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Immigration and the transformation of American society: politics, the economy, and popular culture

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Immigrants and their descendants have reshaped American society. Nancy Foner explores their impact on economy, politics, and culture.

Image courtesy of interviewee. December 13, 2023

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This video video discusses the transformative impact of immigration on the United States, particularly since the 1965 legislation that significantly increased immigration rates.

Key points include:

1. **Historical Context**: Post-1965, immigrants have changed from predominantly European backgrounds to include larger numbers from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean.

2. **Demographics and Statistics**: There are now approximately 45 million immigrants living in the U.S., and when including their children, they represent about one-quarter of the population (86 million people).

3. **Economic Contributions**: Immigrants own 20% of businesses in the U.S., are crucial in creating and expanding the tech industry, and significantly contribute to sectors like healthcare; 28% of physicians and 16% of nurses are immigrants.

4. **Cultural Influence**: The influences of immigrants are evident in American food, music, literature, and popular culture. They have introduced diverse cuisines and greatly impacted the music scene, particularly in genres like hip-hop.

5. **Political Landscape**: Immigration has reshaped party coalitions, with rising numbers of ethnic and racial minority voters contributing to the Democratic Party, while non-college educated whites have increasingly aligned with the Republican Party.

6. **Integration and Change**: Immigrants adapt and reshape their communities, creating new cultural dynamics and challenges, while also contributing to shifts in societal norms and practices.

The speaker advocates for recognizing immigrants as vital contributors to American society, emphasizing that their presence enriches the nation's cultural fabric and economic vitality, even amidst ongoing debates about immigration policies and sentiments.

Language:

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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And how immigrants have been transforming America

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or the United States, is

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because this is an important topic

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because the numbers are astounding.

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Uh, since 1960, I mean, we're real, when I'm talking about

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how immigrants are transforming America,

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I'm talking about the broad contemporary period, the post

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1965 period.

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Often it's referred to

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because in 1965, the US passed legislation,

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that opened the doors to immigration in the,

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in the US once again,

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because the previous decades, since the 1920s,

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the numbers have been very small, and they shot up

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after 1965.

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And the countries from which immigrants came

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also were different.

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No longer were Europeans dominant in the immigration.

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But now it was Latin Americans, it was people from Asia,

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and the Caribbean.

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But the numbers really are astounding.

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And you know, I say them all the time

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and every time I say them, I still think they're astounding.

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So there are now 45 million immigrants living

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in the United States.

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And if you add on their children,

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we're talking about 86 million people.

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Um, that is one quarter of the United States,

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which is why I call my book one Quarter of the Nation.

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But to put it in perhaps some European perspective,

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it's a little bigger than the population of Germany.

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So this is a, a large number of people.

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And the question is, you know,

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I zero in on particular domains

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where immigration has been changing the United States,

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and that's what we're, I assume we're gonna

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be talking about today.

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So on party, on electoral politics, on,

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and particularly party coalitions on the arts

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and public popular culture, and also on the economy.

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Um, in my book, I'm not gonna be to, in my book One Quarter

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of the Nation, I also look at race

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and issues of urban, cities and communities.

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But I'm gonna be focusing on the first three today

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because immigration, well,

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it's had a transformative effect in the us And it's

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interesting too, because I think people,

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they don't always notice it so much.

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They don't realize that that's happening.

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Um, they kind of, I mean, there is a focus on immigration,

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obviously, and es and you know, things that are happening.

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But I don't think people are fully aware of

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how much immigration has changed the United States

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in the last half century.

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What's interesting in the literature,

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especially the sociology of, I'm a sociologist, okay,

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so most of the literature,

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or much of it is concern with how we're looking at change

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and how immigrants themselves change when they

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come to the United States.

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And of course that's an important subject.

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Immigrants are, you know, leaving their home countries,

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they're coming to a new place.

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They're adapting, they're adjusting in some ways,

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they're becoming more American.

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They're changing in many, many ways.

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Um, experiencing inclusion, exclusion.

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I mean, that is really the, the gen, the bulk

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of the research less, much less on

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how immigrants are changing the culture

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and society of the US And those who do look at that tend

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to look at one domain.

