Personally, the reading by Kasinitz, et al had a stronger impression on me than the second reading. As I read the information presented in the paper, I began to think of my immigrant friends and tried to figure out where they fit in relation to the societies presented in the paper’s discussion. I found one minor detail particularly interesting. The paper states that the study grouped children born to immigrant parents in their homeland–who had “arrived in the United States by age 12 and had lived here for at least ten years”–with the immigrant children who were born in the United States. Although the upbringing of the two groups may share some similarities, it seems an inaccuracy to group the two together due to the inescapable differences caused by social influences on one’s upbringing. For example, each country boasts a unique social culture, and, albeit similar to another country’s culture, it has inherently unique aspects and attributes. I found this portion intriguing because, although my friends were born in another country, according to this study, they would fall into the category of second generation children because they moved here before the age of twelve and have been living here for over ten years.
This grouping seems inaccurate to me, however, because, even though they have spent most of their “life-shaping” years here in American society, the childhood of my friends was spent in another country, different from the United States, which inevitably has affected their lives. To obliterate or casually ignore this discrepancy in a study concerning second generation immigrants and how they fit into modern American society seems a major downfall. Although it would have been more tedious, a study on both groups, functioning independently and dependently on each other, would have been more appropriate, in my opinion. Whereas these groups certainly create a new breed of multicultural society is accurate, maybe one functions as a sort of middle-man between the more immigrant families and native born inhabitants.
I certainly agree with the closing remarks of the paper, which touch on the differentiation of what it means to be American or a New Yorker. In both cases, there are various definitions. In the case of urban New Yorkers, it seems as though we might be considered multicultural. However, that is going on personal experience and exposure.
