Religion, Social Incorporation, and Civic Engagement: Second-Generation Indian American Christians

Recent studies have shown that participation in religious institutions facilitates the civic incorporation of contemporary immigrants. These studies have focused on either the immigrant generation or on the second generation. This paper contributes to the literature by showing how negotiations and disagreements between generations shape the civic engagement of multigenerational Christian congregations. The research is based on a study of congregations consisting of first- and second-generation immigrants belonging to the ancient Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Christian church based in Kerala, a state in south India. It shows how first- and second-generation Mar Thoma American conceptions regarding ethnic and religious identity and the social obligations mandated by religion were based on very different understandings about Christian worship, evangelism, social outreach, and their interrelationship. The immigrant generation’s ideas were shaped by the doctrines and practices of the Mar Thoma denomination in India, whereas those of the second generation were influenced by nondenominational American evangelicalism. This paper focuses on the second generation and shows how they developed ideas of American identity and Christian obligation in interaction with and often in opposition to those of their parents’ generation, with the result that contradictory forces affected the civic engagement of these multigenerational congregations.     

Christian Churches and Immigrant Support in Canada: An Organizational Ecology Perspective

Canada receives roughly 250,000 immigrants each year, and the government spends considerable resources on assisting them to settle and integrate into Canadian society through the agencies they support. Most of these new immigrants settle in Canada’s largest cities, where churches meet specific needs that extend beyond the capacities of government agencies. In smaller centers, churches cover a wide range of services because few government supports are available. Little is known about the work of churches in Canada in spite of their importance to immigrant settlement and integration. In this study, we examine the services offered to immigrants by Canadian Christian churches. We show how the service provision of Christian churches is constrained by other organizations and groups in their environment, in ways consonant with the organizational ecology framework. Specifically, churches service the needs of immigrants by adapting to specific niche needs and by filling in gaps left by other service providers.     

Branding ‘Canadian Experience’ in Immigration Policy: Nation Building in a Neoliberal Era

This paper examines the branding of ‘Canadian experience’ in Canadian immigration policy as a rhetorical strategy for neoliberal nation-building. Since 2008, the Canadian government has introduced an unprecedented number of changes to immigration policy. While the bulk of these policies produce more temporary and precarious forms of migration, the Canadian government has mobilized the rhetoric of ‘Canadian experience’ as a means to identify immigrants who carry the promise of economic and social integration. Through a critical discourse analysis of Canadian print media and political discourse, we trace how the brand of Canadian experience taps into the affective value of national identity in an era of global economic insecurity. We also illustrate how the discourse of Canadian experience (CE) remains ideologically deracialized, such that the government’s embrace of CE as an immigrant selection criterion dismisses the discriminatory effects that this discourse is shown to have for racialized immigrants in Canada.     

Religious Conservatives and Outsiders: Determinants of Cross-Racial Ties Among White Christians

This article analyzes how a congregation’s theology and denominational affiliation influence the racial ties of its white members. We posit two distinct pathways. In the first, theologically conservative congregations generate more embedded social ties (measured by number of friendships) than do non-conservative congregations, and more congregation friendships increase the likelihood of cross-racial ties. In the second pathway, congregations not affiliated with historically major denominational families report higher levels of racial diversity, and high levels of congregation racial diversity increase the likelihood of cross-racial ties. Our key methodological innovation is to divide Evangelical congregations into two categories: those affiliated with the historically major families (Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian) and those not (e.g., Pentecostal, Seventh-Day Adventist). Christian groups that join theological conservatism and outsider (non-major) status generate high levels of friendships and racial diversity in their congregations, both of which contribute to cross-racial ties among white members. Analysis of survey data from a national probability sample of white Christians (2006 Faith Matters Survey) mostly supports our hypotheses.     

