Immigrants' Political Suitcases: A Theory of Imported Socialization

People’s experiences throughout their lives influence their later thoughts and actions, including thoughts and actions about politics. This straightforward logic motivates attention to childhood political socialization, habitual voting, and a host of other phenomena. Yet, when it comes to studies concerning the political behaviors of immigrants to the United States, the scholarly norm has been to assume that these individuals entered the nation as political blank slates; that is, we ignore the possible influence of experiences in immigrants’ nations of origin. By contrast, this study develops and tests a theory of imported socialization in an effort to understand how immigrants’ political socialization experiences before they left their countries of origin shape the way they view the new polity after migration; the extent to which this imported socialization affects their degree of post-migration political engagement; and finally for how long the content of immigrants’ political suitcases remains consequential during their civic lives in their new home. Specific questions examined include the extent to which immigrants’ political baggage affects the intensity and the directionality of that post-migration political engagement. My findings suggest that political suitcases indeed play a key role on the political acculturation of the newcomers.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Wals Aparicio, Sergio C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mondak, Jeffery J.
• Kuklinski, James H.
• Althaus, Scott L.
• Rudolph, Thomas J.
• Gaines, Brian J.
• Cho, Wendy T.

• Immigrants
• Political Behavior
• Political Socialization
• Imported Socialization
• Partisanship
• Political Trust
• Political Engagement
• Latinos
• Mexican

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2009 Sergio C. Wals Aparicio

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14589

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/14589