The Impact of Large‐Scale Collective Action on Latino Perceptions of Commonality and Competition with African Americans*

Abstract

ObjectivesTo evaluate the impact of protests on Latinos' perceptions of commonality and competition with African Americans. We hypothesize that the reinforcement and politicization of in‐group identities leads to greater identification and sense of commonality with other marginalized racial/ethnic groups.MethodsThis study utilizes geocoded Latino National Survey data combined with an expanded protest event data set to estimate the effect of temporal and spatial proximity to immigrant rights protests on Latinos’ perceptions of commonality and competition with African Americans using ordered logistic regression models.ResultsThe findings suggest that respondents’ proximity to marches had a positive impact on Latino perceptions of commonality with African Americans. The results also show that proximity to protests did not lead to an increase in feelings of competition with African Americans except in the case of electoral representation.ConclusionsExamining temporal and spatial effects of protests improves our understanding of how protests can influence public opinion and how protests can influence identities and group relations.