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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Here you will find a comprehensive list of the Working Papers for the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR). The Institute for Social Science Research is a center for intellectual activity and basic research in the social sciences. We bring together faculty and students from a wide variety of disciplines, from the basic social science disciplines and the more applied programs in the professional schools alike. Our substantive focus is wide-ranging,including projects on the politics of race and ethnicity, poverty, immigration, public policy, social change, mass media, bureaucracy, ethnic identity in university life, and the political party system. Our particular strength lies in large-scale, interdisciplinary, quantitative research, but we welcome many smaller projects as well. A central component of this activity is the training of students to carry out such research, especially in the use of survey research and the secondary analysis of archived datasets.

Cover page of Place, Politics and Ethnicity in the Contemporary American City

Place, Politics and Ethnicity in the Contemporary American City

(1988)

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the impacts of ethnicity in the politics of the contemporary American city. The importance of ethnicity is seen as derivative of the structure of local politics in the United States and the processes which have resulted in the establishment and maintenance of ethnic identities and communities in American cities. As such, the paper is intended to provide a context for the remaining papers in this session which focus on the recent political behavior of specific ethnic groups in particular cities.

Cover page of Ethnic Dilemmas in Comparative Perspective: An Overview

Ethnic Dilemmas in Comparative Perspective: An Overview

(1988)

The papers which comprise this volume were produced by a group of these nationally known scholars who are engaged in research on comparative aspects of ethnicity and ethnic group behavior. Organized around a series of themes which run through the extant comparative ethnicity literature and which reflect the expertise and current research foci of the conference presenters, the volume is divided into five parts

Part I addresses issues related to "Ethnic Assimilation, Segregation, and Neighborhood Change."

Part II of the volume addresses issues related to labor markets and entrepreneurship.

Part III of this volume addresses issues related to ethnic political and electoral behavior.

Part IV of this volume focuses on racial/ethnic issues in higher education.

Part V of the book, which we've entitled "Comparative Ethnicity in Society," addresses a number of pertinent dilemmas which have received considerable attention in both the local and national news media.

Cover page of Comparative Ethnicity: Salient Policy Issues and Research Agenda

Comparative Ethnicity: Salient Policy Issues and Research Agenda

(1988)

In this essay we identify some of the salient policies raised by the Conference on Comparative Ethnicity participants and assess the policy implications of the academic debates that dominated the conference. These observations draw upon both the paper presentations and the final session of the conference in which some of the participants discussed issues of importance to social policy and outlined the parameters of an emerging research agenda. Because the analytical focus and level of analysis has much to do with the types of inquiries that are pursued and the nature of the policies that are proposed, we focus here on ethnic group behavior, ethnic group interaction, and on the institutional context in which both behavior and interaction occur. It is within these domains that we can identify the salient policy issues of comparative ethnic significance.

Cover page of Recent Racial Incidents in Higher Education: A Contemporary Perspective

Recent Racial Incidents in Higher Education: A Contemporary Perspective

(1988)

In recent years,there has been a resurgence of racial/ethnic conflict at predominantly White institutions of higher education. Incidents of harassment and violence at the University of Michigan, the University of Massachusetts and other campuses have highlighted the continuing racial/ethnic divisions among majority and minority students (Wilkerson 1988; Farrell 1988a and 1988b; Simpson 1987; Williams 1987). These incidents have emerged during a period when the society, in general, has expressed concern about the declining enrollment of racial minorities -- particularly Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans -- and, to a lesser extent, Asians, in higher education. Therefore, it is ironic that those minority students already enrolled in predominantly White institutions of higher education are experiencing increasing levels of racial/ethnic discrimination and feelings of isolation.

To that end, this paper is a preliminary attempt to develop a perspective on this apparently worsening situation. In order to establish a contemporary understanding of this problem, a general content analytical technique was employed to delineate the most significant contemporary issues/factors surrounding racial/ethnic incidents on the campuses of predominantly White institutions of higher education (Borg and Gall 1979; Babbie 1983). Content analysis has been determined to be an effective tool for monitoring social change. During the past year, there has been an emergence of reportorial interest in racial/ethnic conflict on White university campuses, thus the employment of this technique. The basic approach was to examine the patterns of focus in selected newspapers and related publications and to summarize emergent themes and trends.

For the purpose of this qualitative analysis, a national newspaper, The New York Times, a local newspaper and selected black-oriented newspapers were reviewed for the calendar years 1987 through June, 1988. In addition, related books, articles and periodicals on higher education issues also were assessed. The specific objectives of this investigation were to:

- to provide an overview of minority students on White college campuses,

- to examine the general perceptions of racism in contemporary society,

- to determine the scope of racial/ethnic incidents on campus of predominantly White institutions of higher education, and

- to assess prospects for change.

The main results of this analysis indicate that Blacks were the primary minority group impacted by these "reported" racial incidents, but Hispanics and Asians also have been found to be experiencing increased levels of 'actual" and "perceived"racial discrimination. Native Americans have not emerged in this content analysis as being victims of "reported" racial incidents in contemporary higher education.

Cover page of Ethnic Cleavages and Voting Patterns in Los Angeles

Ethnic Cleavages and Voting Patterns in Los Angeles

(1988)

Immigration into the U.S. from countries in Latin and Asia is rapidly changing the ethnic and demographic composition of American cities. In Los Angeles alone, the Hispanic 1 population grew from 18 percent of the city's total population in 1970 to 28 percent in 1980. The Asian population, while smaller in total size, rose from 5 percent in 1970 to 7 percent in 1980. As the new wave of immigrants grows in size, much attention in both the academic community as well as the mass public is being devoted to their impact on the social and political composition of the communities in which they reside.

