Alejandro Portes

Alejandro Portes is a Cuban-American sociologist, born October 13, 1944, known for his research on immigration to the United States and on economic sociology. He served as president of the American Sociological Association in 1999 and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. With Kenneth L. Wilson he introduced the concept of the ethnic enclave, and he was among the first sociologists to study the informal economy in both advanced and developing economies. His theory of segmented assimilation, developed with Min Zhou and drawing on the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study he directed with Ruben G. Rumbaut, describes the divergent paths taken by the second generation of immigrant families. He also helped establish the study of immigrant transnationalism as a research field and contributed influential work on social capital and on the urbanization of Latin American and American cities, including Miami's transformation into a global city.