Immigrant Incorporation, Technology, and Transnationalism Among Korean American Women

The premise of the inevitable incorporation of the newcomers through assimilation is widely accepted among those who study immigrant incorporation, even though ample evidence suggests this premise may be inappropriate to explain the growing complexity of immigrant adaptation processes in an increasingly connected global society. Using focus group data of Korean American women, this study explores how immigrant incorporation patterns may be associated with the use of the Internet for fulfilling social needs and the implications that the findings have in terms of the effect of technology on immigrant incorporation. The results indicate that contemporary Korean American adaptation patterns may be at variance with the conventional expectations of immigrant assimilation. This appears to be an effect of the expanding availability of interactive technology as it facilitates the increasing cultural and social transnational activities that connect immigrants to their country of origin. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.