A THEORY OF IMMlGRATION AND RACIAL STRATIFICATION VIWABASHI

When immigration is the subject, both academic literature and public discourse tend to assume that hardworking and persevering immigrants will earn enk & into the labor market and society at large. It is also assumed that those who try will be rewarded with successful integration into the larger community of citizens. This basic assumption is the basis of the assimilation model (McDaniel, 1995). It is an assumption that is often used when considering the relative successes of various groups in American society; therefore, it is worth examining. The classic model of assimilation assumes that immigrants arrive with a relative disadvantage vis-a-vis Euro-peanAmericans andthattheyarecul~allydistantanddistinct.The immigrant group is assumed to have the potential to be like the native-burn or majority group. The passage of time brings increas-ing education and economic opportunities that facilitate the with-ering of ethnic differences, and socioeconomic advancement translates into social mobility and integration. The idea of an American “melting pot ” is a characterization of the classic model of assimilation. The model was applied in a famed study of the problems of African Americans-Gunnar Myrdal’s American Dilemma (1962). In that book, Myrdal explains that America’s problem is one o