From the February 2017 issue:
When Ideas Mattered shines light on the enduring themes of Glazer’s work. The first is Glazer’s lifelong interest in America’s “ethnic pattern.” In his study of immigrant assimilation in New York, he showed that Jews, Irish, Italians, Polish, and other groups continued to maintain dual identities rather than completely assimilate into a preexisting American identity. Assimilation took a long time—even with the help of epoch-making events like depression and war. And the overarching American identity that the ethnics assimilated into changed in the process.
Reflecting on the most recent wave of immigration, primarily from Mexico and Latin America, Glazer reminds one that Latinos will continue to retain dual identities for a few generations to come, especially in light of modern travel and telecommunications, which will allow for stronger ties to their countries of origin than past immigrants could expect. The big challenge when it comes to immigrants today, as Peter Skerry stresses in his analysis of Glazer, is the extent to which Latinos follow past patterns of integration and upward mobility or see themselves as victimized racial minorities and model their political behavior on the black American experience…
