ABSTRACT
Migration is a highly selective process. Migrations and Cultures recapitulates the themes of individual striving, cultural determinism, group differences, and economic standards of achievement, on a global scale. Thomas Sowell has selected six ethnic groups for special attention: Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews, and the Indians of south Asia. The six groups differed enormously from one another with respect to race, language, religion, and other demographic variables, even including the gender ratio of their migrating populations. Sowell believes that immigrants' interests are best advanced not through political action but through successful participation in the market. Some immigrant groups were resilient enough to survive even the harshest forms of discrimination. In some cases—Sowell mentions affirmative action and multicultural policies in the United States, Canada, and Australia—the demands for change may come less from the immigrants than from the natives, and they may increase the costs of absorbing immigrants, including the level of natives' hostility.
