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641 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2012)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0641 and id is 1 raw text is: INTRODUCTION The World in a City: Immigration and America's Changing Social Fabric By JOHN MACDONALD and ROBERT J. SAMPSON Keywords: immigration; place; social fabric; demo- graphic changes The United States in 2012 faces unprece- dented challenges brought on by economic crisis and the unrelenting pace of globalization and technological change. We are perhaps unique as a nation, however, in the changes wrought by continuing population diversifica- tion and foreign immigration from countries across the globe. Indeed, the United States is currently one of the most diverse nations on earth, which spells to some observers coming ruin and to others unprecedented renewal. Whichever position one might take, there can be little doubt that immigration has radically changed the nation's composition. Consider for a moment the magnitude and character of recent change. Foreign immigra- tion to the United States rose sharply in the 1990s, as did its concentration in the immigrant enclaves of our large cities. In fact, the foreign- born population increased by more than 50 percent in just 10 years and neared peak levels John MacDonald is an associate professor of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology. He works on topics such as interpersonal violence, race and ethnic disparities in criminal justice, and the effectiveness of social policy responses to crime. His recent work appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Criminology, Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Journal of Public Health, and The Economic Journal. Robert J. Sampson is Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and director of the Social Sciences Program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He is also president of the Anerican Society qf Criminology and the Ernest Burgess Fellow of the American Academy qf Political and Social Science. His most recent book, Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect, was published in January 2012 by the University of Chicago Press. DOI: 10.1177/0002716212438939 ANNALS, AAPSS, 641, May, 2012 6