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And very often in sociology, it's race, which is important,

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but it's not the only dimension.

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So I try to go into a number of different dimensions.

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And also another aspect is that when,

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so social scientists against particularly sociologists,

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but often others too, look at change.

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Uh, they often look at a particular

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place, a particular city.

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Um, and I try to give, I do give, I don't try to, I do,

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I give a national perspective,

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not just focusing on one place.

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I'm often actually accusative

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of talking too much about New York,

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'cause I've done a lot of work on New York City.

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Um, so I really, really tried hard in this, in my work

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to not be so New York focused.

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I do not ignore New York,

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but, you know, I give, I try to give a big picture.

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It contributed to the growth of the economy, job growth.

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They practically invented Silicone Valley.

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They have had an enormous impact on the high tech industry,

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which is a very important part of the national economy.

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It's a new part of the national economy.

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And of course, immigrants, it's interesting

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that they have such a, an important role.

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They themselves are new and they're going into and expanding

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and developing a new part of the economy.

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They've played a major role in starting companies

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and, developing them

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and bringing innovations,

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particularly immigrants from India and China.

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Um, immigrants have set up,

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and expanded other businesses as well,

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giving many a new character,

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but creating new businesses, just to mention a few

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nail salons, which is an important, I mean,

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before 65,

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before immigrants came to the us, if you wanted to manicure,

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you went to an upscale beauty salon and it was expensive.

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And what immigrants did basically, is they made

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that service a lot cheaper.

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And they opened up nail salons.

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I certainly, again, I have to say in New York, you know,

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there's practically a nail salon on every corner.

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But this is not, this is true

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around the us they've opened a new, other, new kind

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of businesses, Asian American supermarkets,

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which are widely found in the US

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or a new transportation services.

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I see, I have to come back to New York again.

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One of them is, west Indian Dollar Vans, which,

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take in, in parts of New York City, which apply the streets

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of Queens and Brooklyn, also Chinatown buses,

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very interesting development,

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which developed in Chinatown in New York City to

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transport workers to jobs all over the country,

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but have since way expanded beyond that.

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And again, inexpensive buses, it's become, it's a, a, a,

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a really interesting phenomenon.

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But immigrants have also helped, I should say,

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give a figure, right, that immigrants,

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own a one fifth of the businesses in the United States.

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Now, many of them are small businesses,

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but still they're very active in

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small business, in businesses.

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They've helped many other service industries grow, grow

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and flourish, build a need

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In the healthcare industry.

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Again, this is, i i, this is a very, I think,

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astounding figure in the United States today, 28%

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of physicians and surgeons are immigrants,

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16% of nurses.

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And they're found in other service industries

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where they have created a demand

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and met need for services, for example, in elder care,

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childcare, of course, construction and agriculture.

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Um, so that they're all, I mean, they're,

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they've been a really important part

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of the economy in the United States and,

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and helped, they've benefited the economy without,

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I should say, without immigrants.

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Um, the United States would not have enough workers.

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In fact, many, companies

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and business people are, are saying that now that they,

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they need workers and who's gonna do that?

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Especially now that, they, the, the,

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we don't have enough.

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You know, the baby boom generation is retiring.

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Uh, ti you know, replay fertility rates are low.

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We do need immigrant workers. And they are ambitious.

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They work hard. And often they're highly educated

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because, more, a little more than a third

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of the immigrants in the US today have a

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college BA degree or more.

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Post 65 immigrants have played a role, not the only factor,

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but an important role in reshaping party coalitions.

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It wasn't so long ago that when we thought

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of the Republican party they were associated

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with was often called Country Club Republicans, white,

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middle, upper middle class, suburban.

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Often today,

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the Republican party is associated

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and it heavily draws on non-college educated,

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working class white whites in the us That's a big part

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of the base of the Republican Party.

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The Democratic Party was long home,

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let's say from the New Deal, from the 1930s on

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to unionized blue collar workers.

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I mean, they came on board in large numbers with the,

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with Rosa voting for FDR and the New Deal.

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And now they, well, they've got, many of them have left

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and moved to the Republican Party.

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By the same token, the Democratic Party has is

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to a large degree, a party of white liberals,

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often college educated and ethnic and racial minorities.

