Latino Identifiability and Public Policy: Seeking Presence and Voice in U.S. Civic Culture (original) (raw)
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Restrictive Immigration Policies and Latino Immigrant Identity in the United States
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The United States is presently characterized by rising anti-immigrant sentiment, repressive immigration enforcement, and the negative framing of Latinos as threatening and undesirable. As a result, social boundaries between immigrants and natives have hardened and boundary crossing has become more difficult. Under these circumstances, the prediction of classical assimilation theory is turned on its head: the more time that immigrants spend in the United States and the more contact they have with Americans and American society, the more aware they become of the harsh realities of prejudice and discrimination and the more they come to experience the rampant inequalities of the secondary labor market. Rather than ideologically assimilating, therefore, the greater their experience in the United States, the more likely immigrants are to express a reactive ethnicity that rejects the label “American.” Our work suggests that the greatest threat to the successful assimilation of immigrants c...
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Schneider and Ingram's theory of policy design (1997) states that policymaking is a process through which knowledge is socially constructed and is a domain in which power elites manipulate symbols, rhetoric, images, and distort logical lines of inquiry to justify policies that privilege certain social groups, while stigmatizing and disenfranchising others. Policies act as lessons, and individuals, in turn, then internalize messages on their value to society based on the policies that are assigned to them. Using qualitative data in the form of in-depth interviews conducted with Latinos in Arizona, this paper asks, Do Latinos characterize S.B. 1070 as a degenerative policy, and, if so, what is the impact of this policy on their civic engagement? Findings show that S.B. 1070 is a degenerative policy that causes harm by obstructing the political integration of Latinos and Latino immigrants in the United States, as they report feeling increasingly targeted by the state and repeatedly portrayed as criminals and threat to national security. As a result, Latinos tend to be alienated and have little-to-no desire to engage in conventional forms of political participation; civic engagement attitudes are shaped and formed on the premise that participation is futile, as the state does not care for them and will, instead, politically gain from their disenfranchisement. This paper provides insight on how stigma will likely result in Latinos' withdrawal from political participation given the current policy initiatives proposed and/or implemented, now that the Trump administration is in power. Public administration, as the action part of government, has the opportunity to play a crucial role in changing these policy dynamics into a more positive scenario, one in which democracy is strengthened, instead of stifled, that upholds key values of social justice and equity in its interactions with the constituents it serves (especially by street-level bureaucrats), and is devoted to community building and improvement.
Hispanics and/or Latinos in the United States: The Social Construction of an Identity
Estudios del Observatorio / Observatorio Studies, 2020
The meaning of the terms 'Hispanic' and 'Latino' in the United States have been debated since their emergence. Some people who identify as Latino or Hispanic claim geographic origin is the identity's defining characteristic, while others argue that internal and external racial perceptions of the group, lived experiences of oppression, or common cultural components are more relevant. This study examines the conception of these identities in the second half of the 20 th century in order to understand part of their current meaning. It analyzes the population that the United States Census classifies as Hispanic/Latino, beginning with the social movements that arose during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s to bring an end to discrimination and achieve legal and representative equality in key U.S. institutions. As time has passed and more people from Latin America and Spain have arrived in the county, the meaning of the terms 'Hispanic' and 'Latino' have taken on new dimensions. Nevertheless, these terms refer to an identity that has always had a political component and has always brought together very disparate populations, which it continues to do today.
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Dramatic changes in the cultural and racial composition of societies resulting to a considerable degree from the related processes of globalization, restructuring, and transnationalism, have given rise to a significant body of work that focuses on reconceptualizing the nature and meaning of contemporary citizenship. This literature, however, has not for the most part addressed the situation of Latinos in the US. This essay develops a particular conception of citizenship that accounts for the strategies of excluding Latinos from full societal membership. I argue that Latinos have been constructed as perpetual ''foreigners'' and that only a form of citizenship that transcends this type of political imaginary can foster a more democratic system that addresses the unique position of Latinos in the US. The notion of regional forms of citizenship is advanced as one strategy for promoting a more inclusive and democratic sense of political community in the context of the fundamental changes in the level of economic and political interdependence that characterize contemporary international relations.
