Political Participation of Ethnic Minorities in the 1980s
Abstract
Currently political participation, especially voter registration and turnout, varies substantially with ethnicity. Blacks and non-Hispanic whites participate at roughly equal rates, while Latinos and Asian-Americans are substantially less active, this variation may reflect cultural factors, or it may be the spurious product of differences in the distribution of non-ethnic determinants of participation, including socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, variables reflecting immigration history, including citizenship, and measures of group identification. Using data collected in 1984 on samples of California's black, Latino, Asian-American, and non-Hispanic white populations, we conclude that these other variables fully account for lower Latino participation rates. Even with such controls, however, Asian-Americans remain less likely to vote. Although non-citizens participate less than citizens, they do engage in non-electoral activities, Finally, we speculate on the future political impact of Latinos and Asian-Americans, by projecting participation rates under several scenarios.
Additional Information
This paper was prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, San Francis co, California, July 4-7, 1987. The project was funded by a grant from the Seaver Institute. We thank Amita Shastri and Chris Gallant for their assistance in the research. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1987 Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Anaheim, California. We would like to thank the discussants and also the participants in the Southern California Political Behavior Seminar and the Harvard American Politics Seminar for their comments.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 81275
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170908-154322007
- Seaver Institute
- Created
-
2017-09-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Social Science Working Papers
- Series Name
- Social Science Working Paper
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 647