Guns and Gun Control
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Our study investigates how and why racial prejudice can fuel white opposition to gun restrictions... more Our study investigates how and why racial prejudice can fuel white opposition to gun restrictions. Drawing on research across disciplines, we suggest that the language of individual freedom used by the gun rights movement utilizes the same racially meaningful tropes as the rhetoric of the white resistance to black civil rights that developed after WWII and into the 1970s. This indicates that the gun rights narrative is color-coded and evocative of racial resentment. To determine whether racial prejudice depresses white support for gun control, we designed a priming experiment which exposed respondents to pictures of blacks and whites drawn from the IAT. Results show that exposure to the prime suppressed support for gun control compared to the control, conditional upon a respondent’s level of racial resentment. Analyses of ANES data (2004-2013) reaffirm these findings. Racial resentment is a statistically significant and substantively important predictor of white opposition to gun control.
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Does the threat of Black protest, violent or non-violent, influence whites' gun policy preference... more Does the threat of Black protest, violent or non-violent, influence whites' gun policy preferences? Extant research in political science and cognate disciplines suggest a relationship but disagree on the direction of effect. On the one hand, research in social movements suggests that whites may respond to violent Black protest with stronger support for social control, a form of which may be gun control. Studies also link fear of crime with white increased support for gun control. On the other hand, public opinion research on gun policy shows a negative correlation between racial prejudice and support for gun control. Leveraging the results from two survey experiments with white respondents, I show that whites' support for gun control increases when exposed to primes about either a violent or a non-violent Black Lives Matter protest compared to a non-violent Tea Party protest. However, exposure to a prime about a non-violent white nationalist protest produced null effects, though a story about a violent protest by the same group did boost support for gun control. There were no differences in support for gun control by the race of the victim. A second experiment, confirms that there are no differences in response to Black or white groups that are construed as " violent " , but the prospect of inter-group violence does increase support for gun control.
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Theory: Research examining the factors shaping gun policy attitudes has focused on the general po... more Theory: Research examining the factors shaping gun policy attitudes has focused on the general population or whites. Little is known about how self-interest, political values, or racial prejudice shape the gun policy preferences of minorities. Objective: We seek to assess the effect of self-interest, political values and racial prejudice on the gun policy attitudes of whites, Latinos and Blacks. We also introduce a measure of prejudice-difference in group violence-which has not been previously used in the literature on gun policy opinion. Data: We use data from a new survey (2015) and analyze whites, Blacks and Latinos separately. Findings: We find that many of the drivers of support for gun control found in the general population apply to minorities as well, but the substantive effects vary across groups. Similar to prior general population findings, we find that for all groups concern about crime is associated with more support for gun control, and that gun ownership, being the victim of a crime and conservative political values are associated with less support. In contrast, we find that racial prejudice is negatively correlated with support for gun control among whites and Latinos, while one type of racial prejudice—racial resentment—increases support for gun control among Blacks. Surveys suggest the existence of substantial differences in gun policy preferences across racial groups. Generally, white Americans show far less support for restrictions on gun control than
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Social Science Quarterly, 2020
Objective. We theorize that anxiety (fear) related to mass shootings and social violence increase... more Objective. We theorize that anxiety (fear) related to mass shootings and social violence increases support for gun control among the American public. Methods. We support our theory with a regression discontinuity analysis based on an actual mass shooting, observational analyses from the same data set testing the relationship between fear and support for gun control, and two survey experiments that prime anxiety in the context of mass shootings and social violence. Findings. We show that support for gun control increased on the day after an actual mass shooting. Observational analysis shows a positive correlation between fear of crime and support for gun control. One priming experiment shows that inducing anxiety about mass shootings increases support for gun control. A second priming experiment shows that exposure to a story about social violence activates anxiety and also increases support for gun control. Conclusions. Our analyses show that anxiety related to mass shootings and mass violence increases support for gun control. Recent studies of public opinion show that mass shootings can lead to an uptick in support for gun control. Specifically, Newman and Hartman (2017) find that proximity
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Sociological Inquiry, 2020
Gun ownership is a key predictor of gun policy preferences, political advocacy on behalf of gun r... more Gun ownership is a key predictor of gun policy preferences, political advocacy on behalf of gun rights, and political engagement. Theories have linked both racial and gender ideologies to gun ownership among white Americans, but the evidence is spotty. Statistical analyses provide some limited confirmation that racial resentment is a key predictor of gun ownership, but the role of sexism has not been tested quantitatively especially in conjunction with racial resentment. We use the 2004-2016 ANES and a 2015 Gun Survey to statistically test the relative importance of racial resentment and sexism in predicting gun ownership, rationales for owning firearms, and NRA membership among whites. We find strong evidence that racial resentment is associated with gun ownership, rationales for owning firearms, and NRA membership, but the results for sexism are generally not consistent with expectations.
