Immigrant political incorporation

Comparing success in the United States and Western Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID7767296
AuthorsJohn Mollenkopf, Jennifer Hochschild (0000-0001-5979-1562)
Year2010
Volume33
Issue1
Pages19-38
Publication date2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870903197373
OpenAlexW2118916281
LanguageEN
Citations received35
References cited38

Despite reasons to expect otherwise, immigrant political incorporation occurs more rapidly in the United States than in many Western European states. We provide evidence to support that contentious statement and reasons to explain it. Four features distinguish the United States in this context. First, both in terms of state formation and population growth, it was predicated on immigration, voluntary and otherwise, whereas European states came into being and grew mainly through consolidation of and natural increase among resident populations. That history shapes public attitudes toward immigration policy and immigrants. Second, unlike European states, the United States has a long history of domestic racial subordination and a recent history of efforts to overcome it, and this provides a template for incorporating new immigrant groups. Third, social welfare and school systems differ in ways that slightly facilitate incorporation for immigrants to the United States. Finally, the American electoral system is more open to insurgent candidacies, less dominated by party control, and more rewarding of geographically concentrated electoral groups, thus making election of newcomers easier. In combination, these features make immigrant political incorporation relatively successful in the United States. Keywords: Immigrantspoliticselectoral representationanti-immigrant sentimentassimilationpolitical incorporation Notes 1. Countries may also be internally inconsistent across arenas of possible incorporation (Freeman 2004 Freeman, G. 2004. 'Immigrant incorporation in western democracies'. International Migration Review, 38(3): 945–69. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Kurthen and Heisler 2009 Kurthen, H. and Heisler, B. 2009. 'Immigrant integration: comparative evidence from the United States and Germany'. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32(1): 139–70. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 2. That is not quite true, since a third of the residents of Luxembourg and twelve per cent of the residents of Belgium are foreign-born. In both cases, however, many 'immigrants' are short-term migrants from nearby European states who are employees of the EU or other European institutions. They are not immigrants as the term is conventionally used. 3. Germany: Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development (2006b, p. 176); Switzerland and France: (http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/index.aspx); US: US Department of Homeland Security (2007 US Department of Homeland Security 2007 Trends in Naturalization Rates , Office of Immigration Statistics [Google Scholar] ;2009 US Department of Homeland Security 2009 Trends in Naturalization Rates: 2008 Update , Office of Immigration Statistics [Google Scholar]); see also Bergeron and Batalova (2008 Bergeron , C. Batalova , J. 2008 'Spotlight on naturalization trends in advance of the 2008 elections' . Migration Policy Institute [Google Scholar]). 4. A higher proportion of American second generation immigrants (thirty-two per cent) than of immigrants (twenty-seven per cent) or of third or later generation Americans (twenty-eight per cent) have a bachelor's or higher degree (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/ppl-176.html#gen, table 5.5). 5. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/ppl-176.html#gen, table 5.7

Consolidation (business · Context (archaeology · Demographic economics · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Immigration · Immigration policy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Redistribution (election · Sociology · State (computer science · Subordination (linguistics · Welfare state · Demography · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

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