Judit Molnár
University of Washington & University of Glasgow 2009
The research
American Immigrants –brief history with statistical data
Russian immigrants on the North American Pacific Rim
Preparing for the empirical survey
Reading
Pre-interviews
Questionnaire design and confidentiality statements, permissions, covering letters, publicity
Selecting survey areas, finding respondents
Questionnaire survey
Data analysis
In-depth interviews, observation
Analysis
Results’ summaries
Integration and assimilation processes of immigrants (Woltman - Newbold, 2009; Hardwick, 1993)
Segmented assimilation
framework
Nature of immigration
Voluntary Forced
Resources and characteristics of
immigrants
savings, human capital,
culture, nationality,
ethnicity, religion, race, etc.
Host country reception
policy, immigration law,
level of discrimination,
racism culture, etc.
Time and spatial factors
Period of arrival (regional,
national resources: labor
markets, economic opportunities)
Place of resettlement (rural or urban
area)
picture: http://news.ronatvan.com/2008/02/11/whites-to-become-minority-in-us-by-2050/
Brief history of American immigration
with statistical
data
0 5000000 10000000 15000000 20000000 25000000 30000000 35000000 40000000
1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Number of foreign born people in the USA
Immigrants within the whole population of the USA as a percentage
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
1850 1900 1950 2000
percent
0 2000000 4000000 6000000 8000000 10000000 12000000
1850 1900 1950 2000
Europe Asia
Caribbean Mexico
former USSR
Birthplace of the foreign born population from 1850 to 2007 – I
source: US Census Bureau:http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab04.html
Birthplace of the foreign born population from 1850 to 2007 – II
source: US Census Bureau:http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab04.html
0 500000 1000000 1500000 2000000 2500000 3000000
1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
Africa Oceania O. C. America
South America North America former USSR
Proportion of foreign born people within the
whole population by state, 1990
Proportion of foreign born people within the
whole population by state, 2000
Proportion of foreign born people within the
whole population by state, 2007
Immigration from the former Soviet
Union and Russia
Russian population in Washington
State
Preparing for the empirical survey
Reading
American immigration
Integration, segregation
Russian speaking immigrants
Russian Refuge:
Religion, Migration, and Settlement on the North American Pacific Rim
Susan Wiley Hardwick
Russians have not been typical of other Euroamerican immigrant groups in North America
Russian residential enclaves have been relatively slow to disperse through time – slow assimilation
They had to bear the burden of negative perception
because of Communism
because of the perception that Russia is not truly European
They live and they tend to live in isolated enclaves
because of their religion(Orthodox, Old Believers, Doukhobors, Molokans, Baptists, Pentacostals)
because of their experience at home (persecution,
discrimination, etc.)
Four waves of Russian migration after the first movement to Alaska in 1867:
1880-1917
Russians migrated to the Pacific Rim of North America for religious, political, and socioeconomic reasons. Almost 50.000 Russians settled in the region by the beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917.
1917-1945
At the end of the Russian civil war in 1922, thousands who were fleeing the Soviet regime arrived in the US and Canada. A last percentage of them were from the aristocratic classes or were professionals, military officers, Orthodox clergy, and other opposed to the Soviet regime. Most newcomers had to accept employment at the lowest level when they first arrived. There were also many Jews among émigrés who had to left Russia to escape religious and political persecution.
1924: restrictive immigration laws were passed and became effective in 1929. The National Origins Act established the annual immigration quota at 150,000, with total number per country dependent on
percentages of population already living in the United States. These calculations were based on the 1920 census, and the large numbers of Russians had settled in the US after 1922, so the total number of people permitted entry from the Soviet Union was minimized.
1945-1987
A variety of Russian religious groups arrived on the North American Pacific Rime after World War II.
Many Russians lived in China. During the Chinese civil war from 1946 to 1949 tens of thousands of Russians who had been living in China were forced to leave the country. Close to 15,000 Russians were transported to Tubabao, in the Philippines, by the International
Refugee Association in May, 1949. Due to the restrictive US
immigration laws, Russians could not qualify as immigrants for admission into the US. Senator Knowland sponsored a bill in
Congress that expanded the US refugee quota to include Russians.
Because of these changes in American immigration restrictions, Russians came to this country in large numbers in 1950-51.
No large scale exodus occurred until the late 1980s from the former Soviet Union.
After 1987
1987 president Gorbachev met with President Reagan: residents of the USSR were free to leave. This announcement triggered the first large scale emigration from the Soviet Union since the early years of the socialist revolution.
