Rethinking urban poverty from institutional and organizational perspectives

January 19, 2011 at 2:23 pm | Posted in barbershops, conference, economic development, grocery stores, health, housing, immigrants, neighborhoods, non-profits, organizational density, organizational networks, political organizations, poverty, social capital, social service agencies | Leave a comment

Urban organizations conference in Chicago! “The University of Chicago is hosting a conference entitled “Rethinking Urban Poverty for the 21st Century: Institutional and Organizational Perspectives” on March 10-11, 2011.  As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the prospects for U.S. cities remain uncertain. The promised reinvention of many former manufacturing centers has been halted in its tracks, as record budget deficits, limited growth prospects, and stubbornly high unemployment rates undermine urban recovery. The urban poor continue to bear most heavily the burden of a continuing housing crisis, chronically underperforming schools at a time of increasing returns to education, persistently high births to unmarried mothers, unprecedented rates of obesity and other health problems, and an expansion of the criminal justice system that insists on breaking imprisonment records.   Understanding these conditions calls for scholarly perspectives the focus not only on individuals or neighborhoods but also on the institutions and organizations that structure their daily lives, mediate their relation to the state, and facilitate or constrain their ability to acquire resources. The papers either adopt or examine the role of institutional and organizational perspectives to the study of housing, health, criminal justice, education, and immigration in urban contexts. For more, and to register, see http://urbanforums.uchicago.edu.”

New article highlights the power of ethnic entrepreneurship

March 10, 2010 at 11:30 pm | Posted in immigrants, neighborhoods, reading list, social capital, what to read | Leave a comment

In the new article, “Noneconomic Effects of Ethnic Entrepreneurship: A Focused Look at the Chinese and Korean Enclave Economies in Los Angeles,” Min Zhou and Myungduk Cho aim to develop a conceptual framework from a community perspective to examine the noneconomic effects of ethnic entrepreneurship. They pay close attention to the linkage between entrepreneurship and community building using ethnographic data from comparative case studies of the Chinese and Korean enclave economies in Los Angeles. They argue that it is the social embeddedness of entrepreneurship, rather than individual entrepreneurs per se, that creates a unique social environment conducive to upward social mobility. This study suggests that ethnic entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in immigrant adaptation beyond observable economic gains. The analysis contributes to the literature on ethnic entrepreneurship by shifting the focal point from ultimate mobility outcomes—earnings or employment opportunities—to intermediate social processes—community building through the consolidation of ethnic social structures, the creation of ethnic social spaces, the return of the co-ethnic middle class, and social capital formation. In this respect, the enclave economy concept is superior for investigating specific social contexts and processes of group-level social mobility.

The piece appears in Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52, No. 2, March/April 2010

Study finds racial difference in prevalence of political advocacy organizations

July 9, 2009 at 10:26 am | Posted in immigrants, non-profits, organizational density, political organizations, social movements, what to read | Leave a comment

uarSarah Reckhow’s “The Distinct Patterns of Organized and Elected Representation of Racial and Ethnic Groups,” published in Urban Affairs, uses data from Melissa DATA and newspaper accounts.   She finds that, for Latinos and Asian-Americans, the group’s proportion in the population increases the number of political advocay organizations; for African-Americans, however, the pattern does not hold.  From the abstract: Studies of minority political incorporation have demonstrated that advocacy organizations are critical for advancing minority electoral success and policy change. Drawing on an original data set of 30 midsized U.S. cities, the author evaluates the extent of organized representation of racial and ethnic groups and the effect of organized representation on elected representation. Latinos and Asian-Americans both have greater numbers of local advocacy organizations as the groups’ proportion of the population increases. Yet many cities with sizable African-American populations have a lower density of advocacy organizations than cities with fewer African-Americans. A smaller field of organizations increases elected representation for African-Americans but not for Latinos.

Min Zhou publishes book on incorporation of Chinese into U.S. cities

June 5, 2009 at 12:12 am | Posted in amenities, immigrants, neighborhoods, new books, organizational density, social organization, what to read | Leave a comment

Min Zhou, a sociologist of immigration who has written on immigrant entrepreneurship and on schools as community institutions, has published a new book, Contemporary Chinese America.  From the book description: Contemporary Chinese America is the most comprehensive sociological investigation of the experiences of Chinese immigrants to the United States—and of their offspring—in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In this volume, [Zhou] collects her original research on a range of subjects, including the causes and consequences of emigration from China, demographic trends of Chinese Americans, patterns of residential mobility in the U.S., Chinese American “ethnoburbs,” immigrant entrepreneurship, ethnic enclave economies, gender and work, Chinese language media, Chinese schools, and intergenerational relations.

Two new studies find that supplementary educational settings and ethnoburbs important for Chinese immigrant incorporation

March 17, 2009 at 10:24 am | Posted in amenities, churches, immigrants, neighborhoods, non-profits | Leave a comment

In, “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and For-profit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community,” Min Zhou examines how particular types of informal social settings created and structured within ethnic communities generate resources for school success. By looking specifically at non-profit and for-profit institutions serving youth in Los Angeles’ Chinese immigrant community, Zhou highlights an ethnic system of supplementary education that not only offers tangible support but also reinforces cultural norms in pushing immigrant children to succeed in school. The full citation for the piece is:

Zhou, Min. 2008. “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Non-profit and Forprofit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community.” Pp. 229-251 in Beth Shinn and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, eds., Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs. New York: Oxford University Press.

In addition, Min Zhou and her co-authors have published a piece looking at new patterns of residential assimilation through the case of a sprawling Chinese ethnoburb in the San Gabriel Valley of California. Using U.S. Census data, field observations, and previous literature, the authors demonstrate that new patterns of immigrant settlement are reshaping Chinese American commercial investment, real estate, educational institutions, and other organizations. The full citation for the piece is:

Zhou, Min, Yen-fen Tseng, and Rebecca Y. Kim. 2008. “Rethinking Residential Assimilation through the Case of Chinese Ethnoburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, California.” Amerasia Journal 34 (3): 55-83.


New paper finds that non-profit organizations sustain immigrant mobilization

November 28, 2008 at 5:42 pm | Posted in immigrants, neighborhoods, non-profits, organizational networks, what to read | Leave a comment

“Voting With Their Feet: Nonprofit Organizations and Immigrant Mobilization,” by Hector Cordero-Guzman, Nina Martin, Victoria Quiroz-Becerra, and NikTheodore, looks at the role of immigrant non-profit organizations in social movements. Reacting to the series of marches in 2006 for immigrant rights throughout the United States, the authors question the idea that the marches were “spontaneous outburst of frustration.” Instead, they argue, the marches were “in large part the result of long-standing cooperative efforts and networks of immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations. Immigrant-serving organizations were at the forefront of organizing public education campaigns, advocacy activities, and community mobilization efforts leading up to the demonstrations.” Based on survey on 498 nonprofit organizations in Chicago and New York conducted in 2005. In American Behavioral Scientist.

New book by Ramakrishnan and Bloemraad

September 29, 2008 at 10:14 am | Posted in immigrants, new books, what to read | Leave a comment

Civic Hopes and Political Realities, edited by S. Karthick Ramakrishnan and Irene Bloemraad, examines the role of community organizations in the political engagement of immigrants.  From the publisher: For many Americans, participation in community organizations lays the groundwork for future political engagement. But how does this traditional model relate to the experiences of today’s immigrants?  In Civic Hopes and Political Realities, experts explore how civic groups are shaping immigrants’ quest for political effectiveness.  Civic Hopes and Political Realities shows that while immigrant organizations play an important role in the lives of members, their impact is often compromised by political marginalization and a severe lack of resources.

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