Helen B. Marrow
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About Helen
Marrow's research and writing focus on immigration, race and ethnicity, social class, health, and inequality and social policy. At Tufts, she teaches courses on sociology, social policy, immigration and the media, and qualitative research methods. Her published work analyzes immigration incorporation patterns and race relations in "new immigrant destinations" in the rural U.S. South, immigration and ethnoracial health disparities under the Affordable Care Act, bureaucratic responses to undocumented immigrants in the rural South and San Francisco's health care system, patterns of contact between immigrants and the U.S.-born in U.S. cities (with attention to their implications for intergroup threat, trust, and civic engagement), issues involved with measuring immigrants' perceptions of discrimination, and American aspirations to live abroad, among other topics. In addition to her academic work, Marrow has served as an adjunct member of the Association of Mexicans in North Carolina since 2003, for which she received the 10th Anniversary Recognition Award in honor of distinguished service to the Mexican and Latino community in North Carolina in January 2012.
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Uses survey data and in-depth interviews with Mexican and Indian immigrants in Atlanta and Philadelphia to examine how interactions between immigrants and the U.S.-born contribute to immigrant integration. Discusses when immigrants feel welcomed by U.S.-born Whites and Blacks, they report higher levels of trust in and greater interest in knowing Whites and Blacks, plus higher civic involvement.
Examines a stark turn toward more restrictionist enforcement and policy-making in “new immigrant destinations”, especially in the U.S. South, after 2005. Overviews how this shift has negatively affected adult first-generation immigrants from Latin America over the last 15 years, and then considers the the implications for the Latino “second generation” – their children.
Takes a relational lens to examine how contact between U.S.-born Blacks and Whites shapes both groups’ attitudes toward immigrants. Draws on an original representative survey in Atlanta and Philadelphia, we show that when Whites have more frequent contact with Blacks, they are more receptive toward both Mexican and South Asian Indian immigrant newcomers
Uses an original, nationally-representative online survey to show that fully one-third of American citizens aspired to live abroad in 2014, primarily for the purpose of exploration. Shows that these aspirations are structured by cultural capital, Americans' social networks with prior migrants, and strength of national attachment.
Explores, theoretically and empirically, through both smaller qualitative and larger national quantitative data sources, the implications of the Affordable Care Act for the health care of immigrant, ethno-racial minority, and low-income individuals during its early implementation (2010-2016). Provides relevant background on the Affordable Care Act, its political challenges to its implementation, and stratification by documentation status, income, and place of residence, plus overviews of the remaining articles in the volume.
Examines how Mexican and South Asian Indian immigrants' perceptions of being welcomed by U.S. born whites and blacks temper the relationship between the former's ascriptive characteristics—namely language and race and skin tone—and their identification as American. Shows how these linkages have important downstream consequences, with stronger perceptions of being welcomed increasing Indian immigrants' likelihood of naturalization and decreasing Mexican immigrants' desire to return to Mexico.
Overviews existing research on children of immigrants in new U.S. destinations, highlighting early evidence for optimism but increasing cause for concern since 2005-06. Argues that lack of legal status and restrictive turns in legal-political contexts of reception are the two key factors likely to dampen key segments of the second generation's prospects for successful incorporation and upward economic mobility in the future, as both become more heavily dependent on and stratified by legal status.
Examines how intergroup contact experiences—including both their frequency and their qualities (friendly, discriminatory)—predict indicators of welcoming among U.S.-born whites and blacks and Mexican and South Asian immigrant groups. Shows that greater contact frequency predicts greater tendencies to welcome, and to feel welcomed by, each of the other groups— effects that persist even when demographic characteristics, perceived discrimination, and exposure are included as predictors in models.
Examines implications of the U.S. South's sharp negative turn in "context of reception" toward immigrants since 2005-06 for the state of black-Hispanic relations and theories of the southern color line(s). Argues there is emerging evidence of black-Hispanic coalition-building primarily at elite levels and in the formal institutional realms of southern politics and civil society, and less so in nonelite levels of workplaces, neighborhoods, and public spaces.
Examines the hypothesis that immigrants' perceptions of discrimination vary across U.S. localities, as threatened responses by native-born residents may increase perceived discrimination among neighboring immigrants. Considers the alternative hypothesis that barriers to the expression and detection of discrimination de-couple native-born attitudes from immigrants' perceptions about their treatment.
Explores how the rural context impacts the American immigrant experience, how rapid Hispanic immigration influences southern race relations, and how institutions like schools and law enforcement agencies deal with unauthorized residents. It presents a cautiously optimistic view of Hispanic newcomers’ opportunities for upward mobility in the rural South, while underscoring the threat of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and restrictive policymaking.
Examines how rural American residents and institutions in “new immigrant destinations” in eastern North Carolina were adapting, if at all, to Hispanic newcomers in the early 2000s. Suggests that Hispanic newcomers were undergoing a process of “bureaucratic incorporation”, whereby some public service bureaucrats were initiating incorporation.