 |
Jeffrey
G. Reitz
Professor
of Sociology Centre
for International Studies University
of Toronto Phone
- 416-946-8993 |
Brief CV: B.S. Columbia University (1965); Ph.D. Columbia University (1972); Chair, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto (1980-85); Director, Collaborative Graduate Program in Ethnic and Pluralism Studies (1999-); Honourable Mention, Thomas and Znaniecki Award, American Sociological Association, 2000; William Lyon Mackenzie King Professor of Canadian Studies, Harvard University (2000-2001); Connaught Senior Research Fellowship (2001-2002); Fellow, Royal Society of Canada.
Professor Reitz continues to examine the employment experiences of immigrant and ethnic populatons; his current focus is on how the emergence of the new knowledge-based economies of Canada, the US, and Australia is affecting trends in immigrant employment success and experiences over time, including the second generation. Jeff is also continuing his research on the impact of diversity on national cohesion, using the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey; a new book has been submitted for publication.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, Raymond Breton, Karen K. Dion, and Kenneth L. Dion, Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Potentials and Challenges of Diversity, Springer 2009.
Does multiculturalism ‘work’? Does multiculturalism policy create social cohesion, or undermine it? Multiculturalism was introduced in Canada in the 1970s and widely adopted internationally, but more recently has been hotly debated, amid new concerns about social, cultural, and political impacts of immigration. Advocates praise multiculturalism for its emphasis on special recognition for cultural minorities as facilitating their social integration, while opponents charge that multiculturalism threatens social cohesion by encouraging social isolation. Multiculturalism is thus rooted in a theory of human behaviour, and this book examines the empirical validity of some of its basic propositions, focusing on Canada as the country for which the most enthusiastic claims for multiculturalism have been made. The analysis draws on the massive national Ethnic Diversity Survey of over 41,000 Canadians in 2002, the most extensive survey yet conducted on this question. The analysis provides a new and more nuanced understanding of the complex relation between multiculturalism and social cohesion, challenging uncritically optimistic or pessimistic views. Ethnic community ties facilitate some aspects of social integration, while discouraging others. For racial minorities, relations within and outside minority communities are greatly complicated by more frequent experiences of discrimination and inequality, slowing processes of social integration. Implications for multicultural policies emphasize that race relations present important challenges across Quebec and the rest of Canada, including for the new religious minorities, and that ethnic community development requires more explicit support for social integration. Click here for Springer's website.Jeffrey Reitz, editor, Host Societies and the Reception of Immigrants. San Diego, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Research, University of California, 2003. 550 pp. Click here to order.
Immigration's impact on the economy and on society is shaped not only by characteristics of the immigrants themselves, but also by basic features of the society that those immigrants have joined. This book contains eighteen chapters by leading scholars from the United States, Canada, and Europe, who explore this theme theoretically and empirically. An introductory essay by the editor suggests four major dimensions of society which emerge as significant in this new research thrust: pre-existing ethnic or race relations within the host population; differences in labour markets and related institutions; the impact of government policies and programs, including immigration policy; and the changing nature of international boundaries, part of the process of globalization. The book had its origins in a conference sponsored by the Canada Program at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Selected papers appear as a special issue of International Migration Review 36, 4 (Winter 2002).
Charles M. Beach, Alan G. Green, and Jeffrey G. Reitz, editors, Canadian Immigration Policy for the 21st Century. Kingston, ON: John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy, published in collaboration with McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003. 644 pp. Click here to order.
