The Immigrant-Native Relations in 21st-Century America Project is part of a major research project on cultural contact and immigration funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the University of California Center for New Racial Studies, and the Cornell Population Center.
Perhaps at no other time in recent U.S. history has the issue of immigration garnered the public and media attention that it currently receives. The American government and populace have become increasingly concerned over the need for immigration reform, and immigration issues have been debated and politicized at all levels of government, particularly among states. In fact, despite an absolute decline in Latino immigration in recent years, immigrant-related legislation has increased—the most salient example of which is the controversial 2010 bill signed into Arizona state law aimed at identifying, prosecuting, and deporting undocumented immigrants. In 2007 alone, 250 communities considered or passed anti-immigrant ordinances; more than 150 passed—three times as many as the previous year. But why the growing anxiety over immigration? Are the underlying causes of anti-immigrant sentiment economic, political, cultural, or some combination? Is immigration becoming the new race issue? What role does the perceived race or ethnicity of immigrants play in attitudes toward immigration and immigration policy? And what role may cultural contact, education, and government policy play in promoting tolerance and integration?
To investigate these issues, in 2010 the Foundation launched a new initiative combining the objectives and strengths of two well-established Russell Sage programs: Cultural Contact and Immigration. The Cultural Contact program focuses on the influence of cultural differences on intergroup relations in schools, workplaces, and communities in addition to how well American criminal justice, educational, and health care institutions are responding to rapidly increasing diversity. The Foundation’s Immigration program seeks to discover how well immigrants and their children are adapting socially, politically, and economically to life in the United States—particularly in light of immigrant settlement in communities that are unaccustomed to large numbers of the foreign-born. The Working Group on Cultural Contact and Immigration will research the evolving character of immigrant life in such communities—cities, towns, and rural areas outside of customary gateways such as New York, Miami, or Los Angeles. This joint program initiative reflects two realities: the surge, since the 1980s, of immigrants settling in non-traditional gateways and the current recession, which has led to mass unemployment and widespread economic uncertainty.
The Working Group on Cultural Contact and Immigration will examine the questions stemming from this reality using a cross-disciplinary perspective. A primary goal of the group is to find ways in which members from different social science research traditions may complement one another in productive ways. Comprising nineteen social scientists, including sociologists, political scientists, social psychologists, and a social geographer, the working group will undertake research that analyzes the cultural frictions and ethnic and racial realignments that result from the rapid growth and dispersion of the foreign born population in the United States at a time of high economic uncertainty and political polarization about immigration. The members of the working group and advisory committee can be found here. The working group currently has several pilot projects under development, on issues including the factors that lead immigrants to perceive themselves as targets of discrimination; how immigration shapes immigrants’ and native-born Americans’ perceptions of belonging in the United States; and how status relations shape immigrants’ and native-born Americans’ contact experiences and whether such experiences are reliable predictors of attitudes and behaviors.
To investigate these issues, in 2010 the Foundation launched a new initiative combining the objectives and strengths of two well-established Russell Sage programs: Cultural Contact and Immigration. The Cultural Contact program focuses on the influence of cultural differences on intergroup relations in schools, workplaces, and communities in addition to how well American criminal justice, educational, and health care institutions are responding to rapidly increasing diversity. The Foundation’s Immigration program seeks to discover how well immigrants and their children are adapting socially, politically, and economically to life in the United States—particularly in light of immigrant settlement in communities that are unaccustomed to large numbers of the foreign-born. The Working Group on Cultural Contact and Immigration will research the evolving character of immigrant life in such communities—cities, towns, and rural areas outside of customary gateways such as New York, Miami, or Los Angeles. This joint program initiative reflects two realities: the surge, since the 1980s, of immigrants settling in non-traditional gateways and the current recession, which has led to mass unemployment and widespread economic uncertainty.
The Working Group on Cultural Contact and Immigration will examine the questions stemming from this reality using a cross-disciplinary perspective. A primary goal of the group is to find ways in which members from different social science research traditions may complement one another in productive ways. Comprising nineteen social scientists, including sociologists, political scientists, social psychologists, and a social geographer, the working group will undertake research that analyzes the cultural frictions and ethnic and racial realignments that result from the rapid growth and dispersion of the foreign born population in the United States at a time of high economic uncertainty and political polarization about immigration. The members of the working group and advisory committee can be found here. The working group currently has several pilot projects under development, on issues including the factors that lead immigrants to perceive themselves as targets of discrimination; how immigration shapes immigrants’ and native-born Americans’ perceptions of belonging in the United States; and how status relations shape immigrants’ and native-born Americans’ contact experiences and whether such experiences are reliable predictors of attitudes and behaviors.
