Origins and Destinations: a rejoinder

• Published in: Ethnic and racial studies Vol. 42; no. 13; pp. 2302 - 2309
• Main Authors: Luthra, Renee, Soehl, Thomas, Waldinger, Roger
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 03.10.2019; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Appreciation; Attention; Borders; Destinations; Ethnicity; Generations; Immigrants; Immigration; Migration; Noncitizens; Scholarship; Second generation
• ISSN: 0141-9870; 1466-4356
• DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1627380

In today's age of mass migration, the people crossing borders shape their own destinies, doing what neither home nor host state wants, seeking progress through movement. In both Europe and the United States, the immigrants' search for a better life has yielded an even more fateful result: the emergence of the "second generation", a population comprised of the immigrants' children, whether born in the society of immigration or brought there at a very young age from abroad. For the past quarter century, the question of how these "new" immigrant offspring will fare and why their trajectories might differ has attracted ever growing research attention while simultaneously generating continuing scholarly controversy. Origins and Destinations: The Making of the Second Generation responds to this debate, building on a generation of scholarship and developing a new way of thinking about the problem at hand. We are gratified by the response that this new approach elicited from the distinguished scholars, all prominent contributors to the debate on both sides of the Atlantic, who commented on our book. We also extend our appreciation to the editors of Ethnic and Racial Studies for allowing our book to gain such attention and for giving us the opportunity to respond to our critics' insightful reactions.