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So how has immigration been involved in this?

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Well, in one way, immigration has led to a very,

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a big increase in the share of ethnic

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and minority of voters.

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Racial minority voters, you know, many of them are yes,

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immigrants by now, many of them have become citizens

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and are naturalized.

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They can vote. And of course they have children.

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And once their children over age, they can vote too.

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So they have become a, a big part.

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And they trend, trend democratic.

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Not all of them are democratic,

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but they heavily trend democratic.

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On the other side. Many whites,

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especially non-college educated whites, have been drawn

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to Republicans, anti-immigrant

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and anti minority message,

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in a context in which they are motivated by anxiety

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and resentment that whites are losing

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their privilege position.

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That they especially are being disadvantaged by immigrants

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who are getting benefits and they're not.

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Um, and so they have been, I mean,

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the anti-immigrant appeals, which we are seeing once again

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in the United States very strongly now in the,

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in the lead up to the 2024 election, have,

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have put, have, have led in, in large,

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been an important factor.

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And let me just mention two other factors,

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'cause I don't wanna be sounding pollyannish.

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It's only immigration that is changing party co coalitions.

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I mean, one of the big reasons that the white whites moved

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so heavily into the Republican party is the disappearance

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of the solid Democratic South.

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With the Civil rights movement and legislation.

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I mean, it came in 19, the South was solidly democratic.

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That has changed. And many have moved

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into the Republican party.

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And also, of course, many non-college educated whites are

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moving into the Republican party

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because of de-industrialization, globalization, the,

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the enormous decline in Union United blue collar

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jobs, which they have.

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Those are just two of the other factors.

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So it's not just immigration,

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but immigration has had a big role.

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Uh, once again, immigrants are remaking

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and reshaping our uniquely American culture.

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The foods we eat, the music we listen to,

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the novels we read, the TV programs we watch,

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the films we see, the music we listen to.

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So food, yes, I mean, that's the, you know, we,

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Americans always say, well, the immigrants

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who came in the turn of the 20th century a hundred years

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ago, which was in Italians, gave us pizza.

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And the bagels, which actually are now thought

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of as American foods.

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Today, salsa sells more than ketchup,

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and tacos have become standard fare.

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Um, a few, so Chinese restaurants,

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I think this is an interesting statistic, okay, in 2015,

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that's the latest date I have, Chinese restaurants.

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There were more Chinese restaurants in the United States

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than all the McDonald's Burger Kings

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and Kentucky Fried chickens combined.

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Wow. They're everywhere, including in very small towns.

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The Chinese have, yeah, I mean,

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it's actually quite interesting.

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And they also include a much broader range of cuisines

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and taste than they used to in the US where

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before a big Chi, you know, the recent Chinese immigration,

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and Chinese, by the way, one

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of the three largest immigrant groups in the United States,

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you know, was Cantonese food.

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'cause that's where the immigrants had come from.

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But now it's, you know, different cuisines, immigrants

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and their children, the second generation are leaving their

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own stamp on novels and memoirs.

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Um, you open up the New York Times book review, which is one

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of the few book reviews left in the United States, you know,

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from that's part of a newspaper.

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Um, and there's almost every week there's a memoir

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or a novel written by an immigrant

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or a a, a child of an immigrant, just to mention two,

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because they won all these awards.

12:03.625 --> 12:07.005
Um, June, art Diaz, who is from the Dominican Republic,

12:07.145 --> 12:11.245
the brief, brief wonders live of Oscar Well,

12:11.705 --> 12:13.405
and Jah Harry is the namesake.

12:13.405 --> 12:15.765
Both of them won the Pulitz surprise,

12:15.785 --> 12:16.925
but there are so many others.

12:17.465 --> 12:20.765
Um, immigrants in the second generation have taken popular

12:20.975 --> 12:23.205
music in new directions.

12:23.465 --> 12:26.285
Pop music superstars with roots in Latin America,

12:26.995 --> 12:31.845
have brought Latin rhythms to the United States, a fused

12:31.845 --> 12:33.285
with American popular music,

12:33.285 --> 12:34.685
which I'll talk about more later.

