The growth of Korean immigrant entrepreneurship in Chicago

The growth of Korean immigrant entrepreneurship in Chicago is a product of three interacting factors: employment opportunities in the general labour market, resource mobilization, and business opportunity structures. Because of their language barrier and less transferable education and occupational skills in the American labour market, many Korean immigrants could not find white‐collar occupations for which they had been trained. Disadvantaged, but still strongly motivated for upward economic mobility in the United States, many of them became self‐employed business owners. Korean immigrants’ middle‐class backgrounds and their stable family structures and strong family ties helped them to realize their goal of business ownership. In addition, social networks based on kinship, friendship, church membership, and school ties provided prospective business owners with financial assistance, training, business advice, and information about business opportunities. The first business opportunities for Korean immigrants of Chicago opened in Korean ethnic markets and non‐ethnic minority markets almost simultaneously in the early 1970s. While the demand of Koreans for their cultural products created an economic niche for Korean‐oriented businesses, the export‐import trade linkage between South Korea and the United States has paved the way for the entrance of Korean businesses into minority areas. Because of different economic niches, the two types of Korean businesses developed independently. The interethnic succession of residence, which had occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s also produced vacated business opportunities in Koreatown and black neighbourhoods, enabling Korean immigrants to enter these areas without great resistance from local businesses. After Korean immigrants had accumulated capital and experience in Korean ethnic markets and minority markets, they advanced into more capital‐intensive businesses like garment manufacturing. Korean immigrant professionals began to enter the Korean ethnic economy in the early 1980s when the foundation of the Korean ethnic economy was already established.     

Ethnic and sub-ethnic attachments among Chinese,Korean, and Indian immigrants in New York City

This article compares ethnic and sub-ethnic attachments in Chinese, Indian, and Korean immigrants in New York City, based on results of a survey. Indian respondents, with much higher levels of education and fluency in English, show a lower level of cultural ethnic attachment than the other two groups. The Chinese show the lowest level of formal ethnic affiliation, mainly due to their much lower level of religious affiliation. All three groups show extremely high levels of informal ethnic networks. However, Chinese and Indian respondents largely limit their close friendships to their sub-ethnic group, based on national origin, religion, regional origin and/or language, while Korean respondents, characterized by group homogeneity, tend to maintain close friendships with all other Koreans. Much larger proportions of Chinese and Indian respondents than Koreans choose the sub-ethnic identity label and they show much lower levels of loyalty to their homeland than Korean respondents.     

Reconsidering primordialism: an alternative approach to the study of ethnicity

This theoretical article first clarifies the exclusive assumptions of primordialism and constructivism. Subsequently, it demonstrates that primordialism has substantial power to explain ethnic phenomena, since (a) ethnic identities persist even in the hardest cases, such as sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, and (b) the attributed significance of assumed kinship has psychological and sociological bases. Finally, this article formulates hypotheses based on the core primordialist assumptions and develops ethnic distance as an explanatory variable on the level of integration of immigrants. It defines ethnic distance as the degree to which two ethnic identities have been solidified as opposed to each other by their dyadic violent conflicts and religious and/or nationalistic education and hypothesizes that the higher the ethnic distance between immigrants and the host society the lower the level of integration.     

The construction of ‘Asian American’: Reflections on intermarriage and ethnic identity among second‐generation Chinese and Korean Americans

This article explores the ethnic self‐identification of second‐generation children whose immigrant parents came to the United States from Latin America. The focus of the analysis is the adoption of the pan‐ethnic label, ‘Hispanic’, in contrast to national designators and non‐hyphenated American identities. Using data from a recent large survey of children of immigrants in south Florida and southern California, the analysis explores the determinants of ethnic self‐identities and the potential consequences of the adoption of one of these symbolic labels on children's self‐esteem, educational expectations and perceptions of discrimination. Contrary to the commonly‐held assumption that the label ‘Hispanic’ denotes greater assimilation into the mainstream of US society, our findings indicate that children who adopt the Hispanic label are the least well assimilated: they report poorer English skills, lower self‐esteem and higher rates of poverty than their counterparts who identify themselves as Americans or as hyphenated Americans. Theoretical and policy implications of findings as they bear on prospects for successful adaptation of second‐generation youth are discussed.     