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State immigration policy
This study critically evaluates the evidence for the racial threat and group power perspectives—t... more This study critically evaluates the evidence for the racial threat and group power perspectives—theories that are prominent in the literature—in the context of legislature-level immigration policy models. Using counts of hostile and welcoming immigration legislation enacted between 2005 and 2011, I demonstrate that out-group size measures correlate positively with both dependent variables. For the most part, the same is the case with measures of out-group growth rates. These results suggest that the use of legislature level models with demographic indicators does not allow us to gain a clear understanding if and how population dynamics influence immigration policymaking. Based on these findings, I recommend that when using demographic indicators as key explanatory variables, providing evidence of result stability across multiple model specifications and also test the models with both hostile and inclusive policy variables.
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Policy Studies Journal, 2019
This essay provides a critical review of the field of immigration policy studies from the perspec... more This essay provides a critical review of the field of immigration policy studies from the perspective of measurement and modeling. It serves to contextualize and broaden the views presented in the special issue. As such, we combine insights from American and comparative politics, pinpoint key limitations and challenges in the field, and identify areas of strength within each subfield which could inform theory and measurement development for the other. Ultimately, the concerns about conceptualization, definition, and measurement that we identify and discuss herein, do not apply only to immigration policy studies but to policy studies writ large.
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This article examines differences in the drivers of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families... more This article examines differences in the drivers of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid immigrant eligibility policies, determined in the wake of the 1996 Welfare Reform. The findings show that differences in the
incentive structures of the two programs may affect the way race politics influence each. Specifically, race is a strong negative correlate for TANF inclusion of immigrants as states with large African American populations were more likely to exclude legal permanent residents from the program. In the case of Medicaid, the size of the immigrant population is a strong positive correlate for inclusion. The effect of the size of the black population, although negative, is small and not significant. The study confirms extant research findings that ideological factors play an important role in the formation of both policies.
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International Migration, 2012
Immigration in the United States is traditionally thought of as a federal-level policy, but in re... more Immigration in the United States is traditionally thought of as a federal-level policy, but in recent years, states have been exceedingly active in this domain. We analyse the context and discourse of immigration-related legis-lative resolutions from Southern border-states, recipients of ...
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Politics & Policy, 2013
ABSTRACT Studies of descriptive representation have focused on the ability of minority and female... more ABSTRACT Studies of descriptive representation have focused on the ability of minority and female legislators to push through legislation that is beneficial to these constituencies. However, little is known concerning the role of such legislators in preventing the enactment of bills noxious to their constituencies' interests. This research note investigates the role of Latino legislators in deterring the introduction and blocking the enactment of restrictive and punitive immigration legislation. Using state‐level data from 2007, our results suggest that the relationship between the size of the Latino caucus in a state legislature and the introduction of restrictive bills is not statistically significant, but there is a strong negative statistical correlation between the size of the Latino caucus and the enactment of such laws. The data suggest that descriptive representation may play a role in blocking the passage of legislation harmful to disadvantaged groups.
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Abstract will be provided by author.
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By all standard measures used in political science research, Rhode Island is one of the country’s... more By all standard measures used in political science research, Rhode Island is one of the country’s most Democratic and liberal states. Its size also makes its legislature and other elected officials the country’s most accessible. Rhode Island also has a large immigrant population: 12.5 percent of its residents are foreign born. Given its liberal politics, political accessibility and large immigrant population, one would expect that immigrant organizations must me quite successful in having pro-immigrant policies enacted. However, that is not the case and it has not been for a decade. So what explains the failure of the state’s immigrant rights advocacy community to sway policymakers? Using Robert Putnam’s (1988) concept of two-level games, I contend that organizations have two types of goals: internal goals, associated with satisfying the demands of the internal stakeholders (e.g., members, grantors, donors) and external goals, associated with policy change and shifting public opinio...