An in-depth look at the changes in immigration policy since 9/11. Since 9/11 there have been many changes to the external environment in Canada, a number of criticisms of current immigration policy in Canada, and several proposals for dealing with current labour market needs and settlement patterns of immigrants to Canada. In Canadian Immigration Policy for the 21st Century, authors examine the issues raised by these concerns. Topics covered include: international context and immigration policy goals; the role of immigration in meeting Canada's demographic and labour market needs; decentralization of immigration policy, with special focus on the Quebec perspective and the recent Manitoba experience; policy responses to increasing international labour mobility; immigration data resources in Canada; the changing immigrant experience in the labour market, including issues of skill recognition and the effects of business cycles on labour market integration; and social inclusion of immigrants, including the health of immigrant children and visible minority enclaves in major Canadian cities.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, Heather Zhang, and Naoko Shida Hawkins, "Comparisons of the Success of Racial Miniority Immigrant Offspring in the United States, Canada and Australia."Revision of paper presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, August 8-11, 2009; an earlier draft was presented at a conference on "The Economics of Immigration: Children of Immigrants and Temporary Migration," held at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, May 11th -12th 2009.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, Rupa Banerjee, Mai Phan, and Jordan Thompson, "Race, Religion, and the Social Integration of New Immigrant Minorities in Canada," September 2008; forthcoming in International Migration Review, previously presented as a 2008 Public Lecture, The Cosmopolitan and Civil Societies Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney Australia (March 4), and as keynote address to the 10th Colloquium on Ethnic Studies for Graduate and Post-Graduates Students, Centre d’études ethniques des universités montréalaises (CEETUM), March 27, 2008.
Jeffrey G. Reitz and Ye Zhang, "National and Urban Contexts for the Integration of the Immigrant Second Generation in the United States and Canada ," to appear as a chapter in New Dimensions of Diversity: The Children of Immigrants in the United States and Canada edited by Richard Alba and Mary Waters (New York University Press, forthcoming).
Jeffrey G. Reitz, "Closing the Gaps between Skilled Immigration and Canadian Labour Markets: Emerging Policy Issues and Priorities," March 2007. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at a seminar on Labor Markets in North America: Challenges and Opportunities in an Aging Workforce,” organized by the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation and the Centre de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City, November 13, 2006.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, "Does Canadian Experience in Immigrant Incorporation Have Lessons for Europe?" October 2006. Based on keynote address, Third Annual Conference of IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration, and Social Cohesion) network of excellence in European migration research, Vienna, September 5, 2006. Spanish translation published as “¿Puede ofrecer lecciones a Europa la experiencia canadiense de integración de los inmigrantes?” Vanguardia Dossier (Barcelona) 22 (January-March 2007): 38-46; special issue on Inmigrantes: El continente móvil.
Jeffrey G. Reitz. “How to Better Use Canadian Immigrants’ Skills.” In Society in Question, 5th Canadian edition, edited by Robert Brym. Toronto: Nelson, forthcoming. Abridgement of “Tapping Immigrant Skills: New Directions for Canadian Immigration Policy,” Choices (see below).
Jeffrey G. Reitz, "Immigrant Employment Success in Canada, Part I: Individual and Contextual Causes," Journal of International Migration and Integration 8,1 (2007): 11-36.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, "Immigrant Employment Success in Canada, Part II: Understanding the Decline,"Journal of International Migration and Integration 8,1 (2007): 37-62.
Jeffrey G. Reitz and Rupa Banerjee, "Racial Inequality, Social Cohesion, and Policy Issues in Canada." In Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, edited by Keith Banting, Thomas J. Courchene, and F. Leslie Seidle. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2007. Pp. 489-545.
Jeffrey G. Reitz and Janet Lum. “Immigration and Diversity in a Changing Canadian City: Social Bases of Inter-group Relations in Toronto.” In Inside the Mosaic, edited by Eric Fong. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. Pp. 15-50.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, ed. Ethnic Relations in Canada: Institutional Dynamics. By Raymond Breton. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2005.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, "Tapping Immigrants' Skills: New Directions for Canadian Immigration Policy in the Knowledge Economy ," Choices 11.1 (February 2005): 1-18.
Jeffrey G. Reitz and Anil Verma, Immigration, Race, and Labor: Unionization and Wages in the Canadian Labor Market," Industrial Relations 43.4 (October 2004).
