IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v90y2009i3p593-610.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Immigration a Racial Issue? Anglo Attitudes on Immigration Policies in a Border County

Author

Listed:
  • John W. Ayers
  • C. Richard Hofstetter
  • Keith Schnakenberg
  • Bohdan Kolody

Abstract

Objective. This study assesses the association between Anglo aversion to Latinos, physical proximity to Latinos, and contact with ethnic minorities, with expressed preferences for immigration policies. Methods. Data were drawn from a telephone survey of San Diego County, California, residents (N=549 Anglos) using random‐digit‐dial procedures during 2005–2006 that was conducted by closely supervised professional interviewers. Descriptive reports, tau‐b correlations, and multivariate logistic regressions were used for analysis. Results. Aversion to Latinos, as indicated by an adaptation of the Bogardus social distance scale, was related to more restrictionist attitudes about legal and Mexican immigration. Associations increased when respondents were primed to consider Mexican immigration, although aversion to Latinos was not related to attitudes about amnesty for undocumented persons. Contrary to some previous findings, proximity to Latino populations increased opposition to legal immigration and amnesty. Reported minority contact had minimal impact but increased support for amnesty. Conclusions. Attitudes about immigration may be motivated more by racial resentments than other considerations. Future research should identify racial factors that influence Anglo policy positions beyond the classic Anglo/African division that has dominated this research arena.

Suggested Citation

  • John W. Ayers & C. Richard Hofstetter & Keith Schnakenberg & Bohdan Kolody, 2009. "Is Immigration a Racial Issue? Anglo Attitudes on Immigration Policies in a Border County," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(3), pages 593-610, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:90:y:2009:i:3:p:593-610
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00633.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00633.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00633.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sears, David O. & Lau, Richard R. & Tyler, Tom R. & Allen, Harris M., 1980. "Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 670-684, September.
    2. repec:cdl:issres:qt00j4p6z2 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. James Laurence & Katharina Schmid & Miles Hewstone, 2018. "Ethnic Diversity, Inter-group Attitudes and Countervailing Pathways of Positive and Negative Inter-group Contact: An Analysis Across Workplaces and Neighbourhoods," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 719-749, April.
    2. Marfouk, Abdeslam, 2016. "I’m Neither Racist nor Xenophobic, but: Dissecting European Attitudes towards a Ban on Muslims’ Immigration," MPRA Paper 79747, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Brian P. An & Wei-Lin Chen, 2015. "The Role of Cognitive and Cultural Sophistication on Diversity Outcomes: Differences Across Fields of Study," Journal of Social Science Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 2(1), pages 144-164, January.
    4. Fiona Kate Barlow & Matthew J Hornsey & Michael Thai & Nikhil K Sengupta & Chris G Sibley, 2013. "The Wallpaper Effect: The Contact Hypothesis Fails for Minority Group Members Who Live in Areas with a High Proportion of Majority Group Members," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Benjamin R. Knoll, 2013. "Implicit Nativist Attitudes, Social Desirability, and Immigration Policy Preferences," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 132-165, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jason Barabas, 1998. "Wage Erosion, Economic Assessments, and Social Welfare Opinions," JCPR Working Papers 56, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    2. Author-Name: Alan S. Blinder & Alan B. Krueger, 2004. "What Does the Public Know about Economic Policy, and How Does It Know It?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 35(1), pages 327-397.
    3. Matt Guardino & Suzanne Mettler, 2020. "Revealing the “Hidden welfare state†: How policy information influences public attitudes about tax expenditures," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(1).
    4. Gregory Chow & Yan Shen, 2004. "Money, Price Level and Output in the Chinese Macro Economy," Working Papers 104, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    5. Roland Iwan Luttens & Marie-Anne Valfort, 2012. "Voting for Redistribution under Desert-Sensitive Altruism," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(3), pages 881-907, September.
    6. Olof Johansson-Stenman & Peter Martinsson, 2005. "Anyone for higher speed limits? – Self-interested and adaptive political preferences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 319-331, March.
    7. Cuccia, Andrew D. & Carnes, Gregory A., 2001. "A closer look at the relation between tax complexity and tax equity perceptions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 113-140, April.
    8. Johanna Jauernig & Stephan Brosig & Silke Hüttel, 2023. "Profession and residency matter: Farmers' preferences for farmland price regulation in Germany," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 816-834, September.
    9. repec:pra:mprapa:47899 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bruno Castanho Silva & Jens Wäckerle & Christopher Wratil, 2022. "Determinants of Public Opinion Support for a Full Embargo on Russian Energy in Germany," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 170, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    11. Fredrik Carlsson & Olof Johansson‐Stenman, 2010. "Why Do You Vote and Vote as You Do?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 495-516, November.
    12. Timur Kuran, 1993. "The Unthinkable and the Unthought," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(4), pages 473-505, October.
    13. Andrew Austin & Nathaniel T. Wilcox, 2004. "Believing in Economic Theory: Sex, Lies, Evidence, Trust and Ideology," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp238, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    14. Stoutenborough, James W. & Sturgess, Shelbi G. & Vedlitz, Arnold, 2013. "Knowledge, risk, and policy support: Public perceptions of nuclear power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 176-184.
    15. Joakim Kulin & Alexander Seymer, 2014. "What's Driving the Public? A Cross-Country Analysis of Political Attitudes, Human Values and Political Articulation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(1), pages 145-158, February.
    16. Eric J. Brunner & Yusun Kim & Mark D. Robbins & Bill Simonsen, 2024. "The impact of performance information on citizen perceptions of school district efficiency, trust in government, and support for taxes," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 6-44, June.
    17. Jones Philip & Soguel Nils, 2010. "Fiscal Federalism at the Ballot Box: The Relevance of Expressive Voting," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(3), pages 469-488, December.
    18. Jaeyoung Lim & Kuk-Kyoung Moon, 2023. "Political Ideology and Trust in Government to Ensure Vaccine Safety: Using a U.S. Survey to Explore the Role of Political Trust," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Blekesaune, Morten, 2006. "Economic conditions and public attitudes toward welfare state policies," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-45, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    20. David Switzer, 2020. "The Context of Responsiveness: Resident Preferences, Water Scarcity, and Municipal Conservation Policy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(2), pages 260-279, March.
    21. Elisabeth Grewenig & Philipp Lergetporer & Katharina Werner & Ludger Woessmann, 2019. "Do Party positions affect the public's policy preferences?," CESifo Working Paper Series 7579, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:90:y:2009:i:3:p:593-610. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.