The experience of migrating and attempting to integrate into a host society is personally and interactionally daunting. This article suggests ways social psychological perspectives may deepen our understanding of the interactional processes that shape experiences of migration and assimilation. We argue that existing migration literature highlights assimilation outcomes while undertheorizing the social psychological processes that constitute assimilation. In this article, we begin by showing how social psychological perspectives on migration relate to traditional sociological studies of assimilation by reviewing research on stereotyping and prejudice. Next, we review studies utilizing social identity theory and symbolic interactionism to explore how immigrants cast off stigma and give positive meaning to themselves. We conclude by suggesting how incorporating social psychological perspectives into research on migration and assimilation gives us important insights into the dynamic, interactive social processes that give meaning to those experiences.

Hispanic women are an understudied entrepreneurial population with considerable potential for economic impact. Our study uses fieldwork and semistructured interviews with entrepreneurs and community informants to understand the experiences of Latina business owners in North Carolina. We focus specifically on their entry into the formal economy as majority owners of for-profit ventures. Social location of owners is discussed to appreciate how the intersectional position of Hispanic women in the market economy shapes their entrepreneurial trajectories. Building on prior research on the “embedded market” and “gendered capital,” our study confirms that entrepreneurial succession and employment opportunities and constraints are strong motivators for Hispanic women to start businesses. However, we also identify a new catalyst for business entry that we call “social ventures and passions,” a finding that challenges the conventional assumption that immigrant and ethnic entrepreneurs open businesses primarily as an economic survival strategy or as an appeal to cultural norms (i.e., ethnic labor market approaches).

This research examines the historical role news elites have played in shaping public perceptions of immigrants as a distinct social group. To that end, we identify the discursive strategies used by The New York Times to construct the 'American immigrant' during the Ellis Island years (1892-1924), a pivotal period when some of the nation's earliest immigration restriction laws were established. Data were collected from front page newspaper articles and analysis was developed using the techniques of critical discourse analysis. Drawing on Foucault's (1977) theoretical understanding of the enmeshment of power relations in discourse as well as Blumer's (1958) group position model, we develop and test five hypotheses about the role of news elites in constructing this social group. Finding support for all hypotheses, we show how the article's discursive choices dehumanized immigrants, trivialized their experiences, silenced their voices and helped legitimate an unequal social hierarchy that positions immigrants beneath non-immigrants.

How can instructors use experiential learning strategies to enhance student understanding of research ethics and responsible research conduct? In this article, the authors review literature on using experiential learning to teach research ethics and responsible research conduct. They present a three-step exercise for teaching research ethics and responsible research conduct using experiential learning strategies. Their primary teaching and learning objective is to broaden student understanding of ethical behavior beyond notions of “right” and “wrong” to a conception of ethical behavior involving thinking critically about all stages of the research process. The authors present assessment data that suggest that participation in the exercise increased knowledge about ethical guidelines and broadened understandings of ethical behavior.

The “underclass” concept pervades social science research on poverty, racial relations, and more recently, immigration. In this article, we elaborate and extend Massey’s critique of the underclass concept by briefly reviewing the history of this concept and emphasizing its contemporary application to immigrants and undocumented workers. We also explore how the term as well as popular variants, including the “rainbow underclass,” are ambiguously defined yet legitimated by contemporary researchers and, as a result, have become more deeply embedded in social science scholarship. Furthermore, we critique the prevalent use of this term in describing minority groups and highlight its potential to reaffirm individualistic, racist views of immigrants while obscuring social processes that perpetuate inequality. We conclude with a call to scholars and policy analysts to replace this term with pointed analyses of the structural conditions that shape the lives of disadvantaged groups.