Is There an Ethnic Dimension to the Immigration Debate?

By Rene Rocha, University of Iowa

What determines public opinion on immigration policy has been the subject of much debate. Among the most regularly cited explanations are a series of individual characteristics such as ideology, age, gender, education, and economic vulnerability. However, some social scientists have also hypothesized that the racial/ethnic residential environment of individuals plays a key role in determining racial/ethnic attitudes and policy preferences.  The focus of this blog report is to explore the relationship between community diversity and immigration attitudes.

A New Approach to the Role of Residential Context

The link between residential context and public opinion can best be explained through social identity theory, which essentially argues that people are psychologically hard-wired to automatically sort the world into “in-groups” and “out-groups.” Since race is a salient physical characteristic, the formation of strong in-group/out-group distinctions based on racial differences is relatively effortless and therefore very common.