Earning the model‐minority image: Diverse strategies of economic adaptation by Asian‐American women

Using the 1980 US Population Census data, this article documents the diverse strategies of economic adaptation adopted by a group of working‐age immigrant women: Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Indian and Vietnamese. A comparable sample of non‐Hispanic white women serves as the reference group. Striking heterogeneity in the individual and collective resources of these groups, together with differences in labour market opportunities and historical context of immigration, have led to a variety of patterns of labour force participation and methods of income attainment. In order to move beyond the oversimplified image of Asian‐Americans as a model minority in their economic success, the article applies four different theories to the census data ‐ assimilation, dual economy, ethnic‐enclave economy and middleman minority. The article closes with a discussion of theoretical implications and methodological suggestions for future studies concerning labour force position and economic adaptation of minority and immigrant women.     

Ethnic mobilization among Korean dry-cleaners

Korean immigrants in the USA rely heavily on ethnic resources to start up small businesses. Ethnic resources include business networks and knowledge, start-up capital and access to labour power, which are embedded in networks of family, friends and co-ethnics. This paper shows how Korean dry-cleaners in Southern California used ethnic resources to mobilize in response to an environmental policy initiated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). While Korean immigrants used ethnic resources to start up dry-cleaning businesses, they found themselves working with a toxic chemical. In 2002, the AQMD required dry-cleaners in Southern California to convert to costly alternative machines by 2020. Korean dry-cleaners used ethnic-based collective action, particularly the Korean Dry Cleaning Association, as a means of fighting for regulatory concessions. They also used ethnic resources to overcome cultural and linguistic barriers to facilitate the adoption of alternative cleaning machines in compliance with the regulation.     

Community assembly is a race between immigration and adaptation: eco‐evolutionary interactions across spatial scales

Both ecological and evolutionary mechanisms have been proposed to describe how natural communities become assembled at both regional and biogeographical scales. Yet, these theories have largely been developed in isolation. Here, we unite these separate views and develop an integrated eco‐evolutionary framework of community assembly. We use a simulation approach to explore the factors determining the interplay between ecological and evolutionary mechanisms systematically across spatial scales. Our results suggest that the same set of ecological and evolutionary processes can determine community assembly at both regional and biogeographical scales. We find that the importance of evolution and community monopolization effects, defined as the eco‐evolutionary dynamics that occur when local adaptation of early established immigrants is fast enough to prevent the later immigration of better pre‐adapted species, are not restricted to adaptive radiations on remote islands. They occur at dispersal rates of up to ten individuals per generation, typical for many species at the scale of regional metacommunities. Dispersal capacity largely determines whether ecological species sorting or evolutionary monopolization structure metacommunity diversity and distribution patterns. However, other factors related to the spatial scale at which community assembly processes are acting, such as metacommunity size and the proportion of empty patches, also affect the relative importance of ecology versus evolution. We show that evolution often determines community assembly, and this conclusion is robust to a wide range of assumptions about spatial scale, mode of reproduction, and environmental structure. Moreover, we found that community monopolization effects occur even though species fully pre‐adapted to each habitat are abundant in the metacommunity, a scenario expected a priori to prevent any meaningful effect of evolution. Our results strongly support the idea that the same eco‐evolutionary processes underlie community assembly at regional and biogeographical scales.     

The process of ethnogenesis among Haitian and Israeli immigrants in the United States

This article examines the process of ethnic identity formation among two different groups of recent immigrants to the United States: secular kibbutz‐born Israelis and middle‐class Haitians. While the two groups are different in a number of ways, they share an ambivalence with the identities that American society would assign to them ‐ as Jews and blacks respectively. By contrasting these two case studies we identify the role of the ‘proximal host’, the category to which the immigrants would be assigned following immigration. The determination of the ultimate definition of the ethnic identities of these immigrants is a result of the interaction of the conception of identity the immigrants bring with them from their countries of origin, the definitions and reactions of the proximal host group, and the overall ordering and definitions of American society. The ambivalence of both groups of immigrants towards their post‐immigration identities is a result of both macro‐forces determining the definition of categories and micro‐forces of individual choice. In conclusion we show that because of the primacy of race in American society, Israelis are likely to face many more options in the determination of their identities, than are Haitians, although they both face a similar structural dilemma.     