The United States is presently characterized by rising anti-immigrant sentiment, repressive immigration enforcement, and the negative framing of Latinos as threatening and undesirable. As a result, social boundaries between immigrants and natives have hardened and boundary crossing has become more difficult. Under these circumstances, the prediction of classical assimilation theory is turned on its head: the more time that immigrants spend in the United States and the more contact they have with Americans and American society, the more aware they become of the harsh realities of prejudice and discrimination and the more they come to experience the rampant inequalities of the secondary labor market. Rather than ideologically assimilating, therefore, the greater their experience in the United States, the more likely immigrants are to express a reactive ethnicity that rejects the label "American." Our work suggests that the greatest threat to the successful assimilation of immigrants comes not from foreign involvements or transnational loyalties, but from the rejection, exclusion, and discrimination that immigrants experience in the United States.
Political Identity Convergence: On Being Latino, Becoming a Democrat, and Getting Active
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2016
leonie huddy, lilli a na m ason, a nd s. nech a m a horw it z The majority of Latinos in the United States identify with the Democratic Party, a tendency with broad political implications as Latinos become an increasingly large segment of the population. Little research, however, has delved into the origins of this preference. In this research, we contrast two explanations for Latinos' Democratic proclivities: an instrumental explanation grounded in ideological policy preferences and an expressive identity account based on the defense of Latino identity and status. In analysis of data from two large national datasets, the 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study and American National Election Study focused on Latino immigrants and citizens respectively, we find strong support for the expressive identity explanation. Hispanic and partisan identities have converged among Latinos in the United States to create a large number of Latino Democrats regardless of citizenship status. Those who identify strongly as Latinos and see pervasive discrimination against Latinos are the strongest Democrats, a process that further intensified over the course of the 2012 election. A strong partisan preference increased political campaign activity, though this activity level was modest overall. Relatively few Latinos had worked on a campaign or given money to a candidate; somewhat larger numbers had tried to convince others about a candidate or worn a button or displayed a sticker. Finally, some support was evident for an instrumental account. Latino support for government-provided health insurance in 2012 consistently increased support for the Democratic Party.
Can Protests Make Latinos "American"? Identity, Immigration Politics, and the 2006 Marches
This article takes advantage of a quasi-experiment in the 2006 Latino National Survey (LNS) to examine the effects of exogenous events on identity. Roughly halfway through the survey's data collection, millions of Latinos mobilized to protest HR 4437, an immigration bill advancing in the U.S. Congress. This event provides the opportunity to examine differences in selfidentification among comparable populations. I divide the LNS into a control group interviewed prior to these demonstrations and a treatment group interviewed after. My analysis shows respondents in the latter group were more likely to identify as American, with effects concentrated among Spanish speakers, and particularly Mexicans and Dominicans. I find no difference in identification as Latino or with one's ancestral subgroup. These findings run contrary to the expectations of much existing literature, which assumes an increased sense of group threat results in heightened pan-ethnic sentiment across the Latino population.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
Objective: We seek to determine the antecedents of self-categorization as white and white identity salience among Hispanics. We also investigate the effects of both on Hispanics' political preferences. Methods: We perform multivariate regression analysis using the 2012 American National Election Survey. The survey included 1,005 Hispanic U.S. citizens. Results: We find that Hispanics with a strong Latino consciousness and more educated Hispanics are less likely to self-categorize as white, while those with a higher income are more likely to do so. Furthermore, we find that white identity salience correlates positively with being a Republican and a conservative and with opposition to welfare. Still, it is not a significant predictor of anti-immigrant policy preferences. Conclusion: Many Hispanics show strong attachment to white identity, and these affective ties to whiteness correlate with conservative political orientations.