Religious diversity beyond the cosmopolis: Immigration and the religious field in the City of Turku, Finland

International migration has fundamentally changed local population demographics in many corners of the world. This article discusses the religious implications of an increase in the population of immigrant origin in the city of Turku, Finland, which serves as an example of a regional immigration centre. Migration started at the turn of the 1990s and by 2006, about 9% of the city's population were first and second generation migrants with backgrounds mainly in Europe and Asia. The main countries of origin are Russia, Iraq, former Yugoslavia and Estonia. The migrants have brought increasing religious diversity to the local religious fields, including internal diversification of membership in many Christian churches (Lutheran, Protestant free church, Orthodox and Catholic), and have founded new Muslim, Buddhist and Mandaean congregations. This article argues that the founding of religious organisations is a main form of structural adaptation to the local social context. In addition, there is a discussion of religious activities and transnational connections in relation to immigration, as well as, the local, national and transnational implications of increasing globality.     

Welcoming Initiatives and Immigrant Attachment: The Case of Windsor

Welcoming Initiatives have been introduced across Canada together with federally funded local immigration partnerships to attract and foster long-term settlement of immigrants in smaller cities. This paper examines the context in which immigrant newcomers are welcomed to Windsor, Ontario. Through a multi-method approach that included interviews and focus groups with newcomer immigrants, interviews with key sector stakeholders, a local media analysis, and a survey of local organizations, we foreground the local ways in which immigrants are viewed as being part of the city and identify the social, cultural, and economic features that might support immigrant attachment. We argue that newcomers’ capacity to engage in and attach to various spheres of urban life is non-linear and varied: newcomers formed shifting and precarious attachments relative to their social, economic, familial, and migratory experiences. We argue that welcoming initiatives can be enhanced by more organic connections that reach beyond the settlement sector. Our conclusion calls for a place-based lens to foreground the wider local context in which welcoming initiatives are instituted to cultivate immigrant ties.     

Social Capital and Employment Outcomes of Zimbabwean Immigrants in the United States

Understanding of cultural and contextual factors that may influence settlement is vital for successful immigrant integration. This study explored the effect of social capital on employment outcomes of Zimbabwean immigrants (N?=?103) in the USA using a triangulation mixed methods design. Participants completed a survey that assessed their social capital and employment outcomes. Twelve participants were selected from those who had completed the survey to participate in in-depth interviews that asked about their life experiences. The results of a multiple logistic regression analysis identified network diversity as a significant inverse predictor of underemployment (p?=?0.04) controlling for educational attainment. Qualitative results elaborated on how social capital contributed to or minimized underemployment. Implications for practice are also suggested.     

Labour market outcomes of immigrant and racial minority university graduates in Canada

Between 1986 and 1996 there has been a significant increase in the racial minority and immigrant populations of Canada and a very significant proportion of racial minorities are of immigrant origin. With the aging of the Canadian population and its persistently low fertility rates the success of the Knowledge Based Economy (KBE) is expected to depend on the economic integration of immigrant racial minorities. In this paper, we frame the discussion of economic integration from a social inequality perspective, and examine how fields of study (FOS) and education credentials impact the earnings of immigrant racial minorities. Our analysis indicates that, in all fields of study, the earnings of immigrant visible minorities, especially those who migrated at an older age to Canada with foreign credentials, are not commensurate with their education level. This suggests that the adjustment mechanisms that have been introduced to recognize the credentials of young adult racial minority immigrants and smooth their entry into the work force have been inadequate and/or ineffective.     

Evaluating the Character of People Who Insult the Nation: Implications for Immigrant Integration

We examine immigrant integration by analyzing how natives evaluate immigrants' character. Most literature examines how natives distinguish between immigrants with different levels of assimilation, which is best suited to identifying integration boundaries between different types of immigrants. We shift the analysis and examine the boundary between immigrants and natives, which measures integration by the extent to which immigrant status is relevant for character evaluations. We compare how natives respond to national insults that come from immigrants as opposed to natives. We focus on insulting the nation because it highlights the salience of national identity and clarifies the importance of group boundaries. We measure responses to national insults with vignette experiments from three original surveys in the United States. Our results are consistent with situationist theories of interpersonal interactions because they suggest that character evaluations are more dependent on the situational distinction between people who do and do not insult the nation than the demographic distinction between whether the insult comes from a native or immigrant. These findings have multiple implications for our understanding of national identity, immigrant integration, and immigrant‐native boundaries.     

