Race/Ethnicity Flashcards
(148 cards)
Evidence for increasing salience of immigration issue in Britain
Migration Observatory (2016)
- % in Britain who think immigration = 1 of most important issues increased from 5% (2000) to 34% (2016)
- Caveat - % declined slightly since due to rise in salience of Brexit, though Brexit partly such an important/prominent issue due to immigration concerns
Evidence for increasing salience of immigration issue in Europe
Migration Observatory (2016)
- Data - Eurobarometer data from 14 countries
- % who list immigration as 1 of top 2 issues increased from <10% (2010) to >15% today
- Caveat – this % is lower than 2006 level (20%)
Heath et al (2013)
Ethnicity and support for Labour
- disproportionate ethnic minority support for Labour not explained by socioeconomic status or ideology
- effect of ethnicity stronger than class (middle-class blacks show same high levels of support for Labour as working-class blacks)
Evidence of differences in voting patterns of ethnic minorities
- UK – ethnic minorities disproportionately support Labour (~70%)
- USA:
(a) ~80% of black voters support Democrats
(b) ~55-70% of Hispanics support Democrats
3.Similar findings that ethnic minorities disproportionately support centre-left in Australia, Canada and Germany
Evidence against theory that fears over labour market competition drive anti-immigrant views
Hainmueller and Hiscox (2010) - experiment showed that both high and low skilled natives viewed:
(a) high-skilled migrants positively
(b) low-skilled migrants negatively
(c) contrary to labour market competition hypothesis, which predicts that natives opposed to migrants of similar skill level to their own
Evidence that economic conditions associated with anti-immigrant sentiment
- Golder (2003)
(a) high unemployment associated w/SUPPORT FOR RADICAL RIGHT (whose common theme = anti-immigration stance)
(b) but only when immigration sufficiently high
- Finseraas, Pedersen and Bay (2014)
(a) High unemployment rates associated w/high levels of ECONOMIC CONCERN OVER IMMIGRATION (but only w/high % of foreign-born population)
(b) Relationship stronger among low-skilled
(c) Cultural concern over immigration unrelated to unemployment variation
Evidence against idea that economic conditions associated with anti-immigrant sentiment
- Radical right didn’t do significantly better in 2009 European Parliament elections, despite major recession
Golder (2003)
Effect of unemployment on radical right support
- high unemployment associated w/support for radical right (whose common theme = anti-immigration stance)
- but only when immigration sufficiently high
Hainmueller and Hiscox (2010)
Test labour market competition hypothesis
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE
- No empirical support for ‘zombie’ labour market competition hypothesis:
(a) high-skilled migrants positively
(b) low-skilled migrants negatively
(c) contrary to labour market competition hypothesis, which predicts that natives opposed to migrants of similar skill level to their own - Evidence consistent with:
(a) cultural concerns associated with ethno-centrism
(b) socio-tropic concerns about impact of immigration on local economy
Evidence that sociotropic fiscal concerns might be related to immigration concerns
Hatton (2016) - impact of budget deficits on anti-immigrant sentiment
- Data - immigration opinion in 20 European countries 2002-12
- Correlation between increased anti-immigrant sentiment and increasing budget deficits in countries worse affected by recession
- Implication – suggests salience of public finances during recession led to increased prominence of immigration concerns due to sociotropic fiscal concerns
- Caveat – size of effect modest
Hatton (2016)
Immigration and sociotropic fiscal concerns
- Data - immigration opinion in 20 European countries 2002-12
- Finding – correlation between increased anti-immigrant sentiment w/increasing budget deficits in countries worse affected by recession
- Implication – suggests salience of public finances during recession led to increased prominence of immigration concerns due to sociotropic fiscal concerns
- Caveat – size of effect modest
Evidence that concerns about immigration based on misperceptions about scale of immigration
Sides and Citrin (2007)
Sides and Citrin (2007)
- Immigration concerns based on misperceptions about scale of immigration
- Individual-level factors that predict immigration attitudes:
(a) Cultural and national identity
(b) Economic interests
(c) Level of information about immigration
Evidence that ethnic minorities tend to support candidates with same ethnicity as themselves
Norway (Bergh and Bjorklund 2010)
Bergh and Bjorklund (2010)
Ethnic group identity voting
- Evidence in Norway that ethnic minorities tend to support candidates with same ethnicity as themselves
Sanders et al (2014)
Impact of discrimination of minority voting
- Data - 2010 British general election
- Finding - ethnic minorities have distinctive voting calculus (key effect of perceptions of discrimination)
- Personal experience of discrimination – associated w/decreased support for Labour (interpreted as anti-incumbent effect)
- Perception that other group members discriminated against – associated w/increased support for Labour, due to historic role as champion of ethnic minority rights/legislation
Evidence that perceptions of discrimination affects vote choices for ethnic minorities
Sanders et al (2014)
- Data - 2010 British general election
- Finding - ethnic minorities have distinctive voting calculus (key effect of perceptions of discrimination)
- Personal experience of discrimination – associated w/decreased support for Labour (interpreted as anti-incumbent effect)
- Perception that other group members discriminated against – associated w/increased support for Labour, due to historic role as champion of ethnic minority rights/legislation
Meguid (2005)
Issue salience = result of strategies pursued by mainstream competition, who have 3 options:
(a) Dismiss – pretend to ignore issues raised (reduces issue salience and reduces niche party support)
(b) Accommodate – by changing policy (increases issue salience, but decreases niche party support)
(c) Adversarial – argue against (increases issue salience and increases niche party support)
Why does immigration become more salient during times of economic scarcity?
- Golder (2016) – far right parties exploit economic grievances by blaming immigrants and minorities for economic hardship
- Economic scarcity + exploitation by parties = increased salience of immigration
Why did financial crisis hurt radical right parties?
Increased salience of economic competence hurt radical right parties because they had little credible economic expertise (explaining limited rise in support)
Example of strategy of accommodation with respect to radical right
Conservatives accommodated by promising to ‘bring migration down to the tens of thousands’, partly explaining poor UKIP performance (~3% of vote), despite financial crash
Perez (2015)
Impact of xenophobic rhetoric on ethnic minorities
- Experimental evidence that xenophobic rhetoric increases salience of ethnic identity, w/high-identifying group members becoming:
(a) More ethno-centric
(b) More supportive of pro-group politics (as measured by index which incl. question asking whether Latinos should always vote for Latinos when they run)
Evidence that xenophobic media coverage might increase salience of ethnic identity for voters
Perez (2015)
Experimental evidence that xenophobic rhetoric increases salience of ethnic identity, w/high-identifying group members becoming:
(a) More ethno-centric
(b) More supportive of pro-group politics (as measured by index which incl. question asking whether Latinos should always vote for Latinos when they run)
Evidence for increase in anti-immigrant attitudes
- % in Britain who think immigration should be “reduced a lot” increased by 12% 1995-2011
- Caveat – much of increase occurred pre-2003, w/slower subsequent increases