The Dimensionality Of Immigrant Adaptation In Britain: An Analysis Across Generational, Ethnic, and Gender Lines

Many theories have been put forward to explain the long-term experiences of migrants and their descendants (here termed adaptation), from classical assimilation theory, to multiculturalism and the ‘neo-assimilation’ theories of the ‘new’ straight-line assimilation theory and segmented assimilation. These hold different assumptions as to the concepts that ought to be used to qualify the immigrant experiences, as well as the paths of adaptation, i.e. the number of dimensions that the immigrant settlement ought to take, but are not always clear as to which they are, and how they link together. Moreover, current research tends to focus more on the individual analysis of various dimensions of adaptation [socio-economic (including education, labour market outcomes), socio-cultural/linguistic (identity, religious affiliation and family formation practices), spatial (segregation), or political (electoral and non-electoral participation)] rather than an assessment of the actual number of dimensions of adaptation present across immigrant generations, which has important ramifications for understanding inequalities in the adaptation process across immigrant groups. Research on immigrant adaptation in Britain is no stranger to this trend.

The aim of this paper is to remediate to this issue by analysing recent British data to explore the dimensionality of adaptation that underlie the lives of current immigrants to Britain and their descendants. The determination of the dimensionality will follow the work by Bean et al (2012) and use factor analysis to determine the underlying number of factors behind variables deemed to be representative of the immigrant adaptation experience and assess the structural equivalencies in the factor analyses across gender, ethnic, and generational lines. The analyses will provide an empirical evidence base to: (1) assess the extent of inequalities in adaptation across gender, ethnic, and generational lines, and (2) examine the extent to which the uncovered dimensions of adaptation in the British context match existing theoretical views.