Simulation of daytime vigilance by the additive interaction of a homeostatic and a circadian process

The two-process model of sleep regulation postulates that a homeostatic and a circadian process underlie sleep regulation. The timing of sleep and waking is accounted for by the interaction of these two processes. The assumptions of two separate processes or of a single process resulting from their additive interaction are mathematically equivalent but conceptually different. Based on an additive interaction, subjective alertness ratings in a forced desynchrony protocol and subjective sleepiness ratings in a photoperiod experiment were simulated. The correspondence between empirical and simulated data supports the basic assumption of the model. Received: 7 October 1993/Accepted in revised form: 22 January 1994     

The “foxes” outfoxed: contestations between Koreans and Jews in South American textile industries

This paper is an analysis of the complex and contradictory experiences of Korean immigrants in South America. It critically analyzes the political economy of development and neoliberalism in South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina, while highlighting Korean immigrants in the apparel industry and analyzing their interactions with Jewish clothing manufacturers. The different position of Jews and Koreans in relation to the state apparatus, national belonging, global capitalism, and transnational networks and resources tends to create sociopolitical barriers which contribute to ethnic contestation and obstruct an otherwise meaningful social relationship. This paper will present and examine how these differences were formed and affected by global capitalism and neoliberalism.     

Interspecific competition counteracts negative effects of dispersal on adaptation of an arthropod herbivore to a new host

Dispersal and competition have both been suggested to drive variation in adaptability to a new environment, either positively or negatively. A simultaneous experimental test of both mechanisms is however lacking. Here, we experimentally investigate how population dynamics and local adaptation to a new host plant in a model species, the two‐spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae), are affected by dispersal from a stock population (no‐adapted) and competition with an already adapted spider mite species (Tetranychus evansi). For the population dynamics, we find that competition generally reduces population size and increases the risk of population extinction. However, these negative effects are counteracted by dispersal. For local adaptation, the roles of competition and dispersal are reversed. Without competition, dispersal exerts a negative effect on adaptation (measured as fecundity) to a novel host and females receiving the highest number of immigrants performed similarly to the stock population females. By contrast, with competition, adding more immigrants did not result in a lower fecundity. Females from populations with competition receiving the highest number of immigrants had a significantly higher fecundity than females from populations without competition (same dispersal treatment) and than the stock population females. We suggest that by exerting a stronger selection on the adapting populations, competition can counteract the migration load effect of dispersal. Interestingly, adaptation to the new host does not significantly reduce performance on the ancestral host, regardless of dispersal rate or competition. Our results highlight that assessments of how species can adapt to changing conditions need to jointly consider connectivity and the community context.     

Business strategies among East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto: The role of group resources and opportunity structure

This article examines the class and ethnic resources used by East Indian immigrants in self‐owned enterprise and the opportunity structure within which they operate. A non‐probability sample (N=38) of East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto is the primary data source. Major findings attest to an individualistic business strategy employed by these entrepreneurs in which class resources are more consequential than ethnic networks or communal ties.     

Contrasting patterns of genome‐wide polymorphism in the native and invasive range of the marine mollusc Crepidula fornicata

Selection processes are believed to be an important evolutionary driver behind the successful establishment of nonindigenous species, for instance through adaptation for invasiveness (e.g. dispersal mechanisms and reproductive allocation). However, evidence supporting this assumption is still scarce. Genome scans have often identified loci with atypical patterns of genetic differentiation (i.e. outliers) indicative of selection processes. Using microsatellite‐ and AFLP‐based genome scans, we looked for evidence of selection following the introduction of the mollusc Crepidula fornicata. Native to the northwestern Atlantic, this gastropod has become an emblematic invader since its introduction during the 19th and 20th centuries in the northeastern Atlantic and northeastern Pacific. We examined 683 individuals from seven native and 15 introduced populations spanning the latitudinal introduction and native ranges of the species. Our results confirmed the previously documented high genetic diversity in native and introduced populations with little genetic structure between the two ranges, a pattern typical of marine invaders. Analysing 344 loci, no outliers were detected between the introduced and native populations or in the introduced range. The genomic sampling may have been insufficient to reveal selection especially if it acts on traits determined by a few genes. Eight outliers were, however, identified within the native range, underlining a genetic singularity congruent with a well‐known biogeographical break along the Florida. Our results call into question the relevance of AFLP genome scans in detecting adaptation on the timescale of biological invasions: genome scans often reveal long‐term adaptation involving numerous genes throughout the genome but seem less effective in detecting recent adaptation from pre‐existing variation on polygenic traits. This study advocates other methods to detect selection effects during biological invasions—for example on phenotypic traits, although genome scans may remain useful for elucidating introduction histories.     

