Bio

Tomás Jiménez is a Professor of Sociology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the founding co-director of Stanford's Institute for Advancing Just Societies. His research and writing focus on immigration, policy, assimilation, social mobility, and ethnic and racial identity. His latest book, States of Belonging: Immigration Policies, Attitudes, and Inclusion (Russell Sage Foundation Press) (with Deborah Schildkraut, Yuen Ho, and John Dovidio) uses survey data (with an embedded experiment) and in-depth interviews to understand how state-level immigration policies shape belonging among Latino immigrants, US-born Latinos, and US-born whites in Arizona and New Mexico. The American Sociological Association’s Population Section selected the book for its Otis Dudley Duncan Distinguished Book Award. His second book, The Other Side of Assimilation: How Immigrants are Changing American Life (University of California Press, 2017), uses interviews from a race and class spectrum of Silicon Valley residents to show how a relational form of assimilation changes both newcomers (immigrants and their children) and established individuals (people born in the US to US-born parents). His first book, Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and Identity(University of California Press, 2010), draws on interviews and participant observation to understand how uninterrupted Mexican immigration influences the ethnic identity of later-generation Mexican Americans. Professor Jiménez has also published his research in Science, American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Social Problems, International Migration Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Science Quarterly, DuBois Review, Social Currents, Qualitative Sociology, and the Annual Review of Sociology.

Professor Jiménez also conducts research with Stanford's Immigration Policy Lab, including projects examining naturalization, refugee resettlement, and health and language access.

In other lines of research, Professor Jiménez and Sofia Avila (Princeton sociology) examine how immigration becomes part of American national identity by studying a sample of high school US history textbooks from 1930-2007. This research employs hand-coding and computer-assisted text analysis of the textbook sample.

Professor Jiménez has taught at the University of California, San Diego. He was the Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (2017-19). He has also been an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation and a Sage Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (CASBS). He was the American Sociological Association Congressional Fellow in the office of US Rep. Michael Honda, where he served as a legislative aide for immigration, veterans’ affairs, housing, and election reform. His writing on policy has appeared in reports for the Immigration Policy Center and the Migration Policy Institute. He has written editorials on immigration in several major news outlets, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hill, and the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has also offered commentary for media outlets, including NBC News, National Public Radio, and Univision.

Academic Appointments

Administrative Appointments

  • Founding Co-director, Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (2022 - Present)
  • Professor, Stanford University, Department of Sociology (2019 - Present)
  • Associate Professor, Stanford University, Department of Sociology (2014 - 2019)
  • Assistant Professor, Stanford University, Department of Sociology (2008 - 2014)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, San Diego (2005 - 2008)
  • Fellow, New America Foundation (2007 - 2009)

Honors & Awards

  • Orgullo Latino Community Champion Award, Latino Leadership Alliance (San José, CA) (2022)
  • Robert and Ruth Halperin University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, Stanford University (2021-26)
  • International Fellow, Institut Convergences Migrations, Paris, France (2021-25)
  • Member, Sociological Research Association (2020)
  • Fellow, J. William Fulbright Specialist Grant, La Sorbonne, Paris, France (2019)
  • Distinguished Lecturer, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honors Society (2017-19)
  • School of Humanities & Sciences Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, Stanford University (2016)
  • Faculty Appreciation Award, El Centro Chicano y Latino, Stanford University (2015)
  • Fellow, Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (2013-2014)
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Stanford, CA (2012-2013)
  • Summer Fellow, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, NY (2012)
  • Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association’s Section on Latino/Latina Sociology (2010)
  • Distinguished Contribution to Research - Best Article Award, American Sociological Association’s Sociology Section on Latino/Latina Sociology (2010)
  • Visiting Research Fellowship, U. of California, San Diego Ctr for Comparative Immigration Studies and Ctr for U.S.-Mexico Studies (2007-2008)
  • Professor of the Year, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, University of California, San Diego (2006-2007)
  • Fellowship, American Sociological Association Congressional Fellowship (2005)
  • Excellence in Teaching Certificate, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University (2004)
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for language study in México, United States Department of Education (2001)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Faculty Affiliate, Center for Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University (2008 - Present)
  • Faculty Affiliate, Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University (2008 - Present)
  • Faculty Affiliate, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California, San Diego (2005 - 2008)
  • Faculty Affiliate, Center for Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, University of California, San Diego (2005 - 2008)
  • Graduate Student Associate, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University (2002 - 2003)
  • Graduate Student Associate, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government (1999 - 2005)
  • Reviewer, American Sociological Review
  • Reviewer, American Journal of Sociology
  • Reviewer, Social Forces
  • Reviewer, American Journal of Political Science
  • Reviewer, Stanford University Press
  • Reviewer, Yale University Press
  • Reviewer, Oxford University Press
  • Reviewer, Social Problems
  • Reviewer, Ethnic and Racial Studies
  • Reviewer, Social Science Quarterly
  • Reviewer, Social Science Research
  • Reviewer, Political Research Quarterly
  • Reviewer, Du Bois Review
  • Reviewer, Sociological Quarterly
  • Reviewer, Sociological Perspectives
  • Reviewer, Poetics
  • Reviwer, Qualitative Sociology
  • Reviewer, Sociological Theory
  • Reviewer, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
  • Reviewer, Prentice Hall
  • Reviewer, Law and Social Inquiry
  • Reviewer, National Science Foundation
  • Reviewer, Russell Sage Foundation
  • Reviewer, Urban Studies
  • Member, Minority Affairs Advisory Panel of the American Sociological Association (2011 - Present)
  • Advisory Council Member, America Abroad Media’s special radio series, “Integration and Identity in the West” (2011 - Present)
  • Member of the Cultural Contact and Immigration Working Group, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, NY
  • Council Member, International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association (2009 - 2012)
  • Member, Steering Committee, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California, San Diego (2005 - 2008)
  • Trustee, Santa Clara University (2000 - 2006)
  • Resident Tutor, Lowell House, Harvard University (2000 - 2004)
  • Graduate Student Representative on Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of Sociology, Harvard University (2000 - 2001)
  • Graduate Student Representative to Committee on Higher Degree, Department of Sociology, Harvard University (1999 - 2000)
  • Member, Selection Committee, ACLS Senior Fellowships (2004 - 2006)