Andrew Carnegie envisioned Carnegie Corporation as a foundation that would “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, our work incorporates an affirmation of our historic role as an education foundation but also honors Andrew Carnegie's passion for international peace and the health of our democracy.
Carnegie Corporation’s stance on immigrant civic integration stems from Andrew Carnegie’s conviction that immigrant integration is essential to American democracy and economic prosperity, and contends that American democracy cannot flourish without fixing the nation’s “broken” immigration system. The number of foreign-born people residing in the United States is at the highest level in U.S. history. Yet millions of immigrants lack a clear pathway to citizenship, and have limited opportunities for participation in American society. To change that picture, the nation needs more effective immigration policies, along with stronger systems for bringing immigrants into the pluralistic mainstream of civic and economic life.
The failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2007, coupled with the Corporation’s commitment to helping newcomers take advantage of the country’s educational and economic opportunities, have led us to adopt four key areas of support as levers of change:
1) Strategic communications
2) Strengthening the capacity of the immigrant integration field
3) Citizenship and nonpartisan civic engagement
4) Improved policy development
Carnegie Corporation’s stance on immigrant civic integration stems from Andrew Carnegie’s conviction that immigrant integration is essential to American democracy and economic prosperity, and contends that American democracy cannot flourish without fixing the nation’s “broken” immigration system. The number of foreign-born people residing in the United States is at the highest level in U.S. history. Yet millions of immigrants lack a clear pathway to citizenship, and have limited opportunities for participation in American society. To change that picture, the nation needs more effective immigration policies, along with stronger systems for bringing immigrants into the pluralistic mainstream of civic and economic life.
The failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2007, coupled with the Corporation’s commitment to helping newcomers take advantage of the country’s educational and economic opportunities, have led us to adopt four key areas of support as levers of change:
1) Strategic communications
2) Strengthening the capacity of the immigrant integration field
3) Citizenship and nonpartisan civic engagement
4) Improved policy development
The mission of the Center for New Racial Studies is to support innovation in UC-based race/ethnicity research and teaching and to encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative work focused on advancing social/racial justice in an era of changing racial dynamics and persistent racial/ethnic conflict and inequality. While the primary commitment is to establish a research network of UC scholars, the Center expects to forge links with other academic networks and institutions, as well as non-academic groups, that are working on issues of race and racism.
The goals of the UCCNRS are strategic: to contribute to the production of new knowledge and new approaches to contemporary dilemmas of race and racism; to model what an innovative research/teaching center in the general area of racial studies can be under the new racial conditions of the 21st century; to establish new intellectual pathways for promising students; and to promote a racially diverse university at all levels.
The goals of the UCCNRS are strategic: to contribute to the production of new knowledge and new approaches to contemporary dilemmas of race and racism; to model what an innovative research/teaching center in the general area of racial studies can be under the new racial conditions of the 21st century; to establish new intellectual pathways for promising students; and to promote a racially diverse university at all levels.
The Cornell Population Center (CPC) serves as the intellectual hub for demographic research and training at Cornell University. The CPC supports demographic research relating broadly to four core themes: (1) families and children; (2) health behaviors and disparities; (3) poverty and inequality; and (4) immigration and diversity. The CPC is a university-wide program serving 95 affiliates from 24 different departments and is housed in the College of Human Ecology. Daniel T. Lichter is CPC Director. Erin Oates is CPC Program Administrator.
The Cornell Population Center coordinates and promotes national and international population research, encourages cross-disciplinary innovation, facilitates research funding, improves interdisciplinary training, and converts academic studies into policy recommendations and guidance for practitioners. The Cornell Population Center (CPC) is funded by a seed grant from the Office of the Vice Provost for the Social Sciences which includes support from the Colleges of Human Ecology, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Industrial and Labor Relations. The CPC is also funded by grant, 5 R24 HD058488, awarded to Cornell University by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Child Development.
The Cornell Population Center coordinates and promotes national and international population research, encourages cross-disciplinary innovation, facilitates research funding, improves interdisciplinary training, and converts academic studies into policy recommendations and guidance for practitioners. The Cornell Population Center (CPC) is funded by a seed grant from the Office of the Vice Provost for the Social Sciences which includes support from the Colleges of Human Ecology, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Industrial and Labor Relations. The CPC is also funded by grant, 5 R24 HD058488, awarded to Cornell University by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Child Development.