ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that ethnicity cannot be simply viewed as either a structural or a cultural construct; rather, it encompasses specific cultural values and behavioral patterns that are constantly interacting with both internal and external structural exigencies. Ethnicity is not lodged in the individual but in a socially identifiable group, and more generally, in a community. The classical assimilation perspective suggests that ethnic enclaves are not permanent settling grounds and that they are beneficial only to the extent that they meet immigrants’ survival needs, reorganize their economic and social lives, and ease resettlement problems in the new land. To distinguish between an immigrant neighborhood and an ethnic enclave analytically, it is important to study local social structures, namely all observable establishments that are located in a spatially bounded neighborhood. When an ethnic group is legally excluded from participating in a mainstream host society, effective community organizing can mobilize ethnic resources to counter the negative effects of adversarial conditions.
