The Wages of Latinidad: How Immigration Enforcement Mitigates Anti-Black Assimilation (with Marcel Roman)

Historic accounts posit immigrant ethnic groups adopt the anti-Black attitudes of their Anglo counterparts as they acculturate in the U.S. However, contemporary evidence suggests acculturated immigrant co-ethnics may not be more likely to possess anti-Black appraisals and oppositive attitudes toward Black socio-political interests vis-a-vis their less acculturated counterparts. Drawing from reactive ethnicity and segmented assimilation theory, we posit the threatening contemporary immigration enforcement context may undercut assimilation to Anglo anti-Black attitudes among Latinxs. Using two large nationally representative Latinx surveys, we demonstrate, relative to less acculturated Latinxs, acculturated Latinxs threatened by immigration enforcement adopt attitudes concerning Black people and Black political interests akin to Black people while acculturated unthreatened Latinxs adopt or maintain attitudes closer to their Anglo counterparts. These findings suggest the extent of anti-Black assimilation among contemporary acculturated immigrant co-ethnics is conditional on the receptivity of the host society.

Read more at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-023-09862-1

Prejudiced When Climbing Up or When Falling Down? Why Some People of Color Express Anti-Black Racism (with Efrén Pérez & Bianca Vicuña)

We contend that some people of color express anti-Black prejudice to cope with their own marginalization. Individuals stationed along an in-group’s periphery are often motivated to exclude others to bolster their own belonging in a community. Yet this process is sometimes triggered when individuals feel they are losing their marginal position. We examine these dynamics in the context of Latino prejudice toward Black individuals, with American as the in-group. Study 1 shows stronger American identity among Latinos is associated with anti-Black racism, which then correlates with weaker support for Black-centered policies. Studies 2 and 3 induce Latinos to feel more American, which sometimes increases anti-Black prejudice and decreases support for pro-Black policies. Study 4 causes Latinos to feel less American, which powerfully heightens anti-Black racism and drastically undercuts support for Black-centered policies. These patterns are generally conditioned by ideology, with liberal Latinos exhibiting more sensitivity to their rank as American.

Read more at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422000545

Sisterhood of Color: Coalition Building for Reproductive Rights (working paper with Bianca Vicuña)

In the United States feminist movements historically have struggled to form and maintain interracial coalitions of women. In later years of the movements, women seek to rectify this problem but encounter several obstacles, particularly struggles around issue prioritization. A key concern is that women of different racial backgrounds have different positions in the racial hierarchy (Omi and Winant), and consequently experience different social, economic, and political issues. We know from previous research that highlighting shared experiences with discrimination can elicit political solidarity. This paper explores the psychological conditions that lead to the development of political solidarity between Latinas and Black women. We argue that highlighting the experiences with discrimination that Latinas and Black women share increases Latinas’ and Black women’s sense of linked fate with Women of Color (WoC). This heightened sense of linked fate with women of color should then increase the support that Latinas express for pro-Black women policies and that Black women express for pro-Latina policies. We test this argument using a two-arm survey experiment with a representative sample of U.S. Latinas and Black women.