Program Affiliations

  • Center for Latin American Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University, Sociology (2005)
  • A.M., Harvard University, Sociology (2001)
  • B.S, Santa Clara University, Sociology (1998)

Contact

  • Academic
    tjimenez@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Sociology Position: Professor
    • 450 Serra Mall
    • Building 120, Room 160
    • Stanford,  California  94305-2047 

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2047

Links

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • The New Third Generation: Post-1965 Immigration and the Next Chapter in the Long Story of Assimilation INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW Jimenez, T. R., Park, J., Pedroza, J. 2018; 52 (4): 1040–79

    View details for DOI 10.1111/imre.12343

    View details for Web of Science ID 000454692300003

  • Tracking a Changing America across the Generations after Immigration ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE Jimenez, T. R. 2018; 677 (1): 119–30

    View details for DOI 10.1177/0002716218765416

    View details for Web of Science ID 000432132000010

  • Local policy proposals can bridge Latino and (most) white Americans' response to immigration PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Huo, Y. J., Dovidio, J. F., Jimenez, T. R., Schildkraut, D. J. 2018; 115 (5): 945–50

    Abstract

    In the past 15 years, the adoption of subnational immigration policies in the United States, such as those established by individual states, has gone from nearly zero to over 300 per year. These include welcoming policies aimed at attracting and incorporating immigrants, as well as unwelcoming policies directed at denying immigrants access to public resources and services. Using data from a 2016 random digit-dialing telephone survey with an embedded experiment, we examine whether institutional support for policies that are either welcoming or hostile toward immigrants differentially shape Latinos' and whites' feelings of belonging in their state (Arizona/New Mexico, adjacent states with contrasting immigration policies). We randomly assigned individuals from the representative sample (n = 1,903) of Latinos (US and foreign born) and whites (all US born) to consider policies that were either welcoming of or hostile toward immigrants. Across both states of residence, Latinos, especially those foreign born, regardless of citizenship, expressed more positive affect and greater belonging when primed with a welcoming (vs. hostile) policy. Demonstrating the importance of local norms, these patterns held among US-born whites, except among self-identified politically conservative whites, who showed more negative affect and lower levels of belonging in response to welcoming policies. Thus, welcoming immigration policies, supported by institutional authorities, can create a sense of belonging not only among newcomers that is vital to successful integration but also among a large segment of the population that is not a direct beneficiary of such policies-US-born whites.

    View details for PubMedID 29339480

  • Pushing the conversation about assimilation forward ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES Jimenez, T. R. 2018; 41 (13): 2285–91

    View details for DOI 10.1080/01419870.2018.1490793

    View details for Web of Science ID 000441996300007

  • Protecting unauthorized immigrant mothers improves their children's mental health. Science (New York, N.Y.) Hainmueller, J., Lawrence, D., Martén, L., Black, B., Figueroa, L., Hotard, M., Jiménez, T. R., Mendoza, F., Rodriguez, M. I., Swartz, J. J., Laitin, D. D. 2017; 357 (6355): 1041-1044

