"The nationalization of the State-its transformation into a community whose members share a common origin and a common fate, coupled with the idea of sovereignty residing in the "peoples" into which the world is divided-further enhanced the character of immigration as a disturbance. In relation to a self-representation, in which exists considerable and growing differentiation based on occupation, residence, class, and the like, fictive kinship is perceived as the major determinant of identity. Those coming in from outside are "others." The official U.S. designation, "aliens," indicated this as well. This is further confirmed by the distinction that has arisen in the laws of many countries between such "others" and outsiders who are members of the national tribe by reason of their ancestral origin-ironically, a distinction most explicitly espoused in recent times by Germany and Israel, but also acknowledged by the United Kingdom ("partials") as well as Italy and Spain.' Despite contentions that U.S. nationality is conceptualized on a political rather than ethnic basis, this sort of concern underlies not only the racist conception of citizenship noted earlier, which prevailed until the mid-twentieth century but also the "national origins" system established to regulate immigration in the 1920s. Somewhat similar policies prevailed in Canada and Australia. Today, these policies persist in Canada, where within the "point" system positive weight is given to language competence in one of the two languages of the "founding" nationalities, British and French."
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