In “Why are white people expats when the rest of us are immigrants", Koutonin (2015) explains that in our modern world, there are still hierarchical words that are created with the intention to draw a line between white people and everyone else. One of those words is “expat”. Koutonin cites Wikipedia definition of “expat”, "an expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of a person’s upbringing". The author feels the term “expats” has been restricted on use for white people alone. Koutonin strongly believes there is an intentional social stratification between white people and Africans. She goes on cite an article from The Wall Street Journal that concludes expats are labelled based on country of origin. …show more content…
From personal knowledge, white people tend to come from countries that are doing financially better than others and have a higher cost of living. When they travel to work abroad, they often go to countries which have a lower cost of living and they seem to be in a higher social class than the locals there due to an economic advantage. However this is not true for the opposite, people who come from countries like Africa, Asian or Arab countries are usually less well to do financially, and when they go to a place with higher cost of living, they are much more reserved in their financial spending, they don’t seem to be a better social class than the locals there. As white people tend to be living very well off in the countries they work in, it creates a distinction between them and other immigrants, which explains why the term "expats" is slapped onto
The article by Min Zhou titled "Are Asian Americans becoming "white"? was relatively interesting as it provides a look at a different perspective of Asian Americans regarding immigration. I found it particularly interesting to learn that Asian Americans are considered to be white in equal opportunity programs; however, the race is still seen as different from Americans of European ancestry. Furthermore, I was not shocked to read that Zhou described the Asian American race as the "model minority." When first looking at the reading, I was shocked by the title because I thought it was a little exaggerated. I believe the author could have chosen a more suitable phrase rather than "Asian Americans are becoming white"; however, it does provide significant
Immigration is, and has been, never a fair game for the people who do not possess certain privileges. Broadly for the poor and for the people of color, but specifically for people of color, immigration (and perhaps life thereafter) was a site of struggle, then and now. It is not an imagination; however, it is a daunting truth that many of the immigrants live by, both during the turn of the twentieth century and the immigration in the later twentieth century until now. At both times, some were able to assimilate and fully achieve the American status, while some did not, and people who were allowed full incorporation were people with certain privilege: the racial privilege. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, race was
Since the first exploration from foreign settlers between the 1450-1500s America, or in that time period would be referenced as the new found land, has always provided a wealth of resources, materials, and territory – all essential components for survival. Eventually, America had developed into a land with the sole purpose of producing raw materials, for both the French and British. The French colonists and merchants valued the abundant amount of animals roaming through the territory, using their furs and pelts for trade, and sending them back to France to help generate money for the empire. England possessed the same mindset, placing heavy regard for America. Not only did the
The article was bout an American student that is living in a Barbadian village. She is part of a study abroad program.
I would like to first address the ignorance and misinterpretations on the part of the non-migrants. First, and most important to me, is the idea that immigrants are all "tired and poor" (Clark). The truth is that, yes, some immigrants are tired and poor. But anyone would be tired and poor if they were subject to the conditions of these people. And many immigrants are not poor at all. Clark also points out, "witness the 12.000 Chinese technicians working in Silicon Valley computer firms or the well-heeled Iranian expatriots so visible in Beverly Hills." It’s also important to realize that many migrants were well off in their own countries, and had to start at the bottom of the ladder once here. Perhaps it is us that make them tired and poor. For example, In Cathy A. Small’s Voyages, the very first paragraph tells about a teacher in Tonga, who will go to the United States to only find work as a maid. Tired and poor is not the same thing as lazy and looking for a free ride.
