Political and Spiritual Migration: The Adaptive Formation of Religious and Partisan Attachments among Latino Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

Immigrants to the United States often fail to develop partisan identities, which can be a political impediment. While the development of partisanship has received substantial attention in the existing literature, further research is needed to understand the origins of partisanship for new immigrants who lack the socialized psychological attachments that drive partisanship for many Americans. I theorize that preceding changes in salient social identities may facilitate the formation of partisan attachments as an adaptive response to a new environment. Specifically, I contend that religious conversion, an adaptive change in one's religious identity, increases the probability of political adaptation among Latino immigrants, the largest immigrant group in the United States. Using data from a 2006 Pew survey of Latino religious life, I show that conversion among Latino immigrants is associated with a greater partisan identification, which suggests religious conversion may function as an intervening adaptation in the evolution of partisanship.

Adapting Identities: Religious Conversion and Partisanship Among Asian American Immigrants

“…In tandem with prior findings on Latino immigrant conversion and partisanship (Weaver, 2015), these results offer mounting evidence in support of the theory of religious and partisan adaptation. Many immigrants arrive in the United States without any strong attachments to American groups or institutions.…”

“…In line with Weaver's (2015) prior work on Latino immigrants, we contend that religious conversion should facilitate the development of partisanship among Asian American immigrants. While the religious traditions of many Asian Americans differ more dramatically from the Christian traditions that dominate much of the U.S. and Latin American religious landscapes, we expect that religious conversion should function as an adaptation in identity among both Asian American and Latino immigrants.…”

“…That is, the development of partisanship may facilitate subsequent religious conversion. While Weaver (2015) found that the majority of Latino immigrant converts converted within their first 10 years in the United States and most immigrant converts within that time period still exhibited no partisan identity, the Pew Asian American Survey data do not allow us to identify the point in time converts converted. 4 Furthermore, respondents were not asked when in their lifetime they developed a partisan attachment.…”

“…Moreover, such changes in immigrants' religious identity in response to new opportunities in the United States may help subsidize the cognitive costs of forming a partisan identity. Indeed, prior research has shown that Latino immigrants who convert to a new religion after migrating to the United States are more likely to develop partisan identities: Weaver (2015) theorizes that Latino immigrant conversion functions as an adaptative change in identity in response to a new environment, and shows evidence that this facilitates the subsequent formation of partisanship as another identity adaptation in this new environment.…”

Choosing Choice: How Gender and Religiosity Shape Abortion Attitudes among Latinos

“…In the general population, a growing body of research suggests that a process of religious “sorting” occurs, in which Americans make religious decisions based on their politics (Djupe, Neiheisel, and Sokhey 2018; Margolis 2018). Even as an increasing number of Latinos convert from Catholicism to Evangelicalism (Pew Research Center 2014), the role of politics in this process remains unclear, although research suggests the inverse relationship may occur (Weaver 2015). Within immigrant communities generally and among Latino immigrants specifically, religious institutions play an important role in the incorporation process, providing English classes and other resources for economic and social mobility (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Hirschman 2004; Wong 2018a).…”