Luxville, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan in New York City, is mostly white, native, and wealthy. But when taking the workforce into account it is far more diverse, with immigrants filling most of the personal service jobs. Conventional assumption suggests that residents and immigrant service workers in Luxville would have little interpersonal contact, never mind sense of community, with one another. However, context-specific factors have aided the cultivation of a definition of community there that is unexpectedly inclusive of local immigrant workers, giving both immigrants and residents a sense of belonging. This paper, which is based on extensive ethnographic research, explores factors that create this inclusive community. The degree to which immigrants are incorporated in the neighborhood, however, is minimal, as they occupy a stratified and marginalized position. Immigrants’ belonging, therefore, is largely symbolic. © The Author(s) 2014

Stratification Intergroup contact immigrants Community

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