What are the factors underlying patterns of growth and loss in Latino and non-Latino White population?
Theoretical Explanations For Ethnic Transformation Investigations into immigration in rural areas and the consequent growth of social and economic problems have generally taken either a World Systems/Dependency theory approach (e.g., Cantu 1994), or a rational-economic approach (e.g., Taylor 1995). Dependency/World Systems theory explains immigration as a result of the economic dependence of workers in poorer “periphery” countries (e.g., Mexico) on capital held in the core (i.e., the United States). Economic-rational perspectives focus on the role of utility maximization within the marketplace. While economic-rational theories ignore social and political divisions between people, they inform our understanding of the processes that encourage different migration patterns among groups of people with unequal access to resources. Therefore, in this article, hypotheses are developed based on neoclassical economical principles and theories, but interpreted within the context of a Dependency T
