A Theory of Immigrant Political Incorporation: Hmong Americans’ Movement against Welfare Reforms

• In Event: 031 - Section on Asia and Asian America Paper Session. Social Change and Resistance in Asia and Asian America

Abstract

Rather than incorporating immigrant groups, the United States has a tendency to disincorporate certain classes and groups of immigrants from its political system during particular periods. This paper examines the mobilization of Hmong Americans against the welfare reforms of the mid-1990s to show how collective agency and social movement mobilization changed the terms of incorporation for Hmong. Specifically, I investigate how, in response to perceived political threats—the exclusionary and negative effects of welfare reforms—Hmong interest groups organized ethnic members, constructed a specific group identity (“American ally”), and engaged in claims making activities. My findings highlight the important roles of ethnic mobilization, including the recruitment of pan-ethnic organizations and state allies and the strategic use of political narratives as part of claimsmaking. I propose a theoretical model of immigrant political incorporation that privileges the role of ethnic mobilization in the incorporation of immigrant groups and one that takes account of political contexts, political resources and political narratives. I suggest that while contexts of exit and reception shape immigrant groups’ discursive and non-discursive political resources and their potential to mobilize collective action, broader political contexts shape the dominant discourses about racial minorities and immigrants, the state’s treatment of certain groups, and the responses of groups to perceived political threats.

Author

• Yang Sao Xiong, University of Wisconsin-Madison