American dream and decrease in birthrates in the U.S.
This articles talks about how the Birth rate in the U.S. is decreasing among American born women. For example, the article states “The birth rate for immigrant women in 2010 was 87.8 per 1,000 births, compared with 58.9 per 1,000 births for American-born women.” This quote tells me that women that are born in the U.S. have less children than women from foreign countries. I believe this has to do with the American dream. Typically when people think for the American dream they think of having a nice house, a good job, a dog, 1 or 2 kids, and a spouse. Many Americans following the American dream influences couples to have 1 or 2 kids and in a sense they fulfill a part of their American dream they are trying to achieve.
Hi Sohail
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting trend that you write about. Looking at the numbers, there is a pretty large discrepancy between the two groups. I agree that this new can be linked with the American dream, but I also think that perhaps we can make a case for citizenship (both legal and cultural) as well as radicalization. Something about the line "The birth rate for immigrant women in 2010 was 87.8 per 1,000 births, compared with 58.9 per 1,000 births for American-born women" makes me feel that the article/source is already creating racial categories--I mean differentiating between "immigrant" and "American born" sounds to me, almost a distinction such as "Minority" and "White."
Similarly, we can apply the concept of citizenship, and how Prof. Sze talked about anchor babies, and the connotation associated with that. By stating that "immigrant women" are having more children here in the United States than "American" women, it kind of raises the issue of whether these mothers and their children should have cultural citizenship, as well as legal citizenship. How should these groups be dealt with?