IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v91y2010i4p1043-1062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Descriptive Representation and Latino Interest Bill Sponsorship in Congress

Author

Listed:
  • Walter Clark Wilson

Abstract

Objective. This article examines dynamics related to the sponsorship of Latino interest bills in Congress. I focus particularly on the influence of Latino representatives. Methods. I employ an original data set that includes all bills sponsored during the 109th Congress (2005–2006) and use negative binomial and standard OLS regression techniques to test hypotheses that Latino representatives are more active sponsors of Latino interest bills than non‐Latino representatives. Results. Findings demonstrate that both the size of Latino constituencies in congressional districts and descriptive representation significantly and positively predict Latino interest bill sponsorship. Descriptive representation appears particularly influential regarding sponsorship of bills that deal with Latino concerns explicitly. Conclusion. The analysis establishes that descriptive representation enhances the substantive representation of Latinos in bill sponsorship. An important aspect of this phenomenon is a legislative style on the part of Latino representatives that more openly, actively, and specifically embraces the interests of Latino constituencies in policy proposals.

Suggested Citation

  • Walter Clark Wilson, 2010. "Descriptive Representation and Latino Interest Bill Sponsorship in Congress," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1043-1062, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:91:y:2010:i:4:p:1043-1062
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00748.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00748.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00748.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. Dovi, Suzanne, 2002. "Preferable Descriptive Representatives: Will Just Any Woman, Black, or Latino Do?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 96(4), pages 729-743, December.
    2. Christian R. Grose, 2005. "Disentangling Constituency and Legislator Effects in Legislative Representation: Black Legislators or Black Districts?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(2), pages 427-443, June.
    3. Cameron, Charles & Epstein, David & O'Halloran, Sharyn, 1996. "Do Majority-Minority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(4), pages 794-812, December.
    4. Miller, Warren E. & Stokes, Donald E., 1963. "Constituency Influence in Congress," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 45-56, March.
    5. Michael S. Rocca & Gabriel R. Sanchez & Joseph Uscinski, 2008. "Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(2), pages 392-405, June.
    6. Benjamin R. Knoll, 2009. "¿Amigo de la Raza? Reexamining Determinants of Latino Support in the U.S. Congress," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(1), pages 179-195, March.
    7. Kathleen A. Bratton, 2006. "The Behavior and Success of Latino Legislators: Evidence from the States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1136-1157, December.
    8. Kathleen A. Bratton, 2006. "The Behavior and Success of Latino Legislators: Evidence from the States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(s1), pages 1136-1157.
    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. John Ishiyama & Andrea Silva, 2020. "Unpacking the Suitcase: Premigratory Experiences with Ethnic Violence and Descriptive Representation Among Asian Americans," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1534-1551, July.

    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. Benjamin R. Knoll, 2009. "¿Amigo de la Raza? Reexamining Determinants of Latino Support in the U.S. Congress," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(1), pages 179-195, March.
    2. Michelle L. Frisco & Jason N. Houle & Molly A. Martin, 2009. "Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms: For Whom is Weight a Burden?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(4), pages 1019-1038, December.
    3. Christian R. Grose & Keesha M. Middlemass, 2010. "Listen to What I Say, Not How I Vote: Congressional Support for the President in Washington and at Home," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(1), pages 143-167, March.
    4. Ebonya L. Washington, 2011. "Do Majority Black Districts Limit Blacks' Representation? The Case of the 1990 Redistricting," NBER Working Papers 17099, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Christopher N. Lawrence & Scott H. Huffmon, 2015. "Keeping Up with the Congressmen: Evaluating Constituents’ Awareness of Redistricting," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(1), pages 65-75, March.
    6. Ebonya Washington, 2012. "Do Majority-Black Districts Limit Blacks' Representation? The Case of the 1990 Redistricting," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(2), pages 251-274.
    7. Denise Laroze & David Hugh-Jones & Arndt Leininger, 2015. "The impact of group identity on coalition formation," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2015-03, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    8. Jeffrey A. Fine & James M. Avery, 2014. "Senate Responsiveness to Minority Constituencies: Latino Electoral Strength and Representation," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1172-1188, December.
    9. Lindsey Cormack, 2021. "Strength in numbers: The forces of constituency size, legislator identity, and institutional position on veterans’ representation," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2849-2862, November.
    10. Alan E. Wiseman, 2006. "A Theory of Partisan Support and Entry Deterrence in Electoral Competition," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 18(2), pages 123-158, April.
    11. Christopher J Williams, 2016. "Issuing reasoned opinions: The effect of public attitudes towards the European Union on the usage of the 'Early Warning System'," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(3), pages 504-521, September.
    12. Maria Sousa Galito, 2018. "Women in Politics - Portugal as Case Study," CEsA Working Papers 173, CEsA - Center for African and Development Studies.
    13. Xiao Tang & Weiwei Chen & Tian Wu, 2018. "Do Authoritarian Governments Respond to Public Opinion on the Environment? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    14. Bruce Desmarais, 2012. "Lessons in disguise: multivariate predictive mistakes in collective choice models," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 719-737, June.
    15. Mattozzi, Andrea & Snowberg, Erik, 2018. "The right type of legislator: A theory of taxation and representation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 54-65.
    16. Verónica Arredondo & Miguel Martínez-Panero & Teresa Peña & Federica Ricca, 2021. "Mathematical political districting taking care of minority groups," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 305(1), pages 375-402, October.
    17. John N. Friedman & Richard Holden, 2020. "Optimal Gerrymandering in a competitive environment," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 8(2), pages 347-367, October.
    18. Scott Crichlow, 2002. "Legislators' Personality Traits and Congressional Support for Free Trade," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(5), pages 693-711, October.
    19. Garrick L. Percival, 2010. "Ideology, Diversity, and Imprisonment: Considering the Influence of Local Politics on Racial and Ethnic Minority Incarceration Rates," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1063-1082, December.
    20. Danny Hayes & Seth C. McKee, 2009. "The Participatory Effects of Redistricting," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1006-1023, October.

    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:91:y:2010:i:4:p:1043-1062. 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.