12:34.945 --> 12:38.205
Uh, one of the most well known is, Gloria Stefon,

12:38.265 --> 12:40.965
who was born in Cuba and is Miami based.

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She won Kennedy Center's honors, which is for an American,

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American, an honor for Americans.

12:47.605 --> 12:48.645
Right. Um,

12:48.945 --> 12:52.285
and immigrants from the Caribbean have introduced the sounds

12:52.505 --> 12:57.005
of Jamaican reggae, Cuban salsa, Dominican merengue.

12:57.665 --> 13:01.365
And interestingly, they are, they were actually

13:01.955 --> 13:04.085
very important in the creation of hip hop.

13:04.275 --> 13:05.605
It's often thought of

13:05.715 --> 13:08.485
that hip hop was an African American creation

13:08.545 --> 13:10.645
and all that African Americans were important.

13:11.385 --> 13:14.685
Um, so were, Caribbean immigrants from the,

13:14.685 --> 13:15.965
both the Hispanic Caribbean

13:15.985 --> 13:18.845
and the English former British, Caribbean

13:19.305 --> 13:20.525
and in New York actually.

13:20.525 --> 13:23.045
And there was a kind of melding, you know, of, of, of sounds

13:23.065 --> 13:25.445
and rhythms and, and many of the, well,

13:25.605 --> 13:28.525
most well-known rap stars actually are from the Caribbean.

13:29.145 --> 13:31.525
Um, so I mean, I think that that's, you know,

13:31.725 --> 13:34.285
I think immigrants have certainly enriched America's

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pop popular culture.

13:35.625 --> 13:38.525
We have to go beyond in immigration, looking at immigration

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and change, not just to understanding

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how immigrants themselves change when they come to the us

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and I, that is still very, very important.

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But we also have to do more work

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and more studies on trying to understand

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how immigrants themselves have changed the United States

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and how they are continuing to change it.

13:57.405 --> 13:59.405
I really like to think of it, it's an American story

13:59.795 --> 14:03.125
because of course we've had continuous immigration in the

14:03.125 --> 14:04.925
United States since its founding.

14:04.945 --> 14:07.885
We were settler society founded by immigrants.

14:08.345 --> 14:11.485
And you know, immigrants have always been transforming

14:11.555 --> 14:13.685
America, bringing their cultures

14:13.945 --> 14:15.725
and creating new ones in the context

14:15.945 --> 14:17.365
of the US that they come to.

14:17.905 --> 14:19.845
And, this has happened in the past.

14:20.595 --> 14:22.965
It's happening now, and it's undoubtedly

14:22.965 --> 14:24.045
gonna happen in the future.

14:24.265 --> 14:26.685
And so it's something that we need to consider.

14:27.585 --> 14:30.485
Uh, other conclusions I've alluded to already.

14:30.625 --> 14:32.165
One is that if we're looking at changes

14:32.195 --> 14:34.885
that immigrant immigration is bringing, we need to,

14:34.995 --> 14:36.685
it's obviously not the only factor.

14:36.705 --> 14:40.445
And understanding certain changes like, as I indicated

14:40.545 --> 14:41.965
for political party alignment.

14:42.705 --> 14:46.645
Um, also this, another issue I, that I just wanna raise is

14:46.645 --> 14:48.285
that, you know, some people dismiss

14:48.285 --> 14:50.285
and they say, well, they're not really changing America.

14:50.475 --> 14:51.485
It's always been changing.

14:51.575 --> 14:54.325
Immigrants always come, they do the same things, you know,

14:54.355 --> 14:56.245
they make the same kinds of changes.

14:56.545 --> 14:58.365
We see these similarities over time.

14:58.865 --> 15:00.805
Yes, we see similarities over time.

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But I think, you know, an important,

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maybe an important mantra is history does not repeat itself

15:05.795 --> 15:07.645
exactly the same way.

15:08.345 --> 15:11.525
And immigrants as they make changes, yes,

15:11.665 --> 15:14.765
are similar in some ways to the changes that were before,

15:14.825 --> 15:16.405
but they bring their own stamp.

