A Political Issue: Immigration

A Political Issue: Immigration
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A Political Issue: Immigration
Immigration has been a divergent global political issue since the Second World War and during the Cold War era. In particular, 1965 is often considered a turning point in the United States’ immigration history. Immigration and Nationality Act amendments in that year repealed an earlier discriminative 1920s Immigration Act. The 1920s National Origins Quotas Act initially limited the U.S. entry of Eastern and Southern European immigrants who were by then deemed “unassimilable.” Indeed, it only compounded to the already existing Asians and Africans U.S. entry absolute ban. The 1965 amendments were meant to open U.S. borders without racial, cultural, or religious discrimination. It was a move informed by the rampant civil rights movements that marred the 1960s United States. The repeal of the old Act bore fruits as there was an immigration shift from the predominantly European constituted immigrants to Latin American and Asian immigrants. The new Act was now focused on the benefits of immigration to the U.S. that imported labor and cultural diversity.
The Weberian stratification is also known as the three-component stratification theory, or simply the three-class system that usually informs and shapes any social, economic, or political issue in society. According to Max Weber, a German sociologist, society’s driving forces comprise three distinct ideals: class, status, and party. In this stratification, Weber equates the three ideals to wealth, prestige, and power in that order. Hence, Weber concludes that power is manifested through three avenues, economically (class), socially (status), and politically (party). All the three ideals in a complex interplay always shape actions positively or negatively on any economic, social, or political issue.
Most often, the U.S. immigration policies are informed by the power of class (prevailing economic circumstances) and the power of party (existing political ideologies) (Massey, 1995; Timmer & Williamson, 1998). Immigrants in the U.S. are usually objectified to fit a particular economic or political narrative. How they are portrayed in the media and how politicians paint them to drive a certain political ideology often shape and direct immigration and inform policies enactment. The debate is never about the immigration itself and how the immigrants are bound to benefit, but it is usually only about public opinion and approval of the existing regime. Such a scenario through the power of class was evident in the 1920s discriminatory quotas. In the 1920s, Americans’ fears of the changing economic needs informed the enactment of the 1921 and 1924 Quota Acts, which reduced the number of U.S. immigrants. The apprehensions were informed by the increasing economic inequality, conservative ideology, xenophobia, and racism. The Quota Acts ensured a shift from Eastern and Southern Europe immigrants to Western and Northern Europe while completely prohibiting Asian and African immigrants (Zolberg, 2006).
The exercise of interest through the power of the party has indeed shaped action on the U.S. immigration issue over time. The 1965 Amendment Act, perhaps one...