Social Problem of Immigration - Term Paper Example

Immigration has equally been a source of social, cultural and political confrontations that have shaped America. Immigration is of great interest to me because of the immense role it plays in society both negatively and positively. In America, for instance, immigration has been incidental to the development of the country in several ways. Immigrants provided cheap labour during the industrial revolution and the early development stages of the country. Furthermore, the assimilation of immigrant communities into American society advanced the country’s diversity profile. Conflicts created by immigration often revolve around the perceived threat to a country’s culture by the immigrants who are torn between two cultures. Such a concern leads to strife between resident communities and immigrants though most of the conflicts are merely based on perceptions.

According to Carl (45-52), immigration is a social problem because of how it creates tensions and misunderstandings in society. Immigration is a source of social strife pitting resident communities and immigrant communities most of which are based on cultural and economic factors. Culturally, immigrants are perceived as a threat to a nation’s culture because immigrants belong to a different cultural heritage that is seen as a huge threat to the already existing culture of their new home. Also, immigrants present a threat of cultural erosion in the sense that future generations of a country will not have anything in common. Though this problem is more attributed to the failure of immigrants to assimilate and become part of the resident culture than their presence in the country.

Carl (79-81) further suggests that immigration has immense economic implications in society. Economically, immigrants are perceived as a challenge to materials and opportunities, therefore, creating competition for resources and jobs with local communities. Other considerations include crime whereby immigration is often linked to increased levels of crime in society or sometimes the society may resort to crime as a way of articulating the immigration problem.

Immigration has been subject to literary dialogue since time immemorial and many thinkers and scholars share their diverse opinion on the vast subject. Numerous scholars examine immigration in detail evaluating the nature of a problem it presents to society. In essence, immigration as a social problem has attracted the attention of numerous researchers, authors and scholars who examine the issue from different theoretical perspectives. Robert Sampson tackles the subject from a practical perspective by unearthing the recent conflicts and issues emanating from immigration in the United States through which he presents the prevailing conflicts regarding immigration (Sampson, 28-33). In his article, Rethinking Crime and Immigration, Robert Sampson reveals that immigration is indeed a social problem, and it greatly influences society. The role played by immigration in the political discourse particularly in the political contests has been captured by the author in a very explicit manner capturing the real essence of immigration in America. Though the author specifically focuses on immigration as a social problem in the United States, it is evident that the predicament affects all countries without discrimination.

Robert Sampson (29) asserts that cultural and social issues associated with immigration easily become subjects of political arguments in the run-up to elections. This is typical to all countries and regions having immigrant communities. Robert Sampson exemplifies how each presidential candidate spells out the vision for the immigration issue indicating the magnitude of American society. The real storm was set by the incidences of crime involving immigrant communities that led to a national outcry against illegal immigration that has prevailed in America for a lengthy period. Similarly, Pamela Paxton and Anthony Mughan, examine immigration as a social problem from a perspective of assimilation where they assert that the conflicts associated with immigration are centred on their failure to fully assimilate into the culture of their new country. Therefore, they opine that if immigrants assimilate into the culture of the new country such conflicts could be reduced significantly. In their article titled What's to Fear from Immigrants? Creating an Assimilationist Threat Scale, the two authors describe the threat to culture as a huge factor behind conflicts with immigrant communities (Paxton and Mughan, 549-550). Immigrants are perceived as people trapped in two cultures and they may dilute the culture of their resident countries.

Publications on this topic will be of great significance in making this research. In developing this research, I will endeavour to review a publication that fully covers the immigration issue from a pragmatic perspective. To this effect, I will review Article Rethinking Crime and Immigration by Robert Sampson in my effort to underscore the political and social significance of immigration.

Another publication that will be necessary for developing this research is What's to Fear from Immigrants? Creating an Assimilationist Threat Scale that has been co-authored by Pamela Paxton and Anthony Mughan will provide crucial guidelines for immigration as a social problem.