Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T15:16:12.361Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Success(ion): Second-Generation Iranian Americans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mehdi Bozorgmehr  and
Daniel Douglas
Mehdi Bozorgmehr
Affiliation:
City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York
Daniel Douglas
Affiliation:
Graduate Center, City University of New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

More than a generation has passed since the substantial immigration of Iranians to the United States in the late 1970s, resulting in a sizable second-generation population (defined by convention as persons born in the United States and those who immigrated under the age of thirteen). This article presents a first look at the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the second generation at the national level, and compares them with those of the first generation (Iran- or foreign-born population). It uses the 2005–07 merged data set compiled by the United States Census in the American Community Survey (ACS). The results indicate a preliminary continuation of economic and educational success from the first- to the second-generation Iranians. Moreover, this achievement has become more balanced across gender lines in the second generation. Specifically, in terms of educational attainment and labor force participation, females have quickly closed the gap with their male counterparts. Because the second generation is still young, it is premature to assess the extent of intergenerational mobility among Iranians. But given this generation's initial achievements, one can only expect an upward trajectory.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 3 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 The International Society for Iranian Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this article was presented at “The Iranian Revolution: Thirty Years Later” conference, Rutgers University, 7–8 February 2009. The research for this article was supported, in part, by grants from the Doctoral Program in Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York. The authors are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for his/her excellent comments on earlier drafts of this article, as well as to the Editor and Associate Editor of Iranian Studies for their highly efficient handling of the review process. We also thank Anny Bakalian and Danielle Zach-Kalbacher for their comments.

References

1 Bozorgmehr, Mehdi, “From Iranian Studies to Studies of Iranians in the United States,” Iranian Studies, 31, no. 1 (1998): 5–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben, Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd ed. (Berkeley, CA, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben, Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation (Berkeley, CA, 2001)Google Scholar; Kasinitz, Philip et al., Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants Come of Age (Cambridge, MA, 2008)Google Scholar.

4 Rumbaut, Ruben, “The Coming of the Second Generation: Immigration and Ethnic Mobility in Southern California,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 620 (2008): 196–236CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Portes, Alejandro and Patricia, Fernandes-Kelly, “Introduction,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 620 (2008): 7–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Pyong Gap, Min, “Major Issues Related to Asian American Experiences,” in Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues, ed. Pyong Gap, Min (Thousand Oaks, CA, 2006), 80–107Google Scholar; Sakumoto, Arthur and Xie, Yu, “The Socioeconomic Attainments of Asian Americans,” in Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues, ed. Pyong Gap, Min (Thousand Oaks, CA, 2006), 54–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben, “The Forging of a New America: Lessons for Theory and Policy,” in Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America, ed. Rumbaut, Ruben and Portes, Alejandro (Berkeley, CA, 2001), 301–317Google Scholar.

8 Rumbaut, “The Coming of the Second Generation.”

9 Portes and Fernandes-Kelly, “Introduction.”

10 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America, 69, Table 6.

11 Shavarini, Mitra, Educating Immigrants: Experiences of Second-Generation Iranians (New York, 2004)Google Scholar.

12 Straight-line assimilation theory posits upward mobility for the second and subsequent generations, resulting in full integration into the mainstream. The segmented assimilation model states that the children of new immigrants can assimilate into different segments of the host economy and society. Those from humble social origins risk downward mobility and assimilation into the urban underclass because of their nonwhite race, low levels of education, and concentration in inner cities. See Portes, and Rumbaut, , “The Forging of a New America”; Alba, Richard and Nee, Victor, Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration (Cambridge, MA, 2003)Google Scholar.

13 Portes and Rumbaut, “The Forging of a New America.”

14 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America.

