Newcomers, Outsiders, and Insiders

Over the past four decades, the United States has experienced the largest influx of immigrants in its history. Not only has the ratio of European to non-European newcomers changed, but the numbers of recent arrivals from the Asian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, South America, and other regions are increasing.

In this timely study, a team of political scientists examines how the arrival of these newcomers has affected the efforts of long-standing U.S. minority groups---Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Pacific Americans---to gain equality through greater political representation and power. The authors predict that, for some time to come, the United States will function as a complex multiracial hierarchy, rather than as a genuine democracy.

Ronald Schmidt, Sr. is Professor of Political Science at California State University, Long Beach.

Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is Associate Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Office for Women''s Affairs (OWA) at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Andrew L. Aoki is Professor of Political Science at Augsburg College.

Rodney E. Hero is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.