15:16.835 --> 15:20.085
They give it because they come from different countries

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and different regions and different cultures, and

15:22.325 --> 15:25.765
because they come to a very different United States,

15:26.345 --> 15:27.605
or an American society.

15:27.675 --> 15:30.125
Just one example, you know, we think

15:30.125 --> 15:33.685
of ethnic enclaves in the US immigrants creating ethnic

15:33.685 --> 15:36.005
communities, which by the way in the US has seen as sort

15:36.005 --> 15:39.245
of a positive thing, unlike in many European countries.

15:39.305 --> 15:41.645
But, ethnic, you know, enclaves

15:41.645 --> 15:44.085
that immigrants create in many ways, they are similar.

15:44.265 --> 15:46.525
You know, the Jews lived on the lower East side

15:46.525 --> 15:48.765
and now, you know, the,

15:49.025 --> 15:51.645
the different groups cluster in different neighborhoods

15:51.815 --> 15:55.765
today, but they often cluster today in the suburbs,

15:56.095 --> 15:58.525
which they did not do a hundred years ago,

15:58.525 --> 16:00.565
because actually more than half

16:00.565 --> 16:02.925
of immigrants in the US today live in the suburbs,

16:03.375 --> 16:06.005
often in suburbs that were the home previously

16:06.225 --> 16:08.805
of middle class or lower middle class whites.

16:08.995 --> 16:10.925
That was not true in the past.

16:11.635 --> 16:13.965
They bring their own institutions too.

16:14.245 --> 16:16.085
I mean, in the past you could say, yes,

16:16.155 --> 16:18.925
Jews brought synagogues and temples, and of course the Irish

16:19.025 --> 16:20.805
and Italians Catholic Church.

16:21.305 --> 16:25.325
But today, immigrants are, well, not only changing actually,

16:25.345 --> 16:27.725
the Catholic church now, there are masses in Spanish,

16:28.185 --> 16:29.285
you know, in many cities.

16:29.545 --> 16:33.965
But, also they've brought, you know, Muslim,

16:33.995 --> 16:36.565
mosques, Hindu temples, which you find

16:36.565 --> 16:38.765
around the country, including by the way,

16:39.145 --> 16:40.725
in affluent suburbs.

16:41.125 --> 16:43.925
I mean, there was a recent piece in the New York Times about

16:44.095 --> 16:46.725
Texas changing, and one of the things they focused on

16:47.385 --> 16:49.645
was very highly educated Indian immigrants.

16:49.645 --> 16:51.965
And I should say that 78%

16:52.025 --> 16:54.765
of Indian immigrants in the US have a BA or higher,

16:55.185 --> 16:57.525
and they're living in these suburbs of Dallas

16:58.185 --> 17:00.445
and, you know, bringing their Hindu ma, you know,

17:00.525 --> 17:02.725
their Hindu temples with them and, and,

17:02.745 --> 17:05.125
and cricket, which is not, you know, and,

17:05.185 --> 17:08.285
and so they're changing America in new ways, right?

17:08.345 --> 17:11.045
So it's not just, the same. All right.

17:11.105 --> 17:13.285
And also, finally, I can say that in terms

17:13.285 --> 17:17.765
of popular culture, change often involves the creation

17:17.765 --> 17:21.565
of new mixtures, as immigrants, make changes.

17:22.475 --> 17:26.125
They, melding aspects of mainstream American culture

17:26.225 --> 17:27.885
or established American culture

17:28.465 --> 17:31.245
and their own cultures that they bring with them, creating,

17:31.435 --> 17:34.045
once again, something new, something different,

17:34.045 --> 17:35.565
and often wonderfully unique.

17:35.985 --> 17:38.765
So yes, that's a very positive upbeat story.

17:39.205 --> 17:42.645
I think what we, I, we could use an upbeat story these days,

17:42.845 --> 17:44.845
I think about immigration, and it's not just

17:44.845 --> 17:47.885
because I'm just making this, I'm not making this up just

17:47.885 --> 17:48.885
to give an upbeat story.

17:49.045 --> 17:52.605
I really believe that on the whole, it is an upbeat story

17:53.295 --> 17:55.725
about the impact that immigration has had on the

17:55.965 --> 17:56.445
United States.

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