15 Ali Akbar, Mahdi, “Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Iranians in the United States,” Iranian Studies, 31, no. 1 (1998): 77–95Google Scholar; Hanassab, Shideh and Tidwell, Romeria, “Intramarriage and Intermarriage: Young Iranians in Los Angeles,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22, no. 4 (1998): 395–408CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Higgins, Patricia, “Interviewing Iranian Immigrant Parents and Adolescents,” Iranian Studies, 37, no. 4 (2004): 695–706CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Komaie, Golnaz, “The Persian Veil: Ethnic and Racial Self-Identification among the Adult Children of Iranian Immigrants in Southern California,” (PhD diss., University of California, Irvine, 2009)Google Scholar; Shavarini, Educating Immigrants.

16 Shavarini, Educating Immigrants.

17 Higgins, Patricia, “Intergenerational Stress: Parents and Adolescents in Iranian Immigrant Families,” in Beyond Boundaries: Selected Papers on Refugees and Immigrants, Volume V, ed. Baxter, Diane and Krulfeld, Ruth (Arlington, VA, 1997)Google Scholar.

18 Bozorgmehr, Mehdi et al., “Socioeconomic Trajectories of the Highly-Educated Second Generation: Iranians in the United States” (Unpublished paper, 2010)Google Scholar.

19 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America.

20 Mahdi, “Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Iranians.”

21 Golnaz Komaie, “The Persian Veil.”

22 Mobasher, Mohsen, “Cultural Trauma and Ethnic Identity Formation Among Iranian Immigrants in the United States,” American Behavioral Scientist, 50, no. 1 (2006): 100–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Alba and Nee, Remaking the American Mainstream.

24 Bozorgmehr, Mehdi, “Internal Ethnicity: Iranians in Los Angeles,” Sociological Perspectives, 40, no. 3 (1997): 387–408CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 Hanassab, Shideh and Tidwell, Romeria, “Intramarriage and Intermarriage: Young Iranians in Los Angeles,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22, no. 4 (1998): 395–408CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Hanassab, Shideh, “Sexuality, Dating, and Double Standards: Young Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles,” Iranian Studies, 31, no. 1 (1998): 65–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Annual Reports, 1970–1977 and Statistical Yearbooks, 1978–1986 (Washington, DC); United States Department of Homeland Security, Statistical Yearbooks, 1986–2004 (Washington, DC)Google Scholar; United States Department of Homeland Security, 2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Washington, DC)Google Scholar, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2007/ois_2007_yearbook.pdf.

28 Bozorgmehr, Mehdi and Sabagh, Georges, “High Status Immigrants: A Statistical Profile of Iranians in the United States,” Iranian Studies, 21, no. 3/4 (1988): 5–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 Bozorgmehr, Mehdi, “Iran,” in The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965, ed. Waters, Mary, Ueda, Reed, and Marrow, Helen (Cambridge, MA, 2007)Google Scholar.

30 Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, “High Status Immigrants.”

31 See http://iranianscount.org/

32 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America.

33 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America.

34 Given the young average age of the second generation (19), we felt it was too early to assess intermarriage as an indicator of ethnicity, or conversely, of assimilation.

35 Portes and Rumbaut, Immigrant America.

36 Portes and Fernandes-Kelly, “Introduction.”

37 Rumbaut, “The Coming of the Second Generation.”

38 Min, “Major Issues Related to Asian American Experiences.”

39 These studies are summarized in Bozorgmehr, “From Iranian Studies.”

40 Jen'nan Ghazal, Read and Oselin, Sharon, “Gender and the Education-Employment Paradox in Ethnic and Religious Contexts: The Case of Arab Americans,” American Sociological Review, 73, no. 2 (2008): 296–313Google Scholar.

41 See Table 2 in Fairlie, Robert, Estimating the Contribution of Immigrant Business Owners to the U.S. Economy (Washington, DC, 2008)Google Scholar.

42 Light, Ivan and Gold, Steven, Ethnic Economies (San Diego, 2000)Google Scholar.

43 Claudia, Der-Martirosian, Iranian Immigrants in Los Angeles: The Role of Networks and Economic Integration (New York, 2008)Google Scholar.

44 For a discussion of its effects on Iranian Americans, see Bozorgmehr, “Iran.”

45 Bakalian, Anny and Bozorgmehr, Mehdi, Backlash 9/11: Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans Respond (Berkeley, CA, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.