Douglas S. Massey

Both homophily and heterophily are observed in humans. Homophily reinforces homogeneous social networks, and heterophily creates new experiences and collaborations. However, at the extremes, high levels of homophily can cultivate prejudice toward out-groups, whereas high levels of heterophily can weaken in-group support. Using data from 24,726 adults (M = 46 years; selected from 10,398 English neighborhoods) and the composition of their social networks based on age, ethnicity, income, and education, we tested the hypothesis that a middle ground between homophily and heterophily could be the most beneficial for individuals. We found that network homophily, mediated by perceived social cohesion, is associated with higher levels of subjective well-being but that there are diminishing returns, because at a certain point increasing network homophily is associated with lower social cohesion and, in …

Eviction is a common and consequential event in the lives of tenants and is shaped by the legal environments in which it takes place. In this study, we show that eviction filing fees, or the amounts of money it costs landlords to begin formal evictions, have a large effect on eviction practices. Specifically, fees that are higher by $76 (one standard deviation) lead to lower eviction filing rates by 1.71 percentage points (0.26 standard deviations) and lower eviction judgment rates by 0.49 percentage points (0.19 standard deviation). Filing fees affect not only the rate but also the purpose of filing, as lower fees make landlords more likely to file serially against the same tenants as a form of rent collection. Each of these effects appears to be disproportionately large in majority-Black tracts, suggesting that low filing fees have disparate impacts on Black renters. These findings contribute to our understanding of the legal basis of …

There have been three eras of mass international migration: the forced migration of Africans to the Americas during the mercantilist era, the mass movement of free Europeans to the Americas and Oceania during the laissez-faire industrial era, and the global movement of people from varied origins to diverse destinations during the neoliberal post-industrial era. This chapter forecasts the likely course of migration in the 2020s through a review of the demographic, economic, climatic, and governmental circumstances prevailing across world regions. It foresees an acceleration of migration between developing and developed regions composed increasingly of people moving to evade threats at places of origin rather than to access opportunities at places of destination. The coming decade will require a better theoretical integration of refugee and migration studies, close attention to the tradeoffs between internal and …

La migración internacional se ha convertido en un factor cada vez más importante en las agendas políticas y económicas globales (Cárdenas y Mejía, 2006). Dentro de los países de América Latina, la migración de colombianos ha sido de interés para muchos países (Mejía, 2012). Aunque en los estudios realizados sobre dicho fenómeno a menudo se ha omitido el papel desempeñado por la violencia en la migración internacional, dicho factor ha sido percibido como una fuerza clave detrás de la emigración en América Latina (Pellegrino, 2001; Sánchez R., 2011). En Colombia particularmente, el conflicto armado que ha prevalecido ha generado una alta prevalencia de homicidios, secuestros, y otras manifestaciones de violencia que se presume han motivado a muchas personas a abandonar el país (Cárdenas y Mejía, 2006; Guarnizo, 2006;

Beginning in the 1990s and intensifying after the events of September 11, deportations in the United States increased to record levels under President Obama and continued at high levels under President Trump. Although a growing literature addresses how migrants respond to the shifting context of reception, empirical evidence on how migrants’ remitting and saving behavior changed as a result of immigration enforcement remains limited. Using detailed individual-level data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP, N = 6787) for the years 1970–2019, this study examines how deportations relate to Mexican migrants’ joint decisions to remit and/or save, and how this relationship differs by documentation status. Results from multinomial logistic regressions reveal that rising deportations are associated with an increase in the transnational economic engagement of undocumented migrants. This is largely due to an …

Duration of residence refers to the variable used in empirical research that captures the time a foreign-born individual has been in the USA. This time could be accumulated in one continuous stretch (e.g., an individual who left his or her home country, came to the USA, and remained in the USA), or it could be accumulated across multiple trips to the USA. While this variable is relevant in both qualitative and quantitative research on the foreign born, it is relied upon heavily in quantitative studies as a proxy for an individual’s exposure to the USA.

Between 2000 and 2020, undocumented migration declined, temporary labor migration rose, and legal permanent residents arrived at a steady pace—together creating a new system of Mexico–U.S. migration based on the circulation of legal temporary workers and permanent residents. Drawing on data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Mexican Migration Project, we specify multinomial event-history models to predict the likelihood of departure on first and later trips via four entry categories: no documents, noncompliant tourist visas, temporary work visas, and legal residence visas. The models reveal how the accumulation of entry mode–specific social and human capital powered a system of undocumented migration that emerged between 1965 and 1985, and how that system deteriorated from 1985 to 2000. After 2000, employers took advantage of new visa categories to recruit legal …

Despite their diversity, Black Americans have long been studied as a uniformly disadvantaged group. Drawing from a representative sample of over a thousand Black students, and in-depth interviews and focus groups with over one hundred more, Young, Gifted and Diverse highlights diversity among the new educated Black elite—those graduating from America’s selective colleges and universities in the early twenty-first century.Differences in childhood experiences shape this generation, including their racial and other social identities and attitudes, and beliefs about and interactions with one another. While those in the new Black elite come from myriad backgrounds and have varied views on American racism, as they progress through college and toward the Black professional class they develop a shared worldview and group consciousness. They graduate with optimism about their own futures, but remain …