Contemporary American Immigrants: Patterns of Filipino, Korean, and Chinese Settlement in The United States

(Hardback)

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Contemporary American Immigrants provides an overview to the immigration history of three of the largest groups of Asian immigrants to the United States--Filipinos, Koreans, and Chinese. This timely volume addresses such questions as: how do these Asian immigrants adapt to our culture; to what extent do they adjust and integrate and are Asian immigrants a credit to American society Using 1980 census data, the author reviews in detail the social and economic characteristics of these three immigrant groups. He also explores those characteristics for the most recent arrivals--those who came to the United States between 1980 and 1985--using data he collected in 1986 through interviews with 849 Filipino, Korean, and Chinese households. From his extensive research, Mangiafico concludes that the Asian immigrants surveyed and studied are enterprising, well-educated, and motivated individuals who greatly contribute to our society. He thus challenges the notions that immigrants in general are a burden to our society, and that they are changing our culture in ways which are not in the best interests of the United States.

Reviews

. . . the book, makes a significant contribution to the literature on the Asian immigrant experience in the United States.-Contemporary Sociology
The author, formerly US consul in Manila, coupled census bureau documents to his own intimate knowledge of Filipino visa applicants to produce this study. There are 108 statistical tabulations which provide a large variety of demographic, socioeconomic, familial and attitudinal data about recent immigrants. The three groups considered are the largest to contemporary American immigrants. Immigrants from Asia comprise almost half of all legal immigrants to the United States. Chapter 3 to 6 on the Filipinos are especially valuable because of the absence of existing information about them, althought they comprise one of the largest contemporary immigrant groups. Filipinois and Koreans are fairly homogeneous, unlike the ethnic Chinese who, emanating from several parts of Asia and Latin America, exhbit vastly different characteristics. In general, the findings suggest that, despite periodic 'immigrant-bashing' campaigns, Asian immigrants contribute to, and do not detract from, American society.-Sage Race Relations Abstracts
." . . the book, makes a significant contribution to the literature on the Asian immigrant experience in the United States."-Contemporary Sociology
"The author, formerly US consul in Manila, coupled census bureau documents to his own intimate knowledge of Filipino visa applicants to produce this study. There are 108 statistical tabulations which provide a large variety of demographic, socioeconomic, familial and attitudinal data about recent immigrants. The three groups considered are the largest to contemporary American immigrants. Immigrants from Asia comprise almost half of all legal immigrants to the United States. Chapter 3 to 6 on the Filipinos are especially valuable because of the absence of existing information about them, althought they comprise one of the largest contemporary immigrant groups. Filipinois and Koreans are fairly homogeneous, unlike the ethnic Chinese who, emanating from several parts of Asia and Latin America, exhbit vastly different characteristics. In general, the findings suggest that, despite periodic 'immigrant-bashing' campaigns, Asian immigrants contribute to, and do not detract from, American society."-Sage Race Relations Abstracts

Author Bio

LUCIANO MANGIAFICO is Consul General of the U.S. Embassy in Barbados.