The limits and possibilities of segmented assimilation theory

Segmented assimilation in its current U.S.-centric incarnation is more valuable as a sensitizing concept that suggests where analysts should look rather than as a transportable causal theory of intergenerational change.One of the assumptions behind assimilation theory is that there is a policy and normative consensus that immigrants should integrate into the population.Many states want labor migrants and refugees to be temporary, even if the reality is long-term residence.Their policy goal is that immigrants should not assimilate and there should not even be a second generation.Specifying temporal and spatial scope conditions and extending the notion of segmentation beyond ethnoracial groups to include social segments in societies of origin and destination are practical ways to push this concept toward a more broadly applicable theory.