Roger Daniels, “LBJ and the End of the Quota System” in Guarding the Golden Door; Samuel Huntington, “The Hispanic Challenge”; Douglas Massey, “People and Places: The New American Mosaic”; Massey, “Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis”; Roger Waldinger, “How the Other Half Works”

Elayne Guzman

Roger Daniels, “LBJ and the End of the Quota System” in Guarding the Golden Door; Samuel Huntington, “The Hispanic Challenge”; Douglas Massey, “People and Places: The New American Mosaic”; Massey, “Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis”; Roger Waldinger, “How the Other Half Works”

       Why does immigration occur?  A theoretical synthesis by Douglas S. Massey

Quote:

“In advanced industrial societies, the source of entry-level workers have shrunk over time because of some fundamentals socio demographic trends; the rise in female labor force participation, which has transformed women’s work into a career pursued for social status as well as income, the rise in divorce rates, which has transformed women’s job into a source of primary income support”

Meaning:

Women over time were primarily involved in helping manage the housework and raising the children at home. However, the traditional role for women began to change as the industrial revolution unfolded; women involvement in outside work has increasingly expanded their involvement in other areas of society. As the world becomes more interdependent, it demands the intervention of women, as thought if we were asking them to put their unique qualities into practice.

Chosen:

I chose this quote because today women are more focus on not just having a job and getting a paycheck, but having a fulfillment career or position in which they are capable of showing their full potential an show society that as women, we are strong as Iron and that we are capable of holding onto a large number of tasks as well as carry them out successfully.  

                                                            How the other half works

                                       Immigration and the social organization of labor

                                             By Roger Waldinger and Michael L. Lichter

Quote:

“Although the new immigrants quickly find out that the streets are not paved with gold, this too is part of our shared historical experience. Conditions may be tough in the cities of immigrant America, but the opportunities have to be better than the prospects “back home”

Meaning:

Immigrants come to America in eager search of a better life. And as the author states, new immigrants quickly find out that the streets are not paved with gold. In order to succeed in this country, we have to work hard and adapt to a different life style if we want to pursue our goals. Most immigrants see America as a straightforward chance of a future, a way to make life easier, but that “easy life” comes with a price tag. Conditions may be rough to take in at first, families away from us, holidays without our loved ones, but we know that the opportunities that America brings are better “for most” than the prospects back home.

Chosen:

This article is very interesting since it is a very touchy subject for everyone. It talks about today’s situation among immigrants and what is life in America as a new immigrant.  Many want to pursuit the American dream. Most work for it, many just wait for it to happen like if they are entitled to without the hard work that comes with it. But one thing I believe is true, no matter the situation we are going though, no matter if we are alone in his country, if we have our mind set and pursuit our goals and work hard for it, we can succeed and have a better decent life. When there’s a will there’s a way.

                 

                        The Places and People: The New America Mosaic

                            By Charles Hirschman and Douglas S. Massey

Quote:

“With declining job security, native-born workers and especially their children have tended to look for alternative careers. Some seek to become small-business owners or managers; others have found more secure jobs in the formal sector. As a result, shortages of labor during periods of rapid expansion have increasingly been met by immigrant workers who are available, flexible and willing to accept unstable conditions of employment that native-born workers find intolerable”

Meaning/chosen:

Good jobs are declining in America, meaning jobs that offer a decent wage, job security, good benefits, including affordable health insurance and a safe way of having money set aside for retirement. As the author states, many native-born worker and their children tend to look for alternative careers in order to secure their future, which results in immigrants workers working low pay jobs, with no benefits and no job stability. The sad true is that no job is safe in American anymore. With the constant changes in technology, we can see that technology is somewhat replacing human labor. It is true that immigrants workers are more flexible to work intolerable jobs for a very low wage but also, there is a competition among immigrants worker to get that job offer, regardless of working conditions, job security does affect immigrants workers as well.

                                    The Hispanic Challenge by Samuel P. Huntington

Quote:

“It is quite different to argue that Americans should know a non-English language in order to communicate with their fellow citizens”

Meaning:

Due to the increasing Hispanic migration and the multicultural migration to the United States, Americans “are forced” to learn or make the effort s to learn a different language. According to statistics, Spanish is becoming the second language in most American cities. Public schools in the USA, are implementing forcing language teaching into their curriculum in order to prepare students for life in a globally connected multicultural world.

Chosen:

I chose this quote because learning a different language does benefit not just Americans but anyone that comes to America as well. Americans are forced to learn another language in order to better communicate with the rest of the citizens that comes to America. However, let’s not just focus on American people learning a different language, we as immigrant should learn and must be able to understand the American language as well.  It’s not just going to someone’s land and expect them to be prepare for us, we as immigrant should also be prepare and have some understanding of their culture, the American language, in order to have understanding and respect the land we are stepping into.

                           Lyndon Johnson and the End of the Quota System

Quote:

“An illegal immigrant I interview graduate in accounting, told me that, unable to find a job in Ireland, he flew to Boston at a friend’s urging, entered legally on a six month tourist visa, and was still there years later, working illegally as a bartender getting pay in cash, hoping to marry an American citizen woman and become legalize, find a better legal job, but what he was making illegally in Boston was more than he could make legally in Ireland”

Meaning/chosen:

This is the reality that most immigrants are face with when they leave their homeland and come to America. Being legal or not, having the right documentation, the proper tools to work as a legal citizen and pay appropriate taxes, does not guarantee a better life sometimes. Many of immigrant come to America with a visa and let it expire, hoping to one day, have legal documents, but waiting for that day, we get a low wage jobs, getting pay cash, we start sending money back home and help our love ones, years pass, and we forget about our citizen status. The reality is that not having the proper documents to work in America, in the long run affects our future, it is not just the cash we are getting week by week and how good it feels not having to pay one third of that paycheck for taxes, when the time comes and we have worked 30 to 35 years of our life and we don’t have a secure social security status, that’s when we realize that we should have done something different and not just focus in the present time, but the unpromising future that awaits.