In recent discussions, the topic of immigration and the fundamental question of what is to be done with immigration? has been circulating in many american homes today, especially the closer we get to election day. As David Cole puts it in his essay Five Myths about Immigration “But just as in the 1850’s, passion, misinformation, and shortsighted fear often substitute for reason, fairness, and human dignity in today’s immigration debates”(185). Despite misconceptions of immigrants, Cole believes that immigrants positively affect society in several ways. In addition, Cole challenges and questions the beliefs of others in his essay. Whereas, Victor Davis Hanson’s essay Our Brave New World of Immigration focuses
In Marcelo M. Suarez- Orozco and Carola Suarez- Orozco’s article “How Immigrants became “other” Marcelo and Carola reference the hardships and struggles of undocumented immigrants while at the same time argue that no human being should be discriminated as an immigrant. There are millions of undocumented people that risk their lives by coming to the United States all to try and make a better life for themselves. These immigrants are categorized and thought upon as terrorist, rapists, and overall a threat to Americans. When in reality they are just as hard working as American citizens. This article presents different cases in which immigrants have struggled to try and improve their life in America. It overall reflects on the things that immigrants go through. Immigrants come to the United States with a purpose and that is to escape poverty. It’s not simply crossing the border and suddenly having a great life. These people lose their families and go years without seeing them all to try and provide for them. They risk getting caught and not surviving trying to make it to the other side. Those that make it often don’t know where to go as they are unfamiliar. They all struggle and every story is different, but to them it’s worth the risk. To work the miserable jobs that Americans won’t. “I did not come to steal from anyone. I put my all in the jobs I take. And I don’t see any of the Americans wanting to do this work” (668). These
Not only were people of African or Asian descent assumed to naturally act differently from white people, but even different white nationalities—Scotch, Swedes, Greeks, or Poles—were described as having different inborn traits (McMillan, 2014). Poor people were said to have inferior intellectual and moral qualities which is why they were at the bottom of the social ladder.
Have you been searching for a book that will inspire you, but just can’t seem to find one? Well your prayers have been answered, because I have the book for you. The Immigrant Advantage by Claudia Kolker will do the job. The novel was published in 2011 by Free Press. Claudia Kolker is an award-winning journalist, who has written for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, and The Oprah Magazine.
To begin with today, social structure has political influences of who gets what, For example today if you are born into a working class area, it is more likely for your own children to also remain in the middle working class scale as well. Statistically proven by adding Hispanic working class the statistics of their children to become doctors or nurses are very low as to if a wealthier family it would be a higher percentage and a higher outcome that their children will as well become successful wealthy people. In addition to working middle class, Coming from a Mexican family who had to leave there hometown to make a better living for themselv...
accepted by the white society. Being financially stable allows you to have a better lifestyle, gain
In my ENC 1101 class, we were required to go through several of processes to map out the formula of writing our final assignment in our class: a synthesis essay. The most imperative part of our assignment was to choose a synthesis essay question on a list that our professor gave us. The second most vital ingredient in the formula was to choose two texts from our Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing book which would be the backbone of our synthesis essay that we would have to expand on and create our own ideas from. The question that I choose to further my vague knowledge on immigration was: "What should the United States do to make progress in solving the problem of undocumented immigration?" The texts and ideas that I write about to answer my synthesis question are within this essay. Moreover, the two texts I choose to go into depth to seek out possible answers to my synthesis question are 'The Global Immigration Problem' by Victor Davis Hanson, and 'Immigration Frenzy Points out Need for Policy Debate' by Byron Williams. The main subjects of both these articles are of course about immigration which paints the many complexities and sides that the immigration conflict poses. Re-reading and thinking of the authors ideas on the issue have caused my standpoint on immigration to develop into a more credible and deeper opinion, which was my goal as soon as I saw the list of synthesis questions I was required to choose from. Also, due to the fact of living in a community filled with immigrants, my interest in immigration was a no-brainer for me.
In The Immigration Paradox, I saw how the historical themes of immigration continue to influence the vulnerability of undocumented migrants, which made me reflect on the effectiveness of our current immigration system. In the beginning of the movie, there was an unauthorized migrant, who tried to cross through the Arizona desert, pleading for help and asking bystander to call border control. This reflects our discussions about prevention through deterrence, in which the government tries to discourage migrants by directing them to routes with deadly conditions. Similarly, there are other systematic problems with our immigration policies. For example, I thought it was very frustrating that the construction contractors who abide by the laws cannot fairly compete against others who pay
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
Today, in most cases, people don’t spend very much time thinking about why the society we live in presently, is the way it is. Most people would actually be surprised about all that has happened throughout America’s history. Many factors have influenced America and it’s society today, but one of the most profound ways was the way the “Old Immigrants” and “New Immigrants” came to America in the early to mid 1800s. The “Old Immigrants were categorized as the ones who came before 1860 and the “New Immigrants” being the ones who came between 1865 and 1920. The immigrants came to the United States, not only seeking freedom, but also education. Many immigrants also wanted to practice their religion without hindrance. What happened after the immigrants