Chinatown
eBook - PDF
Available until 19 Nov |Learn more

Chinatown

The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
Available until 19 Nov |Learn more

Chinatown

The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave

About this book

Min Zhou examines how an ethnic enclave works to direct its members into American society, while at the same time shielding them from it. Focusing specifically on New York's Chinatown, a community established more than a century ago, Zhou offers a thorough and modern treatment of the enclave as a socioeconomic system, distinct form, but intrinsically linked with, the larger society.

Zhou's central theme is that Chinatown does not keep immigrant Chinese from assimilating into mainstream society, but instead provides an alternative means of incorporation into society that does not conflict with cultural distinctiveness. Concentrating on the past two decades, Zhou maintains that community networks and social capital are important resources for reaching socioeconomic goals and social positions in the United States; in Chinatown, ethnic employers use family ties and ethnic resources to advance socially. Relying on her family's networks in New York's Chinatown and her fluency in both Cantonese and Mandarin, the author, who was born in the People's Republic of China, makes extensive use of personal interviews to present a rich picture of the daily work life in the community. She demonstrates that for many immigrants, low-paid menial jobs provide by the enclave are expected as a part of the time-honored path to upward social mobility of the family.



In the series Conflicts in Urban and Regional Development, edited by John R. Logan and Todd Swanstrom.

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Yes, you can access Chinatown by Min Zhou in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Asian American Studies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. List of Figures
  3. List of Tables
  4. Foreword
  5. Preface
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. 1. Introduction
  8. 2. Memories of Sojourning
  9. 3. Changes in Recent Chinese Immigration
  10. 4. Uprooted: The New Arrivals
  11. 5. The Rise of the Economic Enclave
  12. 6. The Ethnic Labor Force and Its Labor Market Experience
  13. 7. The Other Half of the Sky: Socioeconomic Adaptation of Immigrant Women
  14. 8. Residential Mobility and Ethnic Segregation
  15. 9. Conclusion: Rising Out of Chinatown
  16. Notes
  17. References
  18. Index