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641 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2012)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0641 and id is 1 raw text is: INTRODUCTION

The World in a
City:
Immigration
and America's
Changing Social
Fabric
By
JOHN MACDONALD
and
ROBERT J. SAMPSON

Keywords: immigration; place; social fabric; demo-
graphic changes
The United States in 2012 faces unprece-
dented challenges brought on by economic
crisis and the unrelenting pace of globalization
and technological change. We are perhaps
unique as a nation, however, in the changes
wrought by continuing population diversifica-
tion and foreign immigration from countries
across the globe. Indeed, the United States is
currently one of the most diverse nations on
earth, which spells to some observers coming
ruin and to others unprecedented renewal.
Whichever position one might take, there can
be little doubt that immigration has radically
changed the nation's composition.
Consider for a moment the magnitude and
character of recent change. Foreign immigra-
tion to the United States rose sharply in the
1990s, as did its concentration in the immigrant
enclaves of our large cities. In fact, the foreign-
born population increased by more than 50
percent in just 10 years and neared peak levels
John  MacDonald is an      associate professor of
criminology at the University of Pennsylvania and
director of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.
He works on topics such as interpersonal violence,
race and ethnic disparities in criminal justice, and
the effectiveness of social policy responses to crime.
His recent work appears in the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine, Criminology, Journal of the
American Statistical Association, American Journal of
Public Health, and The Economic Journal.
Robert J. Sampson is Henry Ford II Professor of the
Social Sciences at Harvard University and director of
the Social Sciences Program at the Radcliffe Institute for
Advanced Study. He is also president of the Anerican
Society qf Criminology and the Ernest Burgess Fellow of
the American Academy qf Political and Social Science.
His most recent book, Great American City: Chicago
and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect, was published
in January 2012 by the University of Chicago Press.
DOI: 10.1177/0002716212438939

ANNALS, AAPSS, 641, May, 2012

6

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