How and Why We Could Do Immigration Well, But Do It Badly

clusions, a position not articulated in book. Similarly, while a conservative Protes tant defense of restriction is presented, there is no corresponding, religiously grounded defense of liberalization. Those who already hold positions within immigration debate will likely remain unswayed. Taking a step back, what do these two books teach us about politics of immi gration and social scientists' ability to influ ence them? It is clear, from Swain's volume, that although economic considerations are important, politics of race, social cohe sion, and culture cannot be ignored. As Ed wards puts it, the greatest harm done by kind of large-scale immigration we have to day . . . may not be something that can be expressed in dollars and cents. The greatest harm . . . may be our inability to preserve a sense of common culture and community in a rapidly changing world (p. 60). It is un clear how Myers's intergenerational social contract, for all its rational self-interest and evidence, can alleviate this sense of threat. This is not to suggest that Immigrants and Boomers is not an important intervention. Many immigration scholars hope that their re search will influence public debate, but most of us must settle for, at best, having our work read by a handful of students and colleagues. Myers deserves credit for attempting to sway voters with evidence and logic, and others should follow his lead. Sociologists should have a more important role to play. A great deal of academic work on immigration over last thirty years has been carried out by sociologists, but most contributors in De bating Immigration are non-sociologists, as is Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography. Some of contributors in Carol Swain's volume would likely retort that academics' perspectives are so far removed from mainstream that they should just return to ivory tower from whence they came. The re al challenge for social scientists interested in affecting politics may well lie in hearing and answering, in a persuasive fashion, non economic fears unleashed by immigration

Demographic economics · Economics · Immigration · Political science · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics

• Politics and Markets

  Open Access•I Bloemraad•City and Community•2007

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