Multiracial Congregations: An Analysis of Their Development and a Typology

Although the overwhelming majority of religious congregations consist of members who share the same racial background, there are a significant number of multiracial congregations in the United States. We begin with an analysis of why most congregations remain uniracial despite racial integration in other institutions. Then, based on our two-year national study, we examine the key variables underlying the development of multiracial congregations. Specifically, we consider the primary impetus for change and the source of racial diversification. Based on the analysis of how some congregations have become multiracial, we present a typology of multiracial congregations. We find seven main types. It is our hope that the typology and analysis will illuminate the effects of racial diversity on the life cycle of congregations and serve as a useful framework to guide future studies of multiracial congregations. Ultimately, we intend this article to facilitate the development of formal theory and research on the genesis and sustainability of multiracial congregations. To that end, we conclude the article by offering hypotheses suggested by the typology and its underlying causes.     

The Social Functions and Dysfunctions of Brazilian Immigrant Congregations in “<Emphasis Type="Italic">terra incognita</Emphasis>”

Ethnic congregations are often considered safe havens for immigrants. This is supported by a large body of literature showing that many religious congregations in diasporic contexts help immigrants maintain their ethnic group identity and cohesion, build social capital, and adapt more smoothly to life in an unfamiliar society. The role of ethnic congregations in the lives of immigrants is, however, complex and multifaceted, and some recent research suggests that, in some ways, these congregations may inhibit their adaptation to the larger society and arouse tensions among the very immigrant communities they intend to help. In light of these varying observations, we seek to explore the functions—and potential dysfunctions—that ethnic congregations have among Brazilians who have immigrated to central Texas. Using data drawn in 2013 from participant observation and 16 in-depth interviews conducted in two Brazilian evangelical congregations, we find that respondents perceive that their congregations strengthen their feelings of attachment to Brazilian culture and language and foster the development of social capital within to the Brazilian immigrant community. At the same time, however, some respondents acknowledge that church members can become overly dependent on their congregations and isolated from the larger society, leaving them susceptible to potential exploitation at the hands of more established co-ethnics within the congregation.     

Well-being, Cultural Capital and Social Inclusion: Immigrants in the Republic of Ireland

This article draws on survey data on child, family and neighbourhood well-being in the Republic of Ireland to examine the nature and extent of immigrant social inclusion. Focusing in particular on results for an area known as ‘the Liberties’ in Dublin, in which immigrants are overly represented, the article specifically examines: (1) the relationship between levels of adult immigrant social inclusion and well-being, (2) child well-being scores of immigrant and Irish families and (3) immigrant and host community perceptions of neighbourhood characteristics. The article also considers how and to what extent immigrant human, social and cultural capital explains these findings.     

Cultural representations of immigrant workers by service providers and employers

Cultural perceptions by immigrant service providers and employers potentially shape the employment trajectories of immigrants. I examine perceptions of what motivates immigrants to participate in the Canadian labour market through a Vancouver-based interview survey with immigrant service providers, employment counsellors, NGO administrators and employers who service and/or employ newcomers from South Asia and the former Yugoslavia. The results reveal that multiple perceptions coexist. These perceptions project that immigrants work as a means of survival, a moral obligation, a quest for social distruction and an instrument of social integration. Our understanding of ethnic segmentation of immigrant labour should consider these perceptions.     

Racially Diverse Congregations: Organizational Identity and the Accommodation of Differences

Racial integration in religious congregations is a topic of keen interest to researchers and religious leaders. Although not common, there are congregations that successfully reach across cultural lines to attract adherents. Prior studies tend to dichotomize congregations into categories of multiracial and nonmultiracial and, thereby, miss a wider range of racial variation. Using nationally representative congregational data, this article paints a more representative picture of racial diversity in U.S. congregations and puts forward a theory of congregational identity to account for why some congregations succeed at accommodating multiple racial groups in a society where religious life remains overwhelmingly segregated. The analysis capitalizes on a numeric scale of diversity, which measures the evenness of racial group representation in a congregation. While the external environment creates opportunity for racial diversification in congregations, findings demonstrate racially diverse leadership, charismatic worship, and small groups as internal congregational features also relevant to diversity.     

