| The city of Waterbury, Connecticut has experienced a dramatic ethnic and cultural shift over the last twenty years. Over the past two hundred years Europeans immigrants, primarily from Italy, and their descendents have populated Waterbury. Although Puerto Rican migrants came into Waterbury at the beginning of the 20th century, it is only since the 1980s that their numbers increased significantly.; The impact of the relatively rapid migration of Puerto Ricans on this small community has resulted in visible changes to the cultural landscapes. Many of the migrants have located in the inner city, resulting in an area of highly concentrated minorities, and are also the areas of greatest urban decay. This also reflects a high degree of segregation that often results in the lack of equity in the socioeconomic status and more important, opportunities.; The differences in geographical distributions, migration histories, socioeconomic and political achievements suggest that the migration of Puerto Rican's varied not only in where they decided to settle but also in the factors that influenced their decision to migrate to the United States. The "Law of Migrations" (Ravenstein, 1885) mentions that the major cause of migration are economic factors; however this element does not apply in all the cases.; The purpose of this research is to analyze if the migration patterns of Puerto Rican's that relocated to Connecticut; specifically in Waterbury during the 1990's and 2000's were related to socio-demographic, economic and geographic factors, or if some combination of these three factors influenced the Puerto Rican migration. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
