How Neighborhoods Matter, and For Whom: Disadvantaged Context, Ethnic Cultural Repertoires and Second-Generation Social Mobility in Young Adulthood

One of the most important transformations of American society over the last four decades is the influx of immigrants and the emergence of the second generation in diverse communities across the country. Yet we know little about the neighborhood contexts in which the second generation grew up and how their presence in local communities affects neighborhood social processes. This project brings together research on immigration and urban poverty, along with theoretical insights from cultural sociology, to examine how neighborhoods matter for second-generation social mobility. I draw on geocoded survey and qualitative data from the Immigrant Second Generation in Metropolitan New York and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to document the spatial stratification in neighborhood contexts across groups; how disadvantaged context shapes second-generation attainment; and how ethnic cultural strategies structure youths' navigation of their neighborhood and mobility.;On neighborhood attainment, I find a clear pattern of ethnic stratification in the neighborhood contexts. Whites, Chinese and Filipinos grew up in the most advantaged neighborhoods, in peaceful environments with safe streets, whereas blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans grew up in the worst neighborhoods, with high levels of crime and violence. Across generations, blacks and Puerto Ricans are trapped in the poorest neighborhoods, whereas second-generation groups, including Mexicans, are more likely to be upwardly mobile.;Neighborhood disadvantage matters for second-generation mobility, but how much it matters varies across groups. Specifically, I argue that ethnic groups significantly differ in how they "live" within their neighborhoods. I point to four sets of mediating mechanisms that matter most for second-generation socioeconomic outcomes, but also are broadly relevant to native-born groups: parenting strategies, neighborhood-based institutional resources, time use and local peer networks. I find that immigrant parents living in a disadvantaged context are more protective of their offspring than native-born parents, often enrolling their children in schools outside of their neighborhood and insisting that their second-generation children spend time inside the home, rather than outside on the streets with neighborhood peers. This research has broad implications for theories of immigrant assimilation and neighborhood stratification and for the future contours of ethnic and racial inequality in America.