Sociology 285A – Special Topics in Sociology: Immigration and Ethnic Entrepreneurship
Quarter: Spring 2019Instructor: M. Zhou
Seminar, three hours. Designed for graduate students. Seminars on selected current topics of sociological interest. Consult Schedule of Classes for topics and instructors. May be repeated for credit. S/U or letter grading. Immigration and ethnic entrepreneurship are interlocking phenomena that have long been subject of critical inquiry in migration studies field. Concept of ethnic entrepreneurship often overlaps that of immigrant entrepreneurship, which stresses ethnic group membership of entrepreneur--specifically one's ties to common cultural heritage and ethnic community. Since worldwide economic restructuring of 1970s, ethnic entrepreneurship has witnessed rapid growth fueled and enlivened by waves of new immigrants from every corner of world. Focus on global dynamics of ethnic entrepreneurship as impacted by international migration to U.S. Critical survey of existing literature on causes and consequences of ethnic entrepreneurship to examine local, global, and transnational forces undergirding entrepreneurship. Exploration of ethnic economy, ethnic enclave, middleman minority, mixed and simultaneous embeddedness, and social capital concepts, and more.
