Transforming Politics, Transforming America: The Political and Civic Incorporation of Immigrants in the United States

by Taeku Lee, S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, Ricardo Ramírez

Overview

Over the past four decades, the foreign-born population in the United States has nearly tripled, from about 10 million in 1965 to more than 30 million today. This wave of new Americans comes in disproportionately large numbers from Latin America and Asia, a pattern that is likely to continue in this century. In Transforming Politics, Transforming America, editors Taeku Lee, S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, and Ricardo Ramírez bring together the newest work of prominent scholars in the field of immigrant political incorporation to provide the first comprehensive look at the political behavior of immigrants.Focusing on the period from 1965 to the year 2020, this volume tackles the fundamental yet relatively neglected questions, What is the meaning of citizenship, and what is its political relevance? How are immigrants changing our notions of racial and ethnic categorization? How is immigration transforming our understanding of mobilization, participation, and political assimilation? With an emphasis on research that brings innovative theory, quantitative methods, and systematic data to bear on such questions, this volume presents a provocative evidence-based examination of the consequences that these demographic changes might have for the contemporary politics of the United States as well as for the concerns, categories, and conceptual frameworks we use to study race relations and ethnic politics.

Contributors Bruce Cain (University of California, Berkeley) * Grace Cho (University of Michigan) * Jack Citrin (University of California, Berkeley) * Louis DeSipio (University of California, Irvine) * Brendan Doherty (University of California, Berkeley) * Lisa García Bedolla (University of California, Irvine) * Zoltan Hajnal (University of California, San Diego) * Jennifer Holdaway (Social Science Research Council) * Jane Junn (Rutgers University) * Philip Kasinitz (City University of New York) * Taeku Lee (University of California, Berkeley) * John Mollenkopf (City University of New York) * Tatishe Mavovosi Nteta (University of California, Berkeley) * Kathryn Pearson (University of Minnesota) * Kenneth Prewitt (Columbia University) * S. Karthick Ramakrishnan (University of California, Riverside) * Ricardo Ramírez (University of Southern California) * Mary Waters (Harvard University) * Cara Wong (University of Michigan) * Janelle Wong (University of Southern California)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813925455
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	07/05/2006
Series:	Race, Ethnicity, and Politics
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Taeku Lee is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Mobilizing Public Opinion: Black Insurgency and Racial Attitudes in the Civil Rights Era.

S. Karthick Ramakrishnan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside, and the author of Democracy in Immigrant America: Changing Demographics and Political Participation.

Ricardo Ramírez is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction   Taeku Lee   S. Karthick Ramakrishnan   Ricardo Ramirez     1
The Fundamentals of Measurement
Immigrants and the Changing Categories of Race   Kenneth Prewitt     19
Mobilizing Group Consciousness: When Does Ethnicity Have Political Consequences?   Jane Junn     32
Citizenship: Here and Abroad
Rethinking Citizenship: Noncitizen Voting and Immigrant Political Engagement in the United States   Lisa Garcia Bedolla     51
Jus Meritum: Citizenship for Service   Cara Wong   Grace Cho     71
The Impact of Dual Nationality on Political Participation   Bruce Cain   Brendan Doherty     89
Transnational Politics and Civic Engagement: Do Home-Country Political Ties Limit Latino Immigrant Pursuit of U.S. Civic Engagement and Citizenship?   Louis DeSipio     106
After Citizenship: Party Identification and Mobilization
Out of Line: Immigration and Party Identification among Latinos and Asian Americans   Zoltan Hajnal   Taeku Lee     129
Nonpartisan Latino and Asian American Contactability and Voter Mobilization   Ricardo Ramirez   Janelle Wong     151
Portents for the Future
Politics among Young Adults in New York: The Immigrant Second Generation   John Mollenkopf   Jennifer Holdaway   Philip Kasinitz   Mary Waters     175
Plus Ca Change, Plus C'est la Meme Chose?: An Examination of the Racial Attitudes of New Immigrants in the United States   Tatishe Mavovosi Nteta     194
The Political Assimilation of the Fourth Wave   Kathryn Pearson   Jack Citrin     217
But Do They Bowl?: Race, Immigrant Incorporation, and Civic Voluntarism in the United States   S. Karthick Ramakrishnan     243
Conclusions   Taeku Lee   S. Karthick Ramakrishnan   Ricardo Ramirez     261
References     271
Notes on Contributors     299
Index     301

What People are Saying About This

"" Transforming Politics, Transforming America is very much on target in terms of its focus on immigrant political incorporation. The editors are among the very top young political scientists in the country working on immigration issues, and the volume's outstanding contributors have produced high-quality, important, and readable chapters. In result, this book is extremely timely and worthwhile." -- Frank D. Bean, University of California, Irvine, former Director of the Center for US/Mexico Border and Migration Research at the University of Texas, Austin

Editorial Reviews

"Transforming Politics, Transforming America is very much on target in terms of its focus on immigrant political incorporation. The editors are among the very top young political scientists in the country working on immigration issues, and the volume’s outstanding contributors have produced high-quality, important, and readable chapters. In result, this book is extremely timely and worthwhile. "—Frank D. Bean, University of California, Irvine, former Director of the Center for US/Mexico Border and Migration Research at the University of Texas, Austin

From the Publisher

"Transforming Politics, Transforming America is very much on target in terms of its focus on immigrant political incorporation. The editors are among the very top young political scientists in the country working on immigration issues, and the volume’s outstanding contributors have produced high-quality, important, and readable chapters. In result, this book is extremely timely and worthwhile.

Frank D. Bean