Immigrant Communities and Ethnic Linkages: Suburban Koreans in the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area

The New School, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Immigrant Communities and Ethnic Linkages: Suburban Koreans in the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area The proposed dissertation examines the increasing spatial dispersion of immigrants without the diminution of ethnic ties. It will focus on Korean households with varying degrees of spatial dispersion in Bergen County, New Jersey and their corresponding job, consumption, religious, and social linkages. The contribution of this dissertation will be an enhanced understanding of immigrant residential choice through an explanation of how ethnic enclaves remain significant in immigrant suburbanization. This argument subsequently challenges and modifies linear spatial assimilation theory by revealing spatial assimilation without cultural and social assimilation. The dissertation explores three research questions and hypotheses. First, how and why have Bergen County's Korean households become spatially dispersed? Second, why and to what extent are Korean households in the suburbs linked to ethnic centers? Third, why has this simultaneous residential dispersion and ethnic concentration occurred? Methodologically, the research consists of two broad tasks. The first task investigates spatial dispersion using 1980, 1990, and 2000 aggregate Census data and 1990 and 2000 Public-Use Microdata Sample Data. The second task examines why and to what extent these households are linked to ethnic centers, and it relies on data collected from a survey of Korean households. The survey data will be analyzed using logistic regressions and an index of ethnic linkages. I will supplement these analyses with face-to-face key informant interviews with Korean community leaders, businessmen, government officials and an analysis of local coethnic and non-coethnic newspapers. The broader impact of this dissertation entails insights into current immigration policy and patterns, the changing nature of metropolitan areas, and overall change in public attitude toward immigrants. The dissertation will also contribute to the knowledge available to governments, service providers, churches, educators, and policymakers for addressing immigrant issues. Lastly, the dissertation's within-group comparative method can be applied to studying other immigrant groups.