Immigrants and the Cultural Politics of Place : A Comparative Study of New York and Los Angeles

Keogan looks at the development of social boundaries in relation to American immigration since 1965. Since 1965 racial and ethnic distinctions have lost legitimacy and new cultural categories emerged. Illegal immigrants have become the most excludable segment of the foreign-born population. By the mid-1990s, the two principal urban destinations for immigrants to the U.S., New York City and Los Angeles, had developed divergent cultural orientations toward illegal immigrants. An analysis of mass media and scholarly texts demonstrates how symbolic boundaries were negotiated differently in these two settings. Keogan offers a comparative-historical analysis of the demographic and cultural factors involved in the development of these divergent political contexts.