Creative Citizenship: Impacts of Racialized Incorporation on Participation

• In Event: Poster Session: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Abstract

By the third generation and higher, the majority of descendants of immigrants in the United States are natural born citizens, have grown up in the United States, and are fluent in English. So, after accounting for factors that usually influence rates of participation, we would expect immigrants in the third generation and higher to participate in politics at the same rates regardless of race. But third generation and higher immigrants of color participate less than their White counterparts, even when accounting for potential differences in income and education (Ramakrishnan 2005; Ramakrishnan and Shah 2016; Logan et al. 2012). I argue that as they incorporate, the ways immigrants learn the rights and obligations of American citizenship differ by race. In their views of citizenship, immigrants of color generally place a lower prioritization on formal, traditional methods of political participation. This lower prioritization leads to lower levels of traditional forms of political participation compared to their White immigrant counterparts, although immigrants of color are civically involved. I use various United States Census Current Population Survey Supplements as well as multiple waves of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study to gauge relative rates of participation in various aspects of American public life. Analyzing the ways immigrants of color express citizenship is a critical part of understanding this growing part of the polity as well as more deeply examining what it means to be a full member of the American nation.

Author

• Stephanie Chan, Princeton University