Abstract
Although few controversies in our political environment are as contentious as the current debate over immