Cracks in the Rainbow: Group Commonality as a Basis for Latino and African-American Political Coalitions

Framing Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Europe: When Competition Does Not Matter

“…According to this, newcomers are more likely to be framed as a threat by those native citizens who will compete for the same jobs, houses and public services. This rational account for xenophobic attitudes has received widespread theoretical and empirical support over the last decades (Bergesen and Herman 1998;Blumer 1958;Bobo and Hutchings 1996;Coenders et al 2004a;Kauffman 2003b;Oliver and Wong 2003;Sherif and Sherif 1969).…”

“…One of the most empirically validated propositions derives from ethnic competition theory, which predicts that economic vulnerability and competition for scarce material resources increase resentment against immigrants (Bergesen and Herman 1998;Coenders et al 2004a;Kauffman 2003b;Oliver and Wong 2003). The attention given to economic and sociological factors, however, has left little room for the systematic and comparative study of how ideological structures and cognitive heuristics are used to frame attitudes towards immigration.…”

Taking a New Perspective to Latino Racial Attitudes

“…In order to better understand the extent that linked fate with other Latinos contours Latino attitudes toward other groups, we must take Latinos' skin tone into consideration. The realities and experiences of those with a dark skin tone diverge from those with a lighter skin tone (Kaufmann, 2003;Bonilla-Silva, 2004) and the resulting shared struggles and status of individuals who compare in skin tone create a considerable connection between these individuals (see Dawson, 1994). This connection then heightens the impact that linked fate with Latinos has on commonality with Blacks and Whites.…”

“…431-432). Commonality with other Latinos has been found to increase both Latinos' commonality with African Americans (Kaufmann, 2003;Nteta & Wallsten, 2007;Sanchez, 2008) and with Whites (Nteta & Wallsten, 2007). We do not pose a directional hypothesis for this predictor of Latinos' attitudes but include it in our models assessing views toward Whites and Blacks seeing that it has been found to explain both attitudes adequately.…”

“…We measure this variable on a 3-point scale ranging from −1 (identify as a Democrat) to 0 (other/do not care/identify as an Independent) to 1 (Republican). The demographic variables (age, gender, education, and household income) permit us to estimate the likelihood that Latinos' attitudes toward Blacks and Whites come from a relative position-that is, that younger, female, less educated, and lower income Latinos sense more in common with African Americans (Kaufmann, 2003;Sanchez, 2008) and less in common with Whites than older, male, and higher status Latinos. Age is measured in terms of number of years.…”