First generation decline: downward mobility among refugees and immigrants

Abstract Although immigration researchers, like other social scientists who study mobility, usually look only at upward mobility, immigrants and refugees often suffer from downward mobility. This is particularly true of new arrivals who were professionals in their country of origin and now work as technicians, although newcomers of lower status may experience it as well. For some immigrants and refugees, downward mobility is temporary; others may suffer from it all their lives and even pass the pain on to their children. This paper discusses the various impacts of downward mobility, the ways immigrants and refugees cope with them successfully or not, and the consequences of their class and status decline for their children. The paper can be read as a follow up to my earlier articles in Ethnic and Racial Studies, ‘Second Generation Decline’, (1992) and ‘Acculturation, Assimilation and Mobility’ (2007).

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