A. Portes. “Immigration Theory for a New Century: Some Problems and Opportunities.”

a.       FOUR COMMON PITFALLS

                                                  i.      The accumulation of data does not always lead to theoretical innovation (“theories do not grow additively”); instead, theoretical breakthroughs arise from the ability to make new connections not previously seen

1.      Observations that some migrant groups are entrepreneurs who choose to live and work in low-income areas led to the theory of middleman minorities and ethnic enclaves

                                                ii.      Migration studies are largely data-driven and rely on self-reporting, yet “theories do not necessarily correspond to people’s perceptions”; immigrants may not be aware of the broader issues shaping their experiences, or may have a different opinion of them than researchers, which are only useful if the subjective experience is what the theory is attempting to explain

1.      Korean immigrants in Baltimore have developed a middleman economy in the African American inner city, yet they would deny that they are doing this when asked

                                              iii.      Typologies, including administrative categories (undocumented aliens, quota and nonquota migrants, skilled labor, refugees, etc.) are not theories; they may become building blocks for theories but they only assert differences without specifying their origins or anticipating consequences

1.      Typologies enter the construction of theory as interaction effects (the assimilation of children of professional immigrants is easier than those of labor immigrants) or categorical endogenous values (the range of a variable to be explained through characteristics of immigrant families and the receiving society)

2.      A fully-fledged theory should have a description of specific instances, an identification and definition of a process or characteristic to be explained (the dependent variable), one or more explanatory factors and their types of effects, and a logical link with other similar propositions

                                              iv.      Just as typologies are too specific to time and place to become theories, so too there is no overall encompassing theory of immigration; macro and micro-level forces leading to migration are nearly impossible to unite in one grand theory

1.      Migration theories can be organized instead in sub-fields such as the origins of immigration, the directionality and continuity of migrant flows, the utilization of immigrant labor, and the sociocultural adaptation of immigrants

b.      SAMPLER OF THEMES FOR IMMIGRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY

                                                  i.      Transnational communities, or dense networks of immigrants seeking economic and/or social advancement which span political borders, and whose members lead dual lives

1.      Transnational migrants occupy social fields spanning geographic, cultural, and political borders; technologies facilitating the rapid spread of people and information around the world have made it easier for these transnational migrants to exist today

                                                ii.      The new second generation are the ones most affected by adaptation processes, which are much different today than for earlier waves of European immigrants in America

1.      The proliferation of transnational activities, discrimination against nonwhites, and structural opposition to mainstream society are all new phenomena that may limit the assimilation of the new second generation

                                              iii.      Households and gender have frequently been ignored in migration literature, but the relationships between the sexes and the influence this has on the immigration process must be considered

                                              iv.      The role of states and state building in the onset of refugee flows is another line of investigation, as is the analysis of the external and internal pressures on legislators who deal with immigration

1.      “Path dependence” and “cumulative causation” can explain the persistence of immigration flows despite public opposition, while Merton’s concept of “unintended consequences” can explain how legislation intended to curb immigration actually ends up promoting it

                                                v.      Comparative projects focusing on abstract research topics and using a cross-national methodology are needed; this approach can encompass all the other suggested fields of research as well

1.      Cross-national research is useful to determine the applicability of theories to different national contexts, to generate typologies of interaction effects across different national contexts, and to produce concepts and propositions of broader scope