Today's NYTimes article on class compares a Greek who immigrated after WWII and a Mexican who immigrated in 1990. The Greek has a NY restaurant, the Mexican worked as a cook for him until he was fired. What struck me was the change over the years. Scotch-Irish immigrants in the 18th and early 19th centuries (my great grandfather immigrated in 1824) had big problems even writing back to the home folks; a letter every 2-3 years was doing good. By 1946, immigrants had regular mail and telegraph service, with the possibility of phone service. And today immigrants regularly return to their hometowns on holidays and perhaps to retire. All this has got to make a difference, both in the immigrants mobility in their new country and in the effect on the old country. Query--is it really a zero sum game, modern communications/mobility means less upward mobility for the immigrant in the new country, but greater improvements and status in the old?
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