The children of immigrants occupy a structural position that is neither their parents' nor their native-born peers'. Understanding that position is prerequisite to navigating it.
The Second Generation's Structural Position
The second generation — the children of immigrants who were born in or raised from early childhood in the destination country — occupies a structural position that is distinctively different from both their parents' position and the position of native-born peers from the majority culture. They typically have native-level fluency in the destination country's language and substantial cultural literacy in its majority culture, combined with family-transmitted knowledge of and often genuine connection to the origin country's culture, language, and values. This combination is a structural asset that neither their parents nor their native-born peers possess in the same form.
The structural position also carries specific vulnerabilities. The second generation is assessed by majority culture institutions against the same standards as native-born peers while often carrying additional burdens — the expectation of representing their community, the implicit scepticism about belonging that hyphenated identity can attract, and the tension between the values and expectations of family culture and those of the majority culture that peers do not navigate. These vulnerabilities are real and are not fully offset by the cultural assets the second generation carries.
The Institutional Navigation Challenge
The second generation's institutional navigation challenge is more complex than either their parents' or their peers' because they are simultaneously navigating institutions from the inside — as people who are recognisably of the destination country — and from the outside — as people whose full belonging is sometimes questioned by the institutions they navigate. The strategies that are effective for this navigation are different from those effective for first-generation immigrants, who navigate from a clearly exterior position, and different from those effective for majority-culture natives, who navigate from a position of unquestioned belonging.
The second generation's structural position is the crossing point between two institutional worlds. The people who navigate it successfully develop a specific kind of institutional intelligence — for reading both worlds simultaneously, for translating between them, and for building on the hybrid position rather than resolving it in either direction.
Discussion