Jeffrey G. Reitz and Kara Somerville, "Institutional Change and Emerging Cohorts of the 'New' Immigrant Second Generation: Implications for the Integration of Racial Minorities in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration 5.3 (2004).
Jeffrey G. Reitz, “Canada: Immigration and Nation-Building in the Transition to a Knowledge Economy.” In Controlling Immigration: a Global Perspective, 2nd edition, edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, Philip L. Martin, James F. Hollifield, and Takeyuki Tsuda. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. Pp. 97-133.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, ed. Host Societies and the Reception of Immigrants. San Diego, CA: University of California, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, 2003.
Charles Beach, Alan Green, and Jeffrey G. Reitz, eds. Canadian Immigration Policy for the 21st Century. Kingston, ON: John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy, 2003.
Raymond Breton and Jeffrey G. Reitz, eds. Globalization and Society: Processes of Differentiation Examined. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2003.
J.H. Beck, J.G. Reitz, and N. Weiner, "Addressing Systemic Racial Discrimination in Employment: The Health Canada Case and Implications of Legislative Change," Canadian Public Policy 28.3 (2002): 373-94.
Jeffrey G. Reitz, “Immigrant Success in the Knowledge Economy: Institutional Change and the Immigrant Experience in Canada, 1970-1995,” Journal of Social Issues 57.3 (2001): 579-613 (issue on Immigrants and Immigration, edited by V.M. Esses, J.F. Dovidio, and K.L. Dion).
Jeffrey G. Reitz, “Immigrant Skill Utilization in the Canadian Labour Market: Implications of Human Capital Research," Journal of International Migration and Integration 2.3 (2001): 347-78; followed in the same issue by a French translation, “Utilisation des compétences des immigrants sur le marché du travail au Canada: Répercussions de la recherche sur le capital humain," 347-378; commentary by Richard A. Wanner, "Diagnosing and Preventing 'Brain Waste' in Canada's Immigrant Population: A Synthesis of Comments on Reitz," 417-428, and my own "Response and Further Discussion," 429-433. This exchange was initiated by the Department of Canadian Heritage, as described by the journal editors, Baha Abu-Laban and Hans Vermeulen, “A Note on Jeffrey Reitz’ paper,” 343-344
Dr. Wei Xing successfully defended her dissertation "Patterns, Mechanisms and Nature of Ethnic Intermarriage in Urban China, Kunming Case, 1950-1996" on August 28, 2007. Below she celebrates with her committee (left to right): Professors Charles Jones and Eric Fong, Dr. Xing, and Professors Ann Sorenson and Jeffrey Reitz (supervisor).
Dr. Kara Somerville
received her PhD at the June 2007 convocation. Her doctoral thesis,
"Strategic Transnational Practices: Social Implications and Family
Relationshps in an Indian Community," was supervised by Jeff Reitz. Dr.
Somerville is now Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of
Saskatchewan.
New Drs. Breda McCabe and Fatima
Lee, with supervisor Professor Jeffrey Reitz, at Convocation
June 9, 2006
Jeff Reitz and Rupa Banerjee present their research published in IRPP's new book Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, at a launch held at the University Club in Toronto, February 14, 2007.
Institute for Research on Public Policy Release: Efforts must be improved to integrate newcomers—particularly those from visible minority groups—into Canadian society, Jeffrey Reitz and Rupa Banerjee say in a January 2007 report. Resulting in part from a sense of racial exclusion, visible minority immigrants are slower to become integrated into Canadian society than immigrants from European countries, they say. According to the study released by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, many new immigrants have generally thrived and played an integral role in shaping the national identity. For some immigrant groups and their children, however, living here longer doesn’t necessarily lead to a greater sense of belonging or a higher degree of social integration. The report, "Racial Inequality, Social Cohesion and Policy Issues in Canada," is available here.