Selective Assimilation and Persistence of Ethnicity. The Case of Hispanics in the United States.

This thesis faces with the issue of interethnic relationships within the wider phenomenon of migration. The theories developed over time about the modes of incorporation of immigrants into the host society are investigated and assessed, highlighting in particular the value attributed to ethnicity. The ethnicity, in fact, while considered from many an element that hampers the immigrant integration process, is viewed here as a functional instrument of social integration. The selective assimilation theory proposed by A. Portes is used as theoretical framework. Through a descriptive analysis of census data on the main trends concerning the Hispanic group in the United States, an evident persistence of ethnicity has emerged. First, Hispanics tend to be spatially concentrated not only in the first stage of their incorporation process, but even in the choice of more sedentary settlements maintaining alive their ethnicity and drawing benefits from it. The ethnic group, moreover, has proved to be an important source for the economic integration through the increase of Hispanic ethnic entrepreneurships. The ethnicity was proven to be a substantial element of the immigrant integration process, not simply a subjective and symbolic dimension.