    Abstract

    The United States is embroiled in a debate about whether to protect or deport its estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants, but the fact that these immigrants are also parents to more than 4 million U.S.-born children is often overlooked. We provide causal evidence of the impact of parents' unauthorized immigration status on the health of their U.S. citizen children. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program granted temporary protection from deportation to more than 780,000 unauthorized immigrants. We used Medicaid claims data from Oregon and exploited the quasi-random assignment of DACA eligibility among mothers with birthdates close to the DACA age qualification cutoff. Mothers' DACA eligibility significantly decreased adjustment and anxiety disorder diagnoses among their children. Parents' unauthorized status is thus a substantial barrier to normal child development and perpetuates health inequalities through the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aan5893

    View details for PubMedID 28860206

  • Protecting unauthorized immigrant mothers improves their children’s mental health Science Hainmueller, J., Lawrence, D., Martén, L., Black, B., Figueroa, L., Hotard, M., Jiménez, T., Mendoza, F., Rodriguez, M., Swartz, J., Laitin, D. 2017: eaan5893

    Abstract

    The United States is embroiled in a debate about whether to protect or deport its estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants, but the fact that these immigrants are also parents to more than 4 million U.S.-born children is often overlooked. We provide causal evidence of the impact of parents' unauthorized immigration status on the health of their U.S. citizen children. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program granted temporary protection from deportation to more than 780,000 unauthorized immigrants. We used Medicaid claims data from Oregon and exploited the quasi-random assignment of DACA eligibility among mothers with birthdates close to the DACA age qualification cutoff. Mothers' DACA eligibility significantly decreased adjustment and anxiety disorder diagnoses among their children. Parents' unauthorized status is thus a substantial barrier to normal child development and perpetuates health inequalities through the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aan5893

  • Bringing culture back in: the class origins and ethnoracial destinations of culture and achievement ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES Jimenez, T. R. 2016; 39 (13): 2385-2390

    View details for DOI 10.1080/01419870.2016.1200739

    View details for Web of Science ID 000384063500028

  • FADE TO BLACK Multiple Symbolic Boundaries in "Black/Brown" Contact DU BOIS REVIEW-SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON RACE Jimenez, T. R. 2016; 13 (1): 159-180

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S1742058X16000011

    View details for Web of Science ID 000384810400009

  • Intergenerational Mobility of the Mexican-Origin Population in California and Texas Relative to a Changing Regional Mainstream INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW Park, J., Myers, D., Jimenez, T. R. 2014; 48 (2): 442-481

    View details for DOI 10.1111/imre.12086

    View details for Web of Science ID 000337524700006

  • Intergenerational Mobility of the Mexican-Origin Population in California and Texas Relative to a Changing Regional Mainstream. The International migration review Park, J., Myers, D., Jiménez, T. R. 2014; 48 (2): 442-481

    Abstract

    We combine two approaches to gauge the achievements of the Mexican-origin second generation: one the intergenerational progress between immigrant parents and children, the other the gap between the second generation and non-Latino whites. We measure advancement of the Mexican-origin second generation using a suite of census-derived outcomes applied to immigrant parents in 1980 and grown children in 2005, as observed in California and Texas. Patterns of second-generation upward mobility are similar in the two states, with important differences across outcome indicators. Assessments are less favorable for men than women, especially in Texas. We compare Mexican-Americans to a non-Latino white reference group, as do most assimilation studies. However, we separate the reference group into those born in the same state as the second generation and those who have migrated in. We find that selective in-migration of more highly-educated whites has raised the bar on some, not all, measures of attainment. This poses a challenge to studies of assimilation that do not compare grown-children to their fellow natives of a state. Our model of greater temporal and regional specificity has broad applicability to studies guided by all theories of immigrant assimilation, integration and advancement.

    View details for DOI 10.1111/imre.12086

    View details for PubMedID 31057195

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6498845

  • Mexican Americans as a paradigm for contemporary intra-group heterogeneity ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES Alba, R., Jimenez, T. R., Marrow, H. B. 2014; 37 (3): 446-466

    View details for DOI 10.1080/01419870.2013.786111

    View details for Web of Science ID 000330262800005

  • Why Replenishment Strengthens Racial Boundaries Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective Jiménez, T. R. edited by Grusky, D. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 2014
  • When White Is Just Alright: How Immigrants Redefine Achievement and Reconfigure the Ethnoracial Hierarchy AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW Jimenez, T. R., Horowitz, A. L. 2013; 78 (5): 849-871

