Group Positions Beyond the Binary: The Determinants of Immigration Attitudes Among Black, Hispanic, and White Americans

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on racial policy attitudes has primarily focused on the attitudes of black and white Americans. However, given the shifting racial landscape in the United States, it is important to understand how other racial groups view important social issues. Using Blumer’s group positions model, this research seeks to determine the predictors of five immigration attitudes among white, black, and both U.S. and foreign-born Hispanic Americans. Results using data from the 2004 and 2008 National Politics Study show that black, white, and U.S.-born Hispanic Americans display more anti-immigration attitudes than foreign-born Hispanics, with Black and White Americans showing the most anti-immigrant attitudes. Further, results show that whereas individual economic threat has a similar effect on immigration attitudes for Americans of all racial backgrounds, whites’ attitudes are also shaped by group-based economic and political threat and racial affect. These findings indicate that whites’ unique position as the dominant economic and political group in the United States makes their immigration attitudes uniquely sensitive to group-based threats to their dominant position.