Ignored Racism: White Animus Toward Latinos

240 Pages·2020·1.469 MB·English

by  Mark D. Ramirez, David A. M. Peterson

IgnoredRacism
AlthoughLatinosarenowthelargestnonmajoritygroupintheUnited
States,existingresearchonWhiteattitudestowardLatinoshasfocused
almostexclusivelyonattitudestowardimmigration.Thisbookchanges
that. It argues that such accounts fundamentally underestimate the
political power of Whites’ animus toward Latinos and thus miss how
conflict extends well beyond immigration to issues such as voting
rights,criminalpunishment,policing,andwhichcandidatestosupport.
Providing historical and cultural context and drawing on rich survey
and experimental evidence, the authors show that Latino racism-
ethnicismisacoherentbeliefsystemaboutLatinosthatisconceptually
and empirically distinct from other forms of out-group hostility and
from partisanship and ideology. Moreover, animus toward Latinos
has become a powerful force in contemporary American politics,
shaping White public opinion in elections and across a number of
important issue areas – and resulting in policies that harm Latinos
disproportionately.
mark d. ramirez is Associate Professor in the School of Politics
and Global Studies at Arizona State University.His research has been
fundedbytheFordFoundation.Heistherecipientofthe2018Adaljiza
Sosa-RiddellAwardfromtheAmericanPoliticalScienceAssociation.
david a. m. peterson is Professor and Whitaker-Lindgren Faculty
FellowinPoliticalScienceatIowaStateUniversity.Hehascoauthored
two books: Mandate Politics (2007) and Religious Institutions and
Minor Parties in the United States (1999). He served as the editor of
Political Behavior from 2015 to 2018. His work has been supported
multiple times by the National Science Foundation and the Social
SciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncil.

Ignored Racism
White Animus toward Latinos
MARK D. RAMIREZ
ArizonaStateUniversity
DAVID A. M. PETERSON
IowaStateUniversity
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108495325
doi:10.1017/9781108861915
©MarkD.RamirezandDavidA.M.Peterson2020
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
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Firstpublished2020
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Ramirez,MarkD.,1977–author.|Peterson,DavidA.M.,1973–author.
title:IgnoredRacism:WhiteAnimusTowardLatinos/MarkD.Ramirezand
DavidA.M.Peterson.
description:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2020.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2019053040(print)|lccn2019053041(ebook)|
isbn9781108495325(hardback)|isbn9781108817943(paperback)|
isbn9781108861915(epub)
subjects:lcsh:HispanicAmericans–Socialconditions.|Hispanic
Americans–Publicopinion.|Whites–UnitedStates–Attitudes.|
Racism–UnitedStates.|UnitedStates–Racerelations.
classification:lcce184.S75r342020(print)|lccE184.S75(ebook)|
ddc305.800973–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019053040
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019053041
isbn978-1-108-49532-5Hardback
isbn978-1-108-81794-3Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
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accurateorappropriate.
Mark would like to dedicate this book to his family: Kim,
Scarlet B.,and Albie.They have made sacrifices to support all
of his endeavors,but especially this one.
Dave dedicates this book to his mother.

Contents
ListofFigures pagexi
ListofTables xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
1 RacismIgnored 1
1.1 IsItRacism? 2
1.2 TheArgumentofThisBook 5
1.3 ALookAhead 6
2 TheRacializationofLatinos 9
2.1 TheHistoricalRootsofLatina/oRacism-Ethnicism 12
2.1.1 The Racialization of the Mestizo People in the
ColonialPeriod 12
2.1.2 Institutional Discrimination and the Racialization
ofLatinoIdentity 14
2.1.3 TheContinuedPushtoMarginalizeLatinos 16
2.1.4 HistoricalSegregation,ModernHate 19
2.1.5 TheDepictionofLatinosasCriminals 20
2.1.6 TheStigmaofBeingLatina/o 22
2.2 TheImportanceofUnderstandingLatina/oRacism-Ethnicism 23
2.2.1 ArePeopleStillHidingTheirRacialBeliefs? 23
2.2.2 LREandWhites’PolicyPreferences 25
2.3 Conclusion 25
3 TheMeasurementofLatina/oRacism-Ethnicism 27
3.1 ConceptualizingLRE 27
3.1.1 FocusGroupsasaValidationofLRE 28
3.1.2 HowPeopleExpressLRE 31
vii
viii Contents
3.2 TheMeasurementofLRE 36
3.2.1 IsLREaCoherentBelief? 41
3.2.2 IsItaUniqueFormofRacism-Ethnicism? 42
3.2.3 IsLREaMeasureofPartisanPrinciplesorCultural
Preferences? 45
3.2.4 IsLREaboutRace-Ethnicity? 47
3.3 Conclusion 51
4 WhyWhiteAmericaOpposesImmigration 56
4.1 AmericanPublicOpiniontowardImmigrationPolicy 59
4.1.1 CurrentExplanationsofPublicOpiniontoward
ImmigrationPolicy 65
4.2 TheRoleofLRE 68
4.2.1 LREorImmigrantResentment 76
4.2.2 Context and Contiguity in Immigration Policy
Preferences 79
4.3 Conclusion 82
5 AttitudesaboutPunishmentandPolicing 86
5.1 LatinosandtheRace-CodingofCrime 88
5.1.1 The“Browning”ofCrimeNews 89
5.1.2 HowWeExamineCrimeNews? 91
5.1.3 DoesCrimeNewsActivateLRE? 95
5.2 UnderstandingPublicSupportforPunishment 100
5.3 WhiteOppositiontoPoliceBodyCameras 103
5.3.1 ThePoliceBodyCameraExperiment 105
5.4 Conclusion 108
6 WhyWhitesFavorRestrictiveVotingLaws 111
6.1 TheControversyoverVoterIdentificationLaws 113
6.2 MassPolarizationorRace? 118
6.3 LREandVoterIdentificationLaws 121
6.3.1 TheVoterIdentificationExperiment 123
6.3.2 EstimatingConcernaboutFraudulentVoting 129
6.4 VoterRegistrationPurges 134
6.4.1 TheConjointExperiment 135
6.5 Conclusion 142
7 TheElectoralImplicationsofLatina/oRacism-Ethnicism 144
7.1 RacialandEthnicConflictinUSElections 144
7.2 SupportforLatina/oCandidatesinUSElections 146
7.2.1 The2014and2016USHouseElections 148
7.3 VotingforCandidatesWhoSupportImmigrationRestrictions 152
7.3.1 The2014and2016USSenateElections 153
7.3.2 GubernatorialElectionsin2014 157
Contents ix
7.4 ThePoliticsofRacism-Ethnicisminthe2016
PresidentialElection 159
7.4.1 HowWhitesVotedinthe2016PresidentialElection 161
7.5 LREandtheStrategicChoicesofCandidates 166
7.6 Conclusion 170
8 Conclusion 173
8.1 WhatHaveWeLearned? 173
8.2 LimitsontheRoleofLRE 176
8.3 TheBrowningofWhites’Attitudes 177
8.4 TheNatureofPublicPolicyOpinions 181
8.5 TheRealImplications 184
8.6 FinalThoughts 185
AppendixA SampleDetails 187
AppendixB Measurement 189
Bibliography 195
Index 215