    View details for DOI 10.1177/0003122413497012

    View details for Web of Science ID 000325102100006

  • Les Américains d’origine mexicaine et la dynamique de la diversité interne Informations sociales Jiménez, T. R. 2013; 177: 96-104
  • Policy of Perversity: How Social Policy Is Distorting Trends in Unauthorized Immigration Pathways Jiménez, T. R., López-Sanders, L. 2011: 3-7
  • Immigration and the Intersection of Ethnic and National Narratives: The Case of Ethnic Mexicans in the United States Narrating Peoplehood Amidst Diversity Jimenez, T. edited by Bøss, M. Denmark: Aarhus University Press. 2011: 207–229
  • Affiliative ethnic identity: a more elastic link between ethnic ancestry and culture ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES Jimenez, T. R. 2010; 33 (10): 1756-1775

    View details for DOI 10.1080/01419871003678551

    View details for Web of Science ID 000282966400005

  • Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and Identity Jiménez, T. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 2010
  • Contexts for bilingualism among US-born Latinos ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES Linton, A., Jimenez, T. R. 2009; 32 (6): 967-995

    View details for DOI 10.1080/01419870802337351

    View details for Web of Science ID 000268183600004

  • From Newcomers to Americans: An Integration Policy for a Nation of Immigrants Mandate for Change: Policies and Leadership for 2009 and Beyond Jiménez, T. R. edited by Hartmam, C. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2009: 257–266
  • Mexican immigrant replenishment and the continuing significance of ethnicity and race AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY Jimenez, T. R. 2008; 113 (6): 1527-1567

    Abstract

    The literature on assimilation and ethnic identity formation largely assumes that the durability of ethnic boundaries is a function of the assimilation measures that sociologists commonly employ. But this literature fails to account adequately for the role of immigration patterns in explaining the durability and nature of ethnic boundaries. Using 123 in-depth interviews with later-generation Mexican Americans, this article shows that Mexican immigrant replenishment shapes ethnic boundaries and ethnic identity formation. The sizable immigrant population sharpens intergroup boundaries through the indirect effects of nativism and by contributing to the continuing significance of race in the lives of later-generation Mexican Americans. The presence of a large immigrant population also creates intragroup boundaries that run through the Mexican-origin population and that are animated by expectations about ethnic authenticity. The article illustrates the importance of immigrant replenishment to processes of assimilation and ethnic identity formation.

    View details for Web of Science ID 000257894000002

    View details for PubMedID 19044142

  • What Different Generations of Mexican Americans Think About Immigration from Mexico GENERATIONS-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY ON AGING Jimenez, T. R. 2008; 32 (4): 93-96

    View details for Web of Science ID 000207640700016

  • Assessing Immigrant Assimilation: New Empirical and Theoretical Challenges The Contemporary Debate in the Field of International Migration in the U.S. Waters`, M. C., Jiménez, T. R. edited by Gonzalez, M. F. Buenos Aires: Prometo Press. 2008
  • Weighing the costs and benefits of Mexican immigration: The Mexican-American perspective SOCIAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY Jimenez, T. R. 2007; 88 (3): 599-618

    View details for Web of Science ID 000247819400001

  • Mexican Assimilation: A Temporal and Spatial Reorientation Du Bois Review Jiménez, T. R., Fitzgerald, D. 2007; 4 (2): 337-354
  • From Newcomers to Americans: An Integration Policy for a Nation of Immigrants, Immigration Policy In Focus Jiménez, T. R. 2007; 5 (11)
  • American Immigration Policy: Toward Integration Footnotes: The Newsletter of the American Sociological Association Jiménez, . R. 2005; 33 (7)
  • On Being the Minority Footnotes: The Newsletter of the American Sociological Association Jiménez, T. R. 2005; 33 (5)
  • Immigration Reform and the Latino Vote Footnotes: The Newsletter of the American Sociological Association Jiménez, T. R. 2005; 33 (8)
  • Assessing immigrant assimilation: New empirical and theoretical challenge ANNUAL REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY Waters, M. C., Jimenez, T. R. 2005; 31: 105-125

    View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100026

    View details for Web of Science ID 000231518200005

  • Negotiating Ethnic Boundaries: Multiethnic Mexican Americans and Ethnic Identity in the United States Ethnicities Jiménez, T. R. 2004; 4 (1): 75-97
  • Negotiating Ethnic Boundaries: Multiethnic Mexican Americans and Ethnic Identity in the United States Crossing Lines: Race and Mixed Race Across the Geohistorical Divide, Jiménez, T. R. edited by Coronado, M., Guevarra, R. P., Morriz, J., Szanto, L. F. Lanham, MD: Alta Mira Press. 2003: 161–188
  • Ethnic Inter-marriage The Encyclopedia of American Immigration Jiménez, T. edited by Ciment, J., Ness, I. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 2001: 435–439
  • Latina Women’s Studies Encyclopedia García, A. M., Tomás, J. edited by Tierney, H. New York: Greenwood Press. 1998