Segmented assimilation and minority cultures of mobility

Recent work on second-generation immigrants posits that racial discrimination and a restructuring economy are likely to create different paths of assimilation for recent non-white immigrants than earlier European immigrants followed, and may even decouple acculturation and economic mobility. But while these discussions have considered the minority lower class as a possible destination for assimilation, middle-class minorities have been largely ignored. This article considers how the experiences of middle-class minorities might alter our models of second-generation incorporation. We propose that the minority middle classes share a minority culture of mobility, a set of cultural elements responsive to distinctive problems that usually accompany minority middle-class status, including problems of interracial encounters in public settings and inter-class relations within the minority community. We illustrate this minority culture of mobility with a brief case study of the African-American middle class, and discuss its implications for immigrants.