In terms of political development, the new wave immigrants pose new questions for research on ethnic politics. Most salient of these are the following: what form of political empowerment will take place in these ethnic communities? How adequate is the political assimilation model posed by Robert Dahl (1961) or the political incorporation model posed by Browning, Tabb and Marshall (1984) in explaining the political behavior of these ethnic groups? Moreover, given that new wave immigration is highly concentrated in American cities where Black Americans have come to constitute both sizeable proportions of the population and political office holding , what impact will the growing presence of new immigrants have on Black political development?

In order to address some of these concerns, this paper examines the political behavior of the Asian, Black, and Hispanic communities of Los Angeles in a comparative context. Attention is focused on the following issues: 1) the extent to which each group forms an ethnic voting bloc in the city 2) differences in comparative levels of local political involvement and the forces responsible, and 3) the potential for inter-ethnic coalition building among Asians, Blacks and Hispanics. Moreover, the work assesses the adequacy of the Dahl ethnic political assimilation model in explaining the political experiences of these new wave immigrants and discusses the nature and level of political incorporation developing within each group.

Cover page of Alternative Thesis of Minority Mobility: Comparing Los Angeles County West Indians and Chinese

Alternative Thesis of Minority Mobility: Comparing Los Angeles County West Indians and Chinese

(1988)

For several decades an argument has raged over the determinants of minority mobility. This paper reviews competing theses in this argument. It then relates hypotheses deriving from the competing theses to empirical findings on West Indians and the Chinese population of Los Angeles County.

Cover page of New York City's Informal Economy

New York City's Informal Economy

(1988)

A central question for theory and policy is whether the formation and expansion of informal sectors in advanced industrialized countries is the result of conditions created by advanced capitalism. Rather than assume that Third World immigration is causing informalization, we need a critical examination of the role it may or may not play in this process. Immigrants, in so far as they tend to form communities, may be in a favorable position to seize the opportunities represented by informalization. But the opportunities are not necessarily created by immigrants. They may well be a structured outcome of current trends in the advanced industrialized economies. Similarly, what are perceived as backward sectors of the economy may or may not be remnants from an earlier phase of industrialization; they may well represent a downgrading of work involving growing sectors of the economy. This type of inquiry requires an analytical differentiation of immigration, informalization and characteristics of the current phase of advanced industrialized economies. That should allow us to establish the differential impact of (a) immigration and (b) conditions in the economy at large on the formation and expansion of informal sectors.

The research on the informal sector in New York City seeks to contribute information on these various questions. The working hypothesis is that the current phase of the advanced industrialization contains conditions that induce the formation of an informal sector in large cities. There are two distinct methodological components to the study. One is concerned with identifying conditions in the major growth sectors that may induce informalization. This analysis has been completed (Sassen-Koob 1981; 1984a). The other is concerned with identifying the characteristics of the informal sector itself. This paper reports on this part of the study and the findings for New York.

Cover page of Ethnicity, Employment and Migration

Ethnicity, Employment and Migration

(1988)

Accounts of the economic circumstances of various population subgroups since 1960 indicate increased inequality between majority and selected minority populations, and increased polarization within these minority populations (see Wilson 1987; Farley 1984; Allen and Farley 1986; Hirschman 1988; Hernandez 1983). Specifically, recent studies reveal that the Black-White gap in unemployment (in both absolute and relative terms) has increased, and levels of labor force nonparticipation rose, with the latter appearing to be almost entirely a minority phenomenon (Hirschman 1988; Allen and Farley 1986; Lichter 1988). This paper continues this line of research via analyses of trends in employment and an assessment of the effect of migration on employment among Blacks, Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and non-Hispanic White Americans. Specifically, the questions we wish to address are whether the level of employment of these groups changed since 1965 and whether migrating between 1975 and 1980 affected the likelihood of being employed in 1980.

In focusing on the association of employment with migration, our objective is to determine whether the opportunity enhancement function of migration apply equally to each of the ethnic groups included in the analysis. Results from previous works suggest that migration might possibly offer a solution to the chronic joblessness observed among some ethnic populations concentrated in the nation's largest cities. In the analysis presented below, this assertion is subjected to an empirical test.

Cover page of Blacks and Other Racial Minorities: The Significance of Color in Inequality

Blacks and Other Racial Minorities: The Significance of Color in Inequality

(1988)

The major thesis of this paper is that the lower socioeconomic status of Blacks compared to Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans is due primarily to greater racial' discrimination against Blacks in housing. A critical result of this housing discrimination is reduced employment opportunities. Discrimination by Whites against the four racial/ethnic minority groups occurs along a continuum. Asians experience the least housing discrimination and as a consequence have greater employment opportunities. The level of discrimination increases from Asian to Hispanic[1] to Native American to Black.

The effect of such discrimination in housing is manifest in the varying degrees of minority group residential segregation and suburbanization. The differential patterns of residential segregation and suburbanization are related to the educational and employment opportunities available. These differential opportunities result in differential levels of income, education, and occupation.

Cover page of Residential Segregation and Acculturation: An Examination of Patterns in California in 1980

Residential Segregation and Acculturation: An Examination of Patterns in California in 1980

(1988)

This paper will focus on two elements of the expanded version of the assimilation model: acculturation and residential segregation. If, as Gordon has postulated, acculturation is a precursor to other forms of assimilation, there should be a statistically significant association between acculturation and segregation. Specifically, minority groups that measure high on acculturation should be less segregated from the dominant population than groups that score low on acculturation