From Interracial Solidarity to Action: Minority Linked Fate & Political Behavior

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

Abstract

Recent literature in race, ethnicity, and politics has assessed how minority linked fate, defined as “the idea that ethno-racial minorities might share a sense of commonality that extends beyond their particular ethno-racial group to other ethno-racial groups (Gershon et al. 2019),” shapes attitudes toward descriptive representation and support for coalition building. However, the literature has yet to examine the influence of minority linked fate on political participation. We argue that similar to those who view the interests of co-ethnics as a proxy for their individual interests, those who express a linked fate toward a more expansive minority community are more likely to take political action. This political involvement results from senses of obligation to and solidarity with other ethno-racial minorities. Results from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey show that even when controlling for the conventional measure of intra-racial linked fate, interracial minority linked fate is associated with higher likelihoods of electoral and non-electoral activity for Black, Latinx, and Asian Americans. The paper positions minority linked fate as a complementary rather than a competing heuristic to traditional notions of linked fate. We explore how this factor can shape the political behavior of people of color in an increasingly diversifying United States.

Authors

• Nathan Kar Ming Chan, University of California, Irvine

• Davin Lanier Phoenix, University of California, Irvine

• Francisco Jasso