia-Perez, Monica I.; Haltiwanger, John; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation consists of three chapters examining the important role of firm and coworker characteristics, as well as the use of social networks, in labor markets. The first paper investigates the effect of firm owners and coworkers on hiring patterns and wages. Immigrant-owned firms are more likely to hire immigrant workers. This prevalence is especially strong for Hispanic and Asian workers. We also find that the probability that a new hire is a Hispanic is higher for immigrant firms. On wage differentials, the results illustrate that much of the difference between the log annual wages of immigrants and natives can be explained by immigrants' propensity to work in non-native owned firms, which pay the lowest average wages. Interestingly, though, native workers holding a job in immigrant firms are paid less than immigrant workers. The last section examines the potential mechanisms for these findings. It explores the importance of job referral and use of networks for migrants in labor markets. We consider the theoretical implications of social ties between owners and workers in this context. Firms decide whether to fill their vacancies by posting their offers or by using their current workers' connections. Next, we explore the patterns of immigrant concentration relative to native workers at the establishment level in a sample of metropolitan areas. Immigrants are much more likely to have immigrant coworkers than are natives, and are particularly likely to work with others from the same country of origin, even within local markets. The concentration of immigrants is higher for recent immigrants and interestingly for older immigrants. We find large differences associated with establishment size that cannot be explained solely by statistical aggregation. Exploring the mechanisms that underlie these patterns, we find that proxies for the role of social networks, as well as the importance of language skills in the production process, are important correlates of immigrant concentration in the workplace.Item Essays on the impact of social interactions on economic outcomes(2007-06-03) Perez Rojas, Nathalia; Kranton, Rachel; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation consists of two essays, which address the question of how social interactions shape economic outcomes. The first essay examines crime and criminal networks. The second one studies immigration, assimilation, and ethnic enclaves. The first essay offers a formal model of crime. Criminals often do not act alone. Rather, they form networks of collaboration. How does law enforcement affect criminal activity and structure of those networks? Using a network game, I show that increased enforcement actually can lead to sparse networks and thereby to an increase in criminal activity. When criminal activity requires a certain degree of specialization, criminals will form sparse networks, which generate the highest level of crime and are the hardest to disrupt. I also show that heavy surveillance and large fines do not deter crime for these networks. The second essay examines the impact that residential location decisions have on economic outcomes of immigrants. About two thirds of the immigrants that arrived to the United States between 1997 and 2006 settled in six States only. Using a simultaneous-move game on residential choices I show that when all immigrants are unskilled they cluster in an enclave and earn very low wages, although they would be better off assimilating. Hence the enclave is `trap'. Introducing skill heterogeneity among immigrants reverses the result: the enclave equilibrium becomes socially preferred to assimilation.Item Does Place Matter? Metropolitan Area Differences in the Wages and Gains to Human Capital for Male Hispanic Immigrants in the U.S.(2006-05-10) Nelson, Kyle Anne; Kahn, Joan R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The unprecedented movement of Hispanic immigrants to new growth areas raises important questions about the opportunity for immigrants to succeed in labor markets that have little history of incorporating immigrants. I analyze Census 2000 data to compare wages of male Hispanic immigrants across 28 metropolitan areas grouped into "immigrant gateway types" derived from Singer (2004). I examine the role of human capital factors and metropolitan area characteristics in shaping the wage profiles of male Hispanic immigrants. Workers in the sample earn higher wages and gain more from human capital investments in traditional gateway areas than in newer growth areas with more service sector jobs and less historical presence of Hispanics. Human capital and immigrant-specific characteristics explain much of the wage advantage for male Hispanic immigrants in the traditional gateway areas; however, metropolitan area characteristics benefit workers in newer growth areas, pointing to booms in new economy sectors in these areas.