Dissecting Generations of Migrant Identities Within a Diaspora

The dissection of migrant identities is like a complex puzzle. Although cultural values comprise an integral component of cultural identity, the personal values of migrants are still understudied. This study examines the individual-level cultural values held by migrants who share a single ethnicity. Migrants are compared across age cohorts, ethnic generations and emigration waves as well as to nonemigrant home country nationals. The similarities between the groups lends support to the stability of cultural values. However, the differences revealed across the various migrant groups are also surprising insofar as they are not as large as might be expected given the physical, political and age separation between many of the groups. As migrant groups differed from nonemigrants, we question whether the timing of emigration is as important as the act of migration itself in shaping the cultural identities of migrants.