ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the trajectory of social mobility of children of Asian Indian immigrants who have experienced upward mobility and face challenges and constraints because of the recent recession in the USA. It illuminates social, economic, cultural and political lives of second-generation youth of five immigrant-origin groups living in metropolitan New York. Ogbu's theory of 'voluntary minority' (1991) explains higher educational achievement and economic success of children of Indian immigrants. The concept of regression toward the mean plays a vital role in understanding social mobility of second-generation and 1.5 children of Asian immigrants in mainstream society. Asian Indians are skilled immigrants and they have done very well in the labor market. The chapter explains the cultural capital is all cultural practices, dispositions, all skills, attitudes and way of life. It discusses the Phenomenological research does not solve problems. This critical ethnography is contextualized within the critical constructivist paradigm and follows the phenomenological hermeneutic framework.
