Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Mobilization and De-Mobilization of Latino Identities in Reaction to Explicit and Implicit Cues

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Under what conditions do political messages increase or decrease the salience of collective group interests for Latinos of different national origin groups and generations? Extant research has largely overlooked this question, despite advances in our understanding of how anti-immigrant rhetoric and ethnically targeted appeals can shape the extent to which ethnicity affects Latino decisions to register or vote. This question becomes all the more compelling in light of the heterogeneity of Latino groups, in terms of both national origin and also residence in ethnic enclaves, which have divided the Latino social experience and contributed to distinctive social and political differences. This project engages a range of important questions related to its central, overarching question. Does exposure to explicit and implicit cues within different frames of pro- and-anti immigrant political rhetoric increase or decrease the salience of national origin, pan-ethnic, or American group considerations in Latino vote choice? To what extent does targeted pan-immigrant versus nationality-based political appeals matter in politicizing Latino identity? Moreover, what patterns appear over time? Are framing and cue effects short-lived or do they endure? The researcher argues that the extent to which different groups of Latinos rely upon pan-ethnic group interests may depend on the content and tone of messages in the political environment. Using experimental data in New York City and Los Angeles, the project examines how Latinos across different contexts respond to explicit and implicit cues within immigrant political rhetoric and whether pan-ethnicity, as a collective form of political identity, is relevant or not in political decision-making. By focusing on the political and psychological forces that incorporate or marginalize Latinos in American politics, this study tests a new conceptual framework on ethnic appeals that takes into account the fluidity and complexity of Latino group identity in the United States. This research also seeks to enrich understanding of when and how political messages in the environment increase or decrease the salience of ethnicity for immigrant-based groups. The findings from this project will make several broader contributions. The project will shed light on processes of group-based mobilization of Latinos. The insights generated by this project will inform strategies designed to broaden the political participation and political incorporation of Latinos, a growing and largely underrepresented group in American politics.