This book proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of immigration. It examines four major issues informing current sociological studies of immigration: mechanisms and effects of international migration, processes of immigrants assimilation and transnational engagements, and the adaptation patterns of the second generation.

This book surveys a new trend in immigration studies, which one could characterize as a turn away from multicultural and postnational perspectives, toward a renewed emphasis on assimilation and citizenship. Looking both at state policies and migrant practices, the contributions to this volume argue that citizenship has remained the dominant membership principle in liberal nation-states, that multiculturalism policies are everywhere in retreat, and that contemporary migrants are simultaneously assimilating and transnationalizing.

This book surveys a new trend in immigration studies, which one could characterize as a turn away from multicultural and postnational perspectives, toward a renewed emphasis on assimilation and citizenship. Looking both at state policies and migrant practices, the contributions to this volume argue that (1) citizenship has remained the dominant membership principle in liberal nation-states, (2) multiculturalism policies are everywhere in retreat, and (3) contemporary migrants are simultaneously assimilating and transnationalizing.

This book proposes a new encompassing theoretical framework for the study of immigration. Ewa Morawska provides a systematic comparative examination of the experience of turn-of-the-twentieth-century and present-day immigrants, and of eight contemporary immigrant groups in the United States. Within this interpretative framework, Morawska examines four major issues informing current sociological studies of immigration: mechanisms and effects of international migration, processes of immigrants' assimilation and transnational engagements, and the adaptation patterns of the second generation. This study focuses on the interactive framework in which immigrants, responding to circumstances not of their choosing, nonetheless make history. Though the book is shaped by an underlying theoretical framework, the key theoretical issues are explored through a comparison of eight different groups, providing rich, empirical, grounded material. As the groups range widely in origins and immigrant experiences, they shed light on one of the salient aspects of the contemporary immigrant phenomenon, namely its diversity. The concluding chapter offers a thoughtful review of the main agendas of immigration research in different regions of the world followed by the author's suggestions regarding better-informed cross-national/regional studies in this field.