When does dual identity predict protest? The moderating roles of anti‐immigrant policies and opinion‐based group identity

Abstract

Dual identities are defined as immigrants' identification with their ethnic ingroup as well as the national community in their country of residence. Dual identities have been argued to increase protest, because they make immigrants feel entitled to advocate for their disadvantaged ethnic group as part of a larger national community. In a study of Latino immigrants to the United States, however, we found that dual identities no longer predict protest when immigrants learn that other members of the national community have passed laws or enacted policies that would exclude immigrants or restrict their rights, through deportation and detention. Further, we found that immigrants who identify with those fighting to change such anti‐immigrant policies support protest regardless of the level of their dual identity and regardless of policy salience. We argue that these results point to the importance of dual identity recognition for research on immigrant protest. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Predicting Protests by Disadvantaged Skilled Immigrants: A Test of an Integrated Social Identity, Relative Deprivation, Collective Efficacy (SIRDE) Model

“…Therefore, we considered that the immigrants' national and cultural identities are separated and somewhat opposing motivational forces influencing protest actions (Grant, 2008;Klandermans, 2014) and we did not include a measure of the respondents' dual identity. As Wiley, Figueroa, and Lauricella (2014) have recently shown, a dual identity does not predict protest intentions under such circumstances perhaps because, as these authors argue, society's position on the issue is a threat to the immigrants' cultural identity.…”

Immigration Policies and Group Identity: How Immigrant Laws Affect Linked Fate among U.S. Latino Populations

“…For example, Douglas Massey and Magaly Sánchez (2010) illustrate through in-depth interviews that immigrants from Latin America formulate a Latino identity almost immediately after arriving to the US largely due to a hostile environment that includes punitive policies. This is supported by the work of Wiley, Figuora, and Lauricella (2014) who argue that Latino immigrants have become aware of their perceived unrecognized place in society by the large number of deportations and restrictionist laws. Recent survey data from Latino Decisions has provided direct evidence that the Latino population, not just immigrants, are conscious of the rise of deportations and anti-immigrant climate.…”

“…There were record numbers of anti-immigrant policies passed at the state and local levels during the first decade of the new millennium driven by a combination of demographic changes and political opportunism among Republican legislators (Chavez and Provine 2009; Hopkins 2010; Monogon 2013; Wallace 2014; Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan 2013; Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan 2015), a strong indicator of the anti-immigrant sentiment that emerged in reaction to the diversity fueled by external migration. Although the rise in policy action directed at the foreign-born population throughout the last two decades and has been well noted by academics and political pundits, less is known about the consequences of the anti-immigrant socio-political climate on the immigrant population.…”

“…More recently, widespread immigrant demonstrations with unprecedented numbers of immigrants took place in 2006 to protest against the Sensenbrenner Bill (Wallace 2014; Casanova 2012). The strong anti-immigrant nature of the Sensenbrenner bill brought together many Latinos of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and nationalities (Casanova 2012).…”

“…We approach our analysis from the standpoint that immigration laws, and particularly those that are punitive toward immigrants, will have a positive impact on linked fate among Latinos overall, and especially among those who are foreign-born. This theory is grounded in the work of those who have explored the formation of collective identity among Latino immigrants (Massey and Sanchez, 2010; Chavez, 2008; Wiley, Figuora, and Lauricella, 2014). For example, Douglas Massey and Magaly Sánchez (2010) illustrate through in-depth interviews that immigrants from Latin America formulate a Latino identity almost immediately after arriving to the US largely due to a hostile environment that includes punitive policies.…”