Convergence hypothesis argues that there is a growing similarity among industrialized, labor-importing countries in terms of immigration control policy and integration policy (Hollifield, Martin and Orrenius 2014). This hypothesis also applies in the context of refugee policies that are enacted among these countries. Specifically, two of the most prominent industrialized countries that are built as nations of immigrants and that host refugees are the United States and Canada. Following the logic of convergence hypothesis, the United States and Canada should be similar with regard to immigration control and integration policies. However, Canada is considered an outlier with regard to convergence hypothesis. Convergence hypothesis was descriptive of immigration control in the form of racial exclusion in both countries until 1971 with Canada's adoption of a federal multiculturalism policy. This study tests the convergence hypothesis in the areas of immigration control and integration policies from the United States and Canada by examining policy adoption documents using qualitative content analysis from 1971-2019. The data shows there is a difference in both the inclusivity or exclusivity of the language used by the United States and Canada with regard to refugee policies as well as the frequency of their occurrence. The Canadian turn to multiculturalism was positively associated with more inclusive legislation when examining immigration and refugee policy documents while the United States was more inclusionary with regard to refugee policy. The study also finds there is a clear and definite association between adoption of multiculturalism by Canada and its divergence to being more inclusionary than the United States with regard to refugee resettlement and integration policy. These findings confirm that the adoption of multiculturalism as being associated with Canada's outlier status with regard to convergence hypothesis and demonstrates that industrialized nations can have their own identity with regard to issues surrounding immigration. The results herein can help assist policy makers that are looking to understand the implications of enactment of multiculturalism on state policy.

First Published in 2004. This book provides a novel understanding of current thought and enquiry in the study of popular culture and communications media. The populist sentiments and impulses underlying cultural studies and its postmodernist variants are explored and criticized sympathetically. An exclusively consumptionist trend of analysis is identified and shown to be an unsatisfactory means of accounting for the complex material conditions and mediations that shape ordinary people’s pleasures and opportunities for personal and political expression. Through detailed consideration of the work of Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall and ‘the Birmingham School’, John Fiske, youth subcultural analysis, popular television study, and issues generally concerned with public communication (including advertising, arts and broadcasting policies, children’s television, tabloid journalism, feminism and pornography, the Rushdie affair, and the collapse of communism), Jim McGuigan sets out a distinctive case for recovering critical analysis of popular culture in a rapidly changing, conflict-ridden world. The book is an accessible introduction to past and present debates for undergraduate students, and it poses some challenging theses for postgraduate students, researchers and lecturers.

Although the United States has always been a nation of immigrants, the recent demographic shifts resulting in burgeoning young Latino and Asian populations have literally changed the face of the nation. This wave of massive immigration has led to a nationwide struggle with the need to become bicultural, a difficult and sometimes painful process of navigating between ethnic cultures. While some Latino adolescents become alienated and turn to antisocial behavior and substance use, others go on to excel in school, have successful careers, and build healthy families. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data ranging from surveys to extensive interviews with immigrant families, Becoming Bicultural explores the individual psychology, family dynamics, and societal messages behind bicultural development and sheds light on the factors that lead to positive or negative consequences for immigrant youth. Paul R. Smokowski and Martica Bacallao illuminate how immigrant families, and American communities in general, become bicultural and use their bicultural skills to succeed in their new surroundings The volume concludes by offering a model for intervention with immigrant teens and their families which enhances their bicultural skills.

Covering both qualitative and quantitative topics, the expert contributors in this Handbook explore fundamental issues of scientific logic, methodology and methods, through to practical applications of different techniques and approaches in migration research. The chapters of this interdisciplinary Handbook maintain an introductory level of discussion on migration research methods, while providing readers with references necessary for those wishing to go deeper into the topic. Using a combination of concepts and techniques with research experiences from the field, this Handbook will prove to be an invaluable guide. Master-level students and academics in migration-related programs will find this compendium a useful and stimulating resource. It also discusses issues relating to the collection of data on migrants, including topics such as survey designs, interviewing techniques and ethical issues that policymakers and government employees will find informative. Advisory Board: Professor Stephen Castles Professor Robin Cohen Professor Josh DeWind Professor Raoel Delgado Wise