Interactions between species and environments from incomplete information

There are two contradictory aspects of the adaptive process in evolution. The first is that species must optimally increase their own fitness in a given environment. The second is that species must maintain their variation to be ready to respond to changing environments. In a strict sense, these two aspects might consider to be mutually exclusive. If species are optimally adapted, then the variation in the species that is suboptimal decreases and vice versa. To resolve this dilemma, species must find a balance between optimal adaptation and robust adaptation. Finding the balance between these processes requires both the local and global complete, static information. However, the balance between the processes must be dynamic. In this study, we propose a model that illustrates dynamic negotiation between the global and local information using lattice theory. The dynamic negotiation between these two levels results in an overestimate of fitness for each species. The overestimation of fitness in our model represents the multiplicity of fitness which is sometimes discussed as the exaptation. We show that species in our model demonstrate the power law of the lifespan distribution and 1/f fluctuation for the adaptive process. Our model allows for a balance between optimal adaptation and robust adaptation without any arbitrary parameters.     

The Ethiopian community in Israel: Segregation and the creation of a racial cleavage

This study examines the processes that led to the creation of a segregated Ethiopian community in Israel and its implications for the development of a racially-based stratification system. Interviews with thirty Ethiopian immigrants reveal that ethnic ties played an important role in creating a segregated ethnic community. Many families were pushed to the neighbourhood by co-ethnic realtors or were influenced by relatives and friends who had already settled there. However, no ethnic networks were found in the domain of employment. This absence coupled with low human capital made joblessness an acute problem for many Ethiopian immigrants. Overall, Ethiopian immigrants’ high residential concentration was perceived as a barrier for the successful integration of the young generation. Considering Ethiopian immigrants’ lack of social and economic resources, there is concern that their segregation will be exacerbated in the future, leading to social marginalization and the creation of a racial cleavage in Israeli society.     

Ethnicity and class identity: The case of French‐ and English‐speaking Canadians*

This study addresses the racial and religious contexts of identity formation among Lebanese immigrants to the United States of America and Somali immigrants to Canada. Each enters with a different racial status: Lebanese as white; Somalis as black/visible minority. Ethnographic interviews explore the strategies of adaptation and identity development within these groups. Specifically, we compare and contrast the Lebanese and Somali experience through an analysis of ethnic relations in the country of origin, the conditions of immigration, and through accounts of their encounters and identity negotiation with the host society. We demonstrate the strategies each group implements to negotiate both race and religion in identity development. Our findings reveal that each group attempts to make their religious identity evident, however, Somali immigrants must negotiate the effects of ‘othering’ processes with both race and religion, while Lebanese immigrants build a religious identity from privileges afforded to them by virtue of their white racial status.     

A model of motion adaptation and motion after-effects based upon principal component regression

A computational model to help explain effects of adaptation to moving signals is compared with established energy (linear regression) models of motion detection. The proposed model assumes that processed image signals are subject to error in both dimensions of space and time. This assumption constrains models of motion perception to be based upon principal component regression rather than linear regression. It is shown that response suppression of model complex cell neurons that input into the model may account for (1) increases in perceived speed after adaptation to static patterns and testing with slowly moving patterns, (2) significant increases in perceived speed after adaptation to patterns moving at a medium speed and testing at high speed, and (3) decreases in perceived speed in the opponent direction to a quickly moving adapting signal. Neither of predictions (2) or (3) are general features of established accounts of motion detection by visual processes based upon linear regression. Comparisons of the proposed model's speed transfer function with existing psychophysical data suggests that the visual system processes motion signals with the tacit assumption that image measurements are subject to error in both space and time. Received: 24 January 2000 / Accepted in revised form: 8 May 2000     

Class,race – and place: immigrants’ self-perceptions on inclusion,belonging and opportunities in Stockholm and Barcelona

Based on eighty-one in-depth interviews with immigrants and stakeholders performed in Stockholm and Barcelona, this article examines whether the relationship to place can mitigate the negative effects of rejection that racialized immigrants and minorities perceive from the ethnic majority society. The immigrant respondents’ perceptions and lived experiences of exclusion and discrimination lend support to the argument that it is necessary to link race and class in order to understand the particular “immigrant disadvantage,” but also reflect how attachment to the city or neighbourhood where they live can contribute to a sense of belonging: the respondents overall feel more included in Barcelona, where every day interethnic contacts are more frequent than in Stockholm.