National Identity and Attitudes toward Immigrants in a “Multicreedal” America

Abstract

This study expands the literature by examining how the relationship between ethnic/cultural, civic, and liberal conceptions of American national identity shapes attitudes toward immigrants. Using two cross‐sectional datasets, an ordinal logit model, and predicted probability scenarios, I find that an unequal balance (i.e., strong favoring of one or more dimensions at the expense of the others) of these three different dimensions of national identity results in extremely negative or positive attitudes toward immigrants, while those that hold moderate levels of these three elements of identity are likely to express neutral‐to‐positive attitudes. I argue that it is the balance between these dimensions that is important in shaping individual attitudes toward immigrants, making it essential to determine not just individual support for each dimension of national identity but the support of each dimension vis‐à‐vis each other.

To see ourselves as others see us: identity and attitudes towards immigration amongst civic nationalists

“…Residence is similarly inclusive; nationhood is extended to all those residing within the territory of a nation. However, this would appear somewhat more ambiguous as it necessarily excludes those that are not residing in the territory (Esses et al 1998;Byrne 2011). Taking these different dimensions into account the following hypothesis can be formed:…”

National Identity and Migration in an Emerging Gateway Community

“…Though ethnoculturalism is consistently linked to more negative attitudes, the effects of the civic dimension are not clear in the literature. Contrary to theoretical expectations, at times the civic dimension has been associated with negative attitudes towards immigrants (Byrne 2011;Byrne and Dixon 2016;Schildkraut 2005Schildkraut , 2011Smith 1988). This multidimensional framework has also been controversial in the literature as there is no consensus on the degree to which these categories are mutually exclusive.…”

Just Not Like Us: The Interactive Impact of Dimensions of Identity and Race in Attitudes towards Immigration

“…Previous research has shown that how one understands what it means to be "truly American" has a powerful impact on policy preference. Some concepts of American identity are associated with more favorable policies towards immigration, while others are associated with less favorable policies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…An extensive theoretical literature regarding attitudes towards immigrants has developed models based on dimensions of identity [5,[7][8][9][10][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In the multidimensional framework that has emerged from this literature there is a clear argument that the dimensions of identity are interactive, even though much of the empirical work has focused on models that test only independent effects of national identity and of race.…”

“…The strong foundation in individual identity has made it more difficult to achieve compromise, or even sensible debate, on immigration issues. Past research has demonstrated that identity plays a powerful role in influencing attitudes towards immigrants and immigration policy, both in the United States and Europe [5][6][7]10,12,14,17,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”