From “Different” to “Similar”

Abstract

Assimilation is theorized as a multi-stage process where the structural mobility of immigrants and their descendants ultimately leads to established and immigrant-origin populations developing a subjective sense of social similarity with one another, an outcome I term symbolic belonging. Yet existing work offers little systematic evidence as to whether and how immigrants’ gains—in terms of language ability, socioeconomic status, neighborhood integration, or intermarriage—cause changes in the perceptions of the native-born U.S. population. I use a nationally representative conjoint survey experiment to explore whether and how immigrants’ mobility gains shape native-born white citizens’ perceptions of symbolic belonging. I find that white natives are generally open to structural relationships with immigrant-origin individuals (e.g., friends and neighbors), with the exception of black immigrants and natives, and undocumented immigrants. Yet, white Americans simultaneously view all non-white people, regardless of legal status, as dissimilar and far from achieving symbolic belonging in U.S. society. The results offer optimism about the potential structural mobility of legal immigrants and their descendants, yet simultaneously suggest that explicitly racialized lines of division remain just below the surface.

Partner Characteristics and Perceptions of Responsibility for Housework and Child Care

“…Social desirability was a concern in this study because Americans tend to endorse egalitarianism related to gender, work, and family, irrespective of their actual behaviors, which tend to be more gendered than attitudinal survey data would suggest (Gerson, 2010;Kornrich & Eger, 2014;Miller & Carlson, 2016;Sayer, 2010). Past research shows that having respondents choose between competing profiles helps limit this source of bias because it forces respondents to weigh competing options in their responses (Quillian, 2006;Schachter, 2016).…”

Nativity Penalty, Legal Status Paradox: The Effects of Nativity and Legal Status Signals in the U.S. Labor Market

“…All résumés had the same neutral objective statement, including the major, graduation date, and some basic leadership and volunteering skills. However, because even native-born Latinos are often assumed to be immigrants (Schachter 2016) College activities, scholarships, and extra skills. All students were peer mentors and had a fictitious named college scholarship.…”

European solidarity as boundary-making: A conjoint analysis of attitudes towards Islam in the context of the ‘refugee crisis’

“…We used a vignette experiment survey to measure migrants' perceptions of refugees (Müller et al, 2014;Schachter, 2016). A vignette is a short and carefully constructed description of a person representing a systematic combination of characteristics (Atzmüller and Steiner, 2010;Steiner et al, 2016).…”

“…This method of analysis is particularly useful in researching sensitive issues and implicit preferences (Aguinis and Bradley, 2014). In the context of attitudinal research in the field of immigration and ethnicity, though, CA is new, and it should not be confused with survey experiments with conjoint design using vignette pairs or vignette sets (Hainmueller et al, 2015;Schachter, 2016). As our central research question is about the respondents' preference (we ask whom they are more willing to accept as their neighbour, friend, or inhabitant of the same country, respectively), CA was our preferred analytical strategy.…”