Hispanic/Latino Socioeconomic Status and Class

Amenta, A; Smith, Raymond Arthur

doi:10.7916/d88g8m52

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“…Scholars have long noted the connection between socioeconomic status and participation (Milbrath, 1965;Verba et al, 1995;Verba & Nie, 1972), a relationship that has implications for the Latinx population, which generally tends to be lower in socioeconomic status relative to non-Latinx whites (Amenta & Smith, 2016;Barreto & Segura, 2014). In turn, Latinxs-because of their lower propensity to participate in the political process (Barreto & Segura, 2014;De La Garza, 2004;Shaw et al, 2000; see also Jones-Correa et al, 2018 for a review)-may experience lower levels of representation, even when comprising a plurality or a majority in a district.…”

Section: Reasons To Expect Variation In Latinx Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Representational Deficit of Latinxs in the U.S. House of Representatives

Pleites-Hernandez

Kelly

2023

Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences

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This paper explores the extent to which Latinxs were substantively represented in the 112th U.S. House of Representatives (2011–2013). We make use of a large national sample of Americans to tap into the congruence of the attitudes of constituents with actual roll call votes taken by their legislators in office. In doing so, we are able to make comparisons between constituent attitudes and legislative behavior for Latinx versus non-Latinx constituents. Using a more refined measure than previous studies of constituent-legislator dyads across congressional districts, we find that Latinx respondents face a representational deficit relative to non-Latinx whites and explore the various factors, individual- and contextual-level, that explain variation in that relationship. One such factor is the size of the Latinx population in a district. We find that larger Latinx populations are associated with decreased representation for Latinx respondents and, further, that this deficit is largely rooted in anti-Latinx attitudes and behavior on the part of non-Latinx whites in those districts. On the whole, the findings here are consistent with the backlash hypothesis.

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