Critical Summary

McWilliams, Carey

doi:10.2307/2263423

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The racial and ethnic composition of the western population was different from that in the Northeast and Midwest. Japanese, Chinese, Native Americans and Mexicans were significant minorities in the West (Gregory 1989;James 1945;McWilliams 1945;Taylor 1998), while African Americans and European immigrants were the primary ethnic groups of the Northeast and Midwest (e.g., Bodnar, Simon and Weber 1982;Duncan and Duncan 1957;Grossman 1989;Lieberson 1980;Perlmann 1988). The large cities of the West exhibited a different urban ecology from their counterparts in the East.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Southerners in the West: The Relative Well-being of Direct and Onward Migrants

Tolnay

Eichenlaub

2006

Social Forces

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The Great Migration of southerners away from their region of birth stands as one of the most significant demographic events in U.S. history. The first waves of migrants headed primarily to the Northeast and Midwest. During and after World War II, a larger proportion moved to the West. We use information from the 1970 through 2000 public use samples to compare the economic status of "onward migrants" from the Northeast and Midwest with that of "direct migrants" from the South. Our findings show that onward migrants had greater incomes and higher occupational statuses, but were not more likely to be employed than direct migrants with the same socio-demographic profiles. The economic advantages enjoyed by onward migrants were shared by blacks and whites and prevailed across three of the four decades considered in our analysis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Southerners in the West: The Relative Well-being of Direct and Onward Migrants

Tolnay

Eichenlaub

2006

Social Forces

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“…These largely blue-collar manufacturing jobs paid more than the migrants could hope to earn in the South, and they had the additional benefit of not being located in the already hypersegregated cities of the Northeast and Midwest (Massey and Denton 1993). Contributing to the general attraction of black migrants to the West was the widespread perception that the region offered a more progressive and hospi-table climate of interracial relations than the South, Northeast, or Midwest (McWilliams 1945). These disparate socioeconomic forces produced a significant shift in the regional destinations chosen by black southern migrants, with many more heading to the West, especially California, Oregon, and Washington, after 1940 than before.…”

Section: Discrimination and Exclusion In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One obvious example of this advantage was the ability of blacks to own land and to vote, two important privileges denied first-generation Japanese immigrants because they were not eligible for citizenship until 1952 (Taylor 1981). Furthermore, some scholars have speculated that the presence of other racial and ethnic minorities in the West (foreign-born and U.S.-born) actually made blacks there less vulnerable to the discriminatory efforts of the majority white population than were blacks in other regions of the country (McWilliams 1945;Rischin 1972). In contrast, others have suggested that the earlier presence of other racial and ethnic minority groups in the West, especially Asians, facilitated rather than blunted discrimination against black migrants.…”

Section: Discrimination and Exclusion In The Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality in the West

Tolnay¹,

Eichenlaub²

2007

Social Science History

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The western region of the United States has exhibited racial and ethnic diversity that rivals that found in any other part of the country. Yet the socioeconomic differences among western racial and ethnic groups have been studied much less intensively than corresponding differences in other regions of the United States. In this article we use data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from 1940 through 2000 to describe the recent history of occupational inequality in the West. We find evidence of a persistent and significant occupational disadvantage for African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexicans. In contrast, the two Asian groups included in our analysis, Chinese and Japanese, frequently enjoyed an actual occupational advantage relative not only to other racial and ethnic minority groups but also to the majority native-born white population. Controlling for group differences in educational attainment explains much of the racial and ethnic variation in occupational inequality, but further analysis shows that it is inaccurate to assume that all groups enjoy the same occupational benefits from additional schooling. As a result, controlling for education without considering such differential occupational returns to schooling can yield a misleading picture of occupational inequality. Finally, we interpret these findings in relation to different theoretical perspectives on racial and ethnic inequality in the United States.

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Critical Summary

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Southerners in the West: The Relative Well-being of Direct and Onward Migrants

Southerners in the West: The Relative Well-being of Direct and Onward Migrants

Inequality in the West

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