Foreign Language Exposure,Cultural Threat,and Opposition to Immigration

In the present article, we extend the notion of cultural threat posed by immigrants beyond its current conceptualization as symbolic, collective‐level threats to American culture and identity. Instead, we argue that routine encounters with non‐English‐speaking immigrants cause many individuals to feel threatened because of real barriers to interpersonal communication and exchange. We draw upon survey and experimental data to demonstrate that local contact with immigrants who speak little to no English, as well as incidental exposure to the Spanish language, heighten feelings of cultural threat, which increases anti‐immigrant sentiment and policy preferences.     

An Intergroup Perspective on Immigrant Acculturation with a Focus on Collective Strategies

This study adopted an intergroup perspective on immigrant acculturation, which views immigrants as members of a disadvantaged social category. Its primary purpose was to relate the relative disadvantage of certain immigrant groups to a preference for collective acculturation strategies. Questionnaires were administered to immigrants from four ethnic groups, two of which (blacks from the Caribbean, and Chinese) were considered to be relatively more “stigmatized” within the Canadian context than the other two (Greeks and Italians). In addition, a cross-generational methodology provided comparisons between first-generation immigrants (n = 116), and their adult children (n = 133). It was hypothesized and found that the more “stigmatized” immigrants perceived themselves to be at a greater social disadvantage and were more supportive of a collective integration orientation than less stigmatized immigrants. Parents were more likely to endorse a collective acculturation orientation and exhibited a stronger ethnic identification than their children. The results are interpreted using an intergroup approach to immigrant acculturation.     

‘Hijab envy’: the visible angst of immigrant Christians in a pluralist Canada

This article explores the predilection of Christians of immigrant background to perceive themselves as a disadvantaged group in the new reality of Canada’s growing religious diversity. The present inquiry challenges loss as the definitive emotional register for Christian engagement with Canada’s new religious minorities, demonstrating that religious minorities have elicited begrudging admiration and envy from their Christian counterparts. This inquiry insists that contemporary Canada, not ‘Christian Canada’, is the most important frame for understanding the perceptions and predilections of the Christians in this study. It argues that pluralist ideals, the policy instruments, and social practices that carry these ideals and the cultural forums that display and debate these ideals shape not only the ‘attitudes’ of young Christians, but also the regimes of visibility in which and from which they operate. While scholars impute an increasing visibility to religion, this article demonstrates that the array of affects between viewer and viewed are highly variable and context specific.     

The Impact of the Recent Economic Crisis on Unemployment Among Immigrants in Japan

This study explores how the contexts of immigrant reception were related to unemployment of immigrants in Japan during the global economic crisis in the 2000s. Little is known concerning what shaped unemployment of immigrants in institutional settings outside of North American and European countries during the financial crisis. This study focuses specifically on unskilled immigrants because this type of migrant worker has been highly vulnerable to economic cycles. We focused on Nikkeijin immigrants from Brazil and Peru and Asian immigrants from China, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We explored how immigrants’ unemployment in Japan was linked to immigration control policies, integration programs for refugees, labor market structures, and conditions of social capital. Empirical findings demonstrate that the trainee program strongly determined whether immigrants could remain in Japan during the unemployment period and that a significant difference in unemployment existed between Brazilian and Peruvian immigrants in Japan. Whereas ties with kin and co-ethnic friends did not help immigrants avoid unemployment, ties with Japanese spouses hindered unemployment among male immigrants, although this was not the case for female immigrants with Japanese spouses. Hence, immigrant unemployment depends considerably on how immigrants have been received in Japan. Conversely, we did not find any evidence of a positive role of the state government in mitigating immigrants’ unemployment in this study. Instead, the existing institutional context of immigrants’ reception in Japan has worsened the socioeconomic conditions of immigrants and strengthened their social marginalization, reflecting the lack of public debate regarding—and the lack of institutional support for—the integration of immigrants into the mainstream society.     

Discontinuités culturelles et linguistiques: Portraits d’immigrants francophones en milieu minoritaire

Using ethnographic methods, this article explores the experiences and the challenges that immigrants face in the areas of language and culture. Seven narratives on social integration, school experiences, and more generally life experiences as immigrants, were used to explore the phenomenon of cultural and linguistic discontinuities in a francophone minority context in Manitoba. A thematic analysis reveals specific linguistic and sociocultural challenges that need to be addressed in community organizations. This article offers suggestions for more equitable and inclusive practices.