by Sandra Yin
(October 2005) As policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic continue to focus on questions of immigration and immigrants’ assimilation into mainstream cultures, evidenced-based analysis of immigration issues has become critical to crafting effective policy on these questions.
In a symposium held at PRB on September 29, 2005, PRB’s five Bixby Visiting Scholars gave brief talks on their separate research into North American and European immigration. (See below to read synopses of the presentations and to watch them via streaming video.) While in residence at PRB, the Bixby Scholars—senior researchers preeminent in their fields—pursue their own research projects and make contributions to PRB publications.
"Together, the presentations shed light on the core issues of increased immigration while also providing historical and international perspective and even glimpses into probable futures," says William P. Butz, PRB’s president, who introduced the speakers.
PRB’s First Annual Visiting Scholar Symposium was made possible by the generous support of the Fred H. Bixby Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The symposium was the first in a series of seminars that will be held at PRB this academic year.
View webcast of entire symposium (87 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
The Speakers
PRB Bixby Visiting Scholar Margo Anderson is professor of history and urban studies at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, where she has served as chair of the history department. Her talk focuses on the intersection of measurement and policy as it relates to demographic research on immigration. Anderson tells the story of a failed effort in the early 1950s to collect statistics on ethnicity. While reconstructing what went awry, she discovered that one problematic category can hold up an entire classification system.
View Margo Anderson webcast (16 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
Download Anderson Powerpoint presentation (PPT: 52KB)
Before coming to PRB as a Bixby Visiting Scholar, Barbara Boyle Torrey served as the executive director of the Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academy of Sciences and chief of the Center for International Research at the U.S. Census Bureau. In her talk, Torrey explores differences and similarities between immigration to the United States and Canada. The most striking differences she found were in the type of questions each country asked in longitudinal surveys of immigrants. For instance, while one U.S. survey asks how much money an immigrant is making or whether she receives welfare benefits, the Canadian survey asks: "Do you like your job? Was it hard to find?"
View Barbara Torrey webcast (10 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
Download Torrey Powerpoint presentation (PPT: 144KB)
PRB Bixby Visiting Scholar Charles Hirschman is professor and former chair of the sociology department at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is current president of the Population Association of America. Hirschmann's discussion touches on causes of the post-1965 wave of immigration to the United States, how these immigrants are faring, and how American society has responded. The act of migration is an act of economic investment, Hirschman says, and immigrants are doing better than you might have expected: The amount of money workers send home to developing countries outweighs all the development aid in the world.
View Hirschman webcast (53 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
Download Hirschman Powerpoint presentation (PPT: 40KB)
PRB Bixby Visiting Scholar Frances Goldscheider is university professor and professor of sociology at Brown University, where she has served as department chair. Her talk touches on the little-researched area of immigration in the private sphere. Goldscheider says that family dynamics are crucial to understanding the degree to which immigrant populations progress economically or integrate into mainstream culture. While family connections may help a new immigrant find a job, parental expectations may frown on cohabitation or intermarriage.
View Frances Goldscheider webcast (19 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
PRB Bixby Visiting Scholar Calvin Goldscheider is professor emeritus of sociology and Ungerleider Professor Emeritus of Judaic studies at Brown University. Goldscheider discussed gaps in research on immigration, including: What is the nature of the transition from immigrant group to ethnic group or community? And what makes for group distinctiveness? Goldscheider warns that one should not automatically infer the loss of community from demographic assimilation.
View Calvin Goldscheider webcast (20 minutes) Windows Media Player* Real Player†
Sandra Yin is associate editor at PRB.
* Video may be viewed with Windows Media Player. To download the free player click here.
† Video may be viewed with RealPlayer. To download the free player click here.