300098 The Segmented Assimilation of immigrants' children: theoretical approach and empirical evidences (S) (SoSe 2015)

Because of immigration, Western societies are facing a transition to a much more diverse population in working-age and in this process the youth whose parents migrated (the so-called second generation) have a growing role. One central question in migration research deals with the way how children of immigrants become "incorporated" into society. The segmented assimilation theory describes the incorporation paths of immigrants’ children (i.e. their social trajectories) as being the result of the interplay of three factors: the family context, the political and economic context in which the immigration of the parents took place and the characteristics of the co-ethnic community. The aim of this seminar is, firstly, to discuss the theoretical approach developed by Alejandro Portes and his colleagues as well as the factors and processes involved. This will necessarily lead us discuss why this approach has been the most controversial idea to have emerged from the research on immigrants’ children in the US in the last decades. In order to do so we will confront the SAT to the so-called neo-assimilation theory developed by Alba and Nee (2003) and discuss their contributions as analytical frameworks. Secondly, another aim of the seminar is to read and discuss empirical, mostly quantitative, studies that have been realized to test SAT hypotheses in the US and the German context. Finally, we will debate about the application of this approach to the European context and whether it can be used in cross-national research on immigrants’ descendants.