Ethnic enclave

Ethnic enclaves
Binondo, Manila, the world’s oldest Chinatown,[1] is an example of an ethnic enclave.

In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity.^[2] The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration of ethnic firms.^[3] Their success and growth depends on self-sufficiency, and is coupled with economic prosperity.

Douglas Massey describes how migrant networks provide new immigrants with social capital that can be transferred to other tangible forms.^[4] As immigrants tend to cluster in close geographic spaces, they develop migrant networks—systems of interpersonal relations through which participants can exchange valuable resources and knowledge. Immigrants can capitalize on social interactions by transforming information into tangible resources, and thereby lower costs of migration. Information exchanged may include knowledge of employment opportunities, affordable housing, government assistance programs and helpful NGOs.^[5] By stimulating social connections, enclaves can generate intangible resources that help to promote the social and economic development of its members.^[5]

By providing a space for people who share the same ethnic identity to create potentially beneficial relations, ethnic enclaves can assist members in achieving economic mobility. By reducing their exposure to language and cultural barriers, enclave economies can improve co-ethnics' incorporation into the economy. Enclaves can help to explain the success of some immigrant groups.^[3] Additionally, while the ethnic enclave theory was developed to explain immigrant incorporation into the receiving society, it has also been linked to migration processes at large as successful incorporation of immigrants has the potential to lower migration costs for future immigrants, an example of chain migration.

Despite their immediate benefits, the long-term implications of participation in an ethnic enclave are a topic of debate. Enclave economies have been linked to a glass ceiling limiting immigrant growth and upward mobility. While participation in the enclave economy may assist in achieving upward mobility through increased availability of employment opportunities in the enclave labor market, it may also impede acquisition of host country skills that benefit the immigrant over the long-run.^[6] Such delays constrain immigrants to activity within the enclave and secludes them from the larger economy. Opportunities available to mainstream society can thus be out of reach for immigrants who haven't learned about them. Thus, the accelerated path toward economic mobility that lures new immigrants into enclave economies may impede success. One 2024 study, for example, found that relocation from an ethnic enclave led to greater economic outcomes for those who were relocated.^[7] Integration into an ethnic enclave may delay and even halt cultural assimilation, preventing the immigrants from benefiting from mainstream institutions.^[8]