Perceptions of Threat, American National Identity, and Americans’ Attitudes Toward Documented and Undocumented Immigrants

Author:

Qi Dan1ORCID,Garand James C.2ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Reed College, Portland, OR, USA

2. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Abstract

In this paper, we explore how the effects of perceived immigrant threat, American national identity, and attitudes toward immigration-dominated racial/ethnic groups on perceptions of immigrant contributions differ for documented and undocumented immigrants. We contend that different levels of perceived risk associated with undocumented and documented immigrants activate the effects of immigrant threat and American identity in different ways. We consider the varying effects of general perceptions of immigrant threat, and we also differentiate the effects of American pride (i.e., positive sentiments about being an American) and American exclusion (i.e., negative sentiments associated with criteria needed to be considered an American). We use data from the 2016 to 2017 Voter Study Group surveys, which includes a survey experiment with respondents randomly assigned to documented and undocumented immigrant treatments. We find strong negative effects of immigrant threat perceptions on Americans support for both immigrant groups, with observed effects significantly stronger for undocumented immigrants. Further, while American exclusion has strong negative effects on attitudes for both immigrant groups, American pride depresses support only for undocumented immigrants. We also find that evaluations of Hispanics have effects on perceptions of contributions for documented and undocumented immigrants, though the effect of Asian evaluations is limited to documented immigrants.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3