The balkanization metaphor in the analysis of US immigration

Recent social commentary and social science research invokes the term "balkanization" to describe geographical trends in contemporary U.S. society. For example, William Frey describes "demographic balkanization" as a "spatial segmentation of population by race-ethnicity, class, and age across broad regions, states, and metropolitan areas... driven by both immigration and long distance internal migration patterns" (1996:760). We take issue with the use of the balkanization metaphor for two reasons. First, we cite alternative evidence against the proposition of immigration-driven ethnic fragmentation in the U.S. The bulk of our argument, however, attends to the expression itself. Given that the term balkanization is associated with ethnic territorial conflice, we assert that the balkanization metaphor carries with it an implicit and deeply negative commentary on current immigration to the U.S. For us, the deployment of the term balkanization sounds a false alarm that warns of a Yugoslavian fate for the U.S. produced by an immigrant-induced break-up of a unified nation with a common culture. That warning resounds with normative and defective assumptions about space, immigrant assimilation, and the future prospects for U.S. society. Additionally, balkanization, like any other metaphor, creates an image that directs future research and social policy. This depiction is not neutral; it limits the imagination and distorts our vision of contemporary trends in U.S. economic and cultural life.