Measuring Risk: Heterogenous Perceptions of Risk by Citizenship Status

• In Event: Causes and Consequences of Contemporary Immigration Policy

Abstract

How is the risk of a political act assessed by immigrants? Political participation can be risky business, especially for disenfranchised groups, yet we find multiple cases where people still choose to engage. While there is a wide and robust literature that explains why people might choose to engage in risky behavior by individual characteristics, less has been done to explain how citizenship status might affect perceptions of risk and therefore the type of engagement immigrants partake in. I arrive at two distinct hypotheses: First, I hypothesize that those with some legal protection will see less risk in political participation. Secondly, I hypothesize that immigrants with less or no legal protections will engage with contentious political participation. I use survey data and in-depth interviews and find that there is a difference in how risk is assessed.

Author

• Maricruz Ariana Osorio, University of California, Riverside