Population and immigration: the USA

« Population and immigration: the USA United States’ population: 334,612,330 in 2022 nation of immigration: XIX pop grew w/ the arrival of two main waves of immigrants fleeing from poverty: in the early years of the century: Irish, Germans, Austrians,Scandinavian bc of loss of jobs in England and the potato famine in Ireland in the last decades: people from southern and central Europe (It, Jews…) for political and economic reasons (e.g.

1848 Revolutions in Fr and Germany) XX: immigrants from central Europe (fleeing Nazi Germany), from Asia and from Cuba, Mexico, South America ⇒ for them, the US= land of freedom and opportunity (= a new departure) 1892-1954: Immigrants arrived at Ellis Island (New York Harbor) ⇒ accepted or refused key dates: - 1819: The Steerage Act limits the number of passengers on each ship - 1879-1943: restrict° of immigrants from Asia (mostly from China), who provided cheap labor in California and kept wages low - 1891: The Immigration Act bars many people from entering the US - 1892: Ellis Island’s opening - 1924: The national Origins Act creates quotas ⇒ privileges migrants from Northern, Western EU + Central America - 1929: limitat° of 150,000 immigrants a year - 1965: the Immigrat° and Nationality act repeals the 1924 Act ⇒ favours qualified immigrants (brain drain from EU) - 1980-2000: annual ceiling rise (300k to 700k) - 2001: 9/11 ⇒The Patriot Act restrict potential terrorist Originally: new immigrants aimed at merging into the American culture ⇒they lose their national identities, share the E language (laws in the XIX encouraged linguistic assimilation) ⇒ America is a melting pot (express° from The melting pot by Israel Zangwill) Now: they feel excluded from the Wasp culture⇒ reassert their roots, show pride in their origins ⇒ America is a mosaic, a salad bowl (Afro-Americans, ChineseAmericans, Hispano-Americans) ⇒ some people defend the use of English only → However, great deal of poverty, mainly Blacks, Hispanics, single-parent families + illegal immigrants (coming from Mexamerica) ⇒ divis° between liberals and conservatives (MeToo movement VS laws against abortion) Meritocracy: opportunities for everyone depending on their abilities, not on family background ⇒ the US believe in it thx to the novels of Horatio Algers (rags to riches stories: poor succeeding bc of their hard work) → this view is challenged: - OECD/ 2020: the highest income inequality of all the G7 nations + 2018: the richest 5%= 52% of all US income ⇒ 1989-2016: the gap between the poorest and the richest had doubled -the political elites perpetuate themselves: rich families w/ select educat° (Harvard, Yale) ⇒ correlat° between the income of fathers and sons ⇒ according to Economic Policy institute: social mobility has declined + according to the Economist /2005: the social ladder is getting stickier and higher → reasons: educat° depends on class (¾ of students in the top 146 colleges come from the richest socio-economic 20%) outsourcing, contracting out, increased competition ⇒ little employee stability ⇒ hard to move up the company hierarchy informat° technology has increased the demand for very highly skilled NB: it is still a socially mobile country immigrat° policies: →The Us is becoming protectionist bc of terrorism and illegal immigrat° : -1,000,000 immigrants per year mostly from Mexico, many died in the attempt. -2017: 10,5 million illegal migrants.... »