Surveys
Interviews
Conversation with immigrants for the reason to design the questionnaire
Questionnaire survey
Among local American residents (who were born in the USA and whose parents were born there too).
Among immigrants from the former USSR
Statements, permissions, covering letters, publicity
Selecting survey areas
Using the map, where they are in Washington state
They have tight relationship with religious: visit churches
Many of them are refugees: visit different organisations which support refugees
World relief
Lutheran Community Services
Russian Oregon Social Services
Schools – ESL teachers
Russian Cultural groups
Preliminary results of the
questionnaire survey
Our respondents
•
The average years they have spent in the USA : 9 years
•
More than 76% of them came directly to this area
•
More than 84% of them had friends or relatives in this area before they came
•
More than 71% of them had recieved help to settle down (financial support 75%, and information 50%)
•
Everyone has friends now in the area where they live
•
Around 73% of them live in the area where other Russians live
•
7 months after they entered the US they found a job
Respondents Men Women
Age /mean 47.3 43.7
Age when they
entered / mean 38.6 35.0
Their English skills and educations, %
•Selective migration – high education standard
•More women studied in the USA
•Among female respondents they use English at home in their communication with their husbands and children
English skills and educations men women Spouses / F Spouses / M
No English when they entered 75.0 84.6 55.6 92.9
Good English now 50.0 57.7 44.4 46.2
They had a university degree when
they entered the US 58.3 48.0 66.7 50
They did study in the USA 66.7 76.9
They studied at the university / college 25 30 11.1 25.0 They studied in the language school 41.7 34.6 33.3 25.0 They speak with their spouses Russian 83.3 68.0
They speak with their spouses R & E 8.3 24.0 They speak with their kids Russian 58.3 64.3 They speak with their kids R & E 8.3 21.4
How they feel about Russia, %
men women
Why did they leave Russia?
Unfavourable economic circumstances 33.3 11.5
Religious discrimination 0 34.7
Ethnic discrimination 25.0 30.8
Better economic stiation in the USA 41.7 15.4 Better future for their children 33.3 34.6
Family unification 16.7 19.2
Would they like to return to
Russia?
No 50.0 65.4
Yes 8.3 3.8
Maybe 41.7 26.9
What they like the best in
Russia?
Relationship, friendship 50.0 19.2
Social life 33.3 19.2
Education / Language 16.7 7.7
Landscape, environment, climate 8.3 19.2
Food 16.7 3.8
How satisfied they were living in the USA when they first arrived and how they like it now? (scale -10 - +10)
•
Improvement since they entered
•
Gender difference: male respondents like living in the USA better
Opinion about the USA, %
men women
Why it is beneficial living in the USA
Good career and living standard 41.7 46.2
Learn English 16.7 15.4
Religious freedom 8.3 11.5
Independence 16.7 7.7
Education system 16.7 7.7
The greatest
challenges living in the USA
Language 58.3 69.2
Different custom 8.3 15.4
Hard to get the best position 8.3 15.4 General opinion
about the USA The best 83.3 73.1
What they like the best in the USA
Lots of opportunity (economic, edu.) 33.3 19.2
Mentality of people 33.3 23.1
Freedom 25 23.1
High living standard 8.3 23.1
Tranquility 16.7 11.5
Citizenship, identity
men women
Their citizenship
Russian 50.0 34.6
American 33.3 38.5
Russian and American 8.3 11.5
Their national
identity
Russian 58.3 65.4
Russian American 0 3.8
No 8.3 7.7
Russian with Jewish roots 16.7 3.8
Their friends’
nationalities
Only Russians
8.3 15.4
Russians, Americans, other European mixed 8.3 30.8 Russians, Americans, other Europeans and
other nationalities mixed 41.7 19.2
Their closest friends’
nationalities
Russians and/or Russian Americans 75.0 60.9 their spouses’ : Russians and/or Russian
Americans 58.4 (F) 64.3 (M)
Their experiences of being discriminated (scale 0 – 10)
How proud they are for their Russian nationality
(scale -10 - +10)
•Low level of discrimination,
•Main disadvantage because of the lack of English especially among female respondents
•They are not very proud of their Russian nationality
•There is no big difference between female and male respondents’ attitude
Their opinion about the immigration policy (scale -10 - +10)
•Male respondents’ attitude is more distributive and more categorical
•Equal opportunity for immigrants from different parts of the world and for employees
