On Assimilation and Language Use among Finnish Immigrants

Nearly a century ago, Park and Burgess (1921:735) defi ned “assimilation” as “a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons or groups, and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life.” In subsequent defi nitions, Park (1930) argued that an immigrant could be considered assimilated in the United States when s(he) could participate in the common life without encountering prejudice enabled by the immigrant learning the language and the social rituals of the new country. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of language in the assimilation experiences and ethnic culture maintenance among Finnish immigrants living in Florida

Immigration And Violent Crime: Citizenship Status And Social Disorganization

With few exceptions, recent investigations have found levels of criminal involvement to be lower among immigrants than among the native born. We extend this line of research by examining arrest data for native-born citizens, citizens born outside the United States, naturalized citizens, and noncitizens in Orange County (Orlando), Florida, for homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Arrest rates for noncitizens are generally lower than those for the native born and similar to those of naturalized and foreign-born citizens, but their sexual assault rate is the highest of the four groups. The concentration of immigrants has no significant impact on arrest rates for native- and foreign-born citizens at the census-tract level. Additional research is necessary to more fully understand the linkage between immigration and crime, but mounting evidence that the new immigrants to not contribute to elevated crime levels in urban areas should be an important component of policy discussions. © 2009 Sage Publications