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Public opinion and immigration attitudes
Social Science Quarterly, 2022
Objective: Scholars have reached conflicting results as to the relative importance of cultural an... more Objective: Scholars have reached conflicting results as to the relative importance of cultural and economic threat on majority group receptivity to immigrants and refugees. This study seeks to test whether cultural or economic threat has a stronger influence on white Americans' receptivity to Syrian refugees. Method: We designed a 2x2 priming experiment fielded among white Americans in 2015 that varies both the religion of Syrian refugees to be admitted to the United States (Christian v. Muslim) and the material costs of refugee admission (economic burden v. no economic burden). Results: Results show that cultural threat (Muslim religion) is not by itself sufficient to induce a decline in receptivity among white Americans. Instead, it is the combination of cultural and economic threat that leads to lower levels of refugee acceptance. Conclusion: Cultural threat, especially when it comes to religious "others," may not operate alone but in conjunction to material fears.
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Objectives: Research has suggested that geosocial exposure to out-groups is associated with heigh... more Objectives: Research has suggested that geosocial exposure to out-groups is associated with heightened threat perceptions on the part of the dominant white majority. However, findings are not consistent. Methods: Drawing on Realistic Group Conflict Theory and research in political science that privileges the role of the economic context, we test if the effects of geosocial exposure are conditioned on individual expectations about the health of the macroeconomy using a unique dataset from the New England states. Results: We show that a perceived increase in the presence of immigrants in the community positively correlates with restrictionist immigration policy preferences (in this case support for Arizona’s anti- immigration law), but only when people are pessimistic about the future of the state’s economy. Conclusion: The information provided by the social context becomes relevant for people’s policy preference formation only when they experience or expect material loss.
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Social Science Quarterly, 2015
ABSTRACT Objective Many studies investigating contact theory have suggested that contact effects ... more ABSTRACT Objective Many studies investigating contact theory have suggested that contact effects are not universal but rather conditional. In this article, we test one form of conditional contact effects. Our approach posits that contact with out-groups produces support for pro-minority public policies only when in-group members are not subject to contrary messages from co-partisans.Methods We use data from an original survey to test this theory in the immigration policy domain.ResultsWe find strong confirmatory evidence that the emergence of contact effects on support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is dependent on party identification.Conclusion When information from the social environment and that from the party coincide, they reinforce each other, producing more tolerant policy preferences. However, when the two are not congruent, individuals may use partisanship to help interpret contextual information, thus canceling out the positive effects of intergroup contact on policy opinions.
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This study shows that both race and perceptions about one’s personal economic situation can play ... more This study shows that both race and perceptions about one’s personal economic situation can play a role in how voters assess the likely future of the city under a racially-other mayor. Using the historic transition of the Providence mayoralty to a Latino mayor as the context, and new survey data collected in September 2010, our research show that Latinos –the ethnic “winners” of the contest, are more likely to express positive expectations about the city under Mayor Taveras. On the other hand, whites have a less positive outlook for the city. Both those who lost economically and those whose fortunes improved during the recession express more pessimistic expectations for the city. Our study also shows that blacks who have been affected by the downturn are more likely to have a less optimistic outlook of the city under Taveras, an indication that intra-minority competition is taking place in Providence among the city’s poor minorities.
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Immigration and Normative Theory
The United States removes from its territory almost 400,000 noncitizens annually – Germany remove... more The United States removes from its territory almost 400,000 noncitizens annually – Germany removes about 50,000 people each year, France 26,000, and Canada 12,000. In this essay, we focus on the impact of removal, and we argue that many individuals – often those who are best integrated in their countries of long-term residence – will suffer significant physical, psychological, economic and social harm upon their return. Democratic states have normative reasons for taking the harm of deportation into consideration, and we also find qualified support for this position in existing refugee and immigration law. In response, we articulate jus noci as a normative principle for harm avoidance in deportation practice. According to jus noci, democratic states must take into consideration the expected harmful effects of territorial removal and refrain from deporting individuals whose removal is, all other things being equal, likely to impose significant harm.
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Guns and Gun Control
State immigration policy
incentive structures of the two programs may affect the way race politics influence each. Specifically, race is a strong negative correlate for TANF inclusion of immigrants as states with large African American populations were more likely to exclude legal permanent residents from the program. In the case of Medicaid, the size of the immigrant population is a strong positive correlate for inclusion. The effect of the size of the black population, although negative, is small and not significant. The study confirms extant research findings that ideological factors play an important role in the formation of both policies.
Public opinion and immigration attitudes
Immigration and Normative Theory
incentive structures of the two programs may affect the way race politics influence each. Specifically, race is a strong negative correlate for TANF inclusion of immigrants as states with large African American populations were more likely to exclude legal permanent residents from the program. In the case of Medicaid, the size of the immigrant population is a strong positive correlate for inclusion. The effect of the size of the black population, although negative, is small and not significant. The study confirms extant research findings that ideological factors play an important role in the formation of both policies.