How Do Street-Level Bureaucrats Impact Immigrants’ Political Attitudes?

• In Event: Poster Session: New Directions in Citizenship & Migration Research

Abstract

What factors shape immigrant attitudes toward the host country? How does contact with street-level bureaucrats impact immigrant attitudes toward the U.S.?

According to the World Migration Report 2022 by the United Nations (McAuliffe and Triandafyllidou, 2022), the U.S. has recorded the highest number of immigrants in the world since 1970. The increasing number of immigrants in the U.S. has drawn scholarly attention to what factors influence immigrant political attitudes and behaviors. Among the general public, political scientists have highlighted the importance of early childhood experiences on adult political attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Jennings and Niemi, 1968; Jennings, 1987; Valentino and Sears, 1998; Jennings, Stoker, and Bowers, 2009; Niemi and Hepburn, 1995). However, these early-stage learning processes may not be applicable to first- and second-generation immigrants whose parents may be unfamiliar with the new political system and/or who already completed their formal education in their home country. Given this, how do immigrants learn about and become incorporated into the new political system?

I argue that experiences with street-level bureaucrats shape immigrants’ attitudes toward the American political system. Street-level bureaucrats are non-elected public service workers at the local level, such as public school teachers, social workers, police officers, local judges, and other public service workers (Lipsky, 1980). Those bureaucrats are the first and most frequently encountered government officials in our everyday lives (Lipsky, 1980; Pepinsky et al., 2017). Public services offered by street-level bureaucrats convey information about the government’s goals and how the government treats people. Positive interactions with governmental agencies may send signals about responsiveness toward clients (Campbell, 2003), but negative interactions can imply that the government does not care about their clients (Soss, 1999; Weaver and Lerman, 2010). Moreover, scholars have demonstrated that interactions with street-level bureaucrats influence evaluations of the federal government (e.g., Easton and Dennis, 1969; Weaver and Lerman, 2010; Fucilla, 2021). In this paper, I argue that immigrants will learn about the new political system through their interactions with street-level bureaucrats. To be specific, I expect that positive experiences with street-level bureaucrats cause immigrants to develop positive attitudes toward the political system by giving an impression that the host country responds to their concerns and welcomes them. However, negative experiences with street-level bureaucrats can lead to the perception that the government is unwelcome and hostile to them, which will lead to negative attitudes toward the political system.

I test these arguments with data from two original survey experiments - an induction experiment, and a vignette survey experiment. First, an induction experiment asks subjects to recall and write about their past experiences with street-level bureaucrats, and I manipulate the experiences that subjects describe. Specifically, I randomly assign participants to reflect on neutral, positive, or negative experiences with street-level bureaucrats. The induction experiment shows that experiences with street-level bureaucrats shape attitudes toward the American political system as measured by political trust and external political efficacy. The vignette survey experiment examines the extent to which bureaucratic interactions can affect attitudes toward the host country, by asking respondents to read a vignette about a neutral, positive, or negative interaction between an individual and street-level bureaucrats and measuring their political attitudes toward the American political system. The findings from this project contribute to the literature on immigration and immigrant incorporation and inform scholars and policymakers of how local bureaucrats matter in immigrant integration.

Author

• Minhye Joo, University of California, Riverside