Opinions about Hispanics : causes and consequences
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Racial divisions have shaped American society since colonization. In the last half- century, social science researchers have proposed a variety of theories about the origins of negative opinions of different racial group. From this body of work, we have learned a great deal about race-based opinions, and these findings have been used in attempts to alleviate racial discrimination. A great deal of the study of race relations and racial opinions in the U.S. has focused on the black-white divide. However, a host of societal changes has made evident that the black-white dichotomy is no longer the only politically relevant racial division in the United States. Hispanics have been the largest minority group in the United States since 2000 and are the fastest growing ethnic group, increasing approximately 3.1% per year. Hispanics accounted for more than half of the population growth between 2008 and 2009, and the United States now has the second largest Hispanic population in the world. In addition, demographic patterns indicate that the relative growth of the Hispanic population will not cease. Over one fourth of all children in the U.S. under the age of 5 are of Hispanic descent, and 61% of Hispanic households include children under the age of 18. The Hispanic population is younger than the non-Hispanic population (median ages of 27.4 and 36.8, respectively). Of the 21 million eligible Hispanic voters, however, only 9.7 million cast ballots in 2008, resulting from a combination of high numbers of non-citizens, the youth of the population, Hispanics being concentrated in lower income and education categories, and non-immunization of immigrants. This makes Hispanics a "sleeping giant" in American politics. The changing ethnic and racial composition of American society makes obvious an exciting opportunity for the academic literature on racial opinions - the exploration of negative attitudes toward Hispanics. Broadly speaking, I do so by examining sources and consequences of opinions about Hispanics among non-Hispanic whites. By building on the theories used to examine anti-black racism, I explore how opinions about Hispanics originate and how these attitudes relate to opinions on public policies, particularly Arizona's SB 1070.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Gross, Wendy Tegge |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Political Science. |
| Primary advisor | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Primary advisor | Segura, Gary M, 1963- |
| Thesis advisor | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Thesis advisor | Segura, Gary M, 1963- |
| Thesis advisor | Jackman, Simon, 1966- |
| Advisor | Jackman, Simon, 1966- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Wendy T. Gross. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Political Science. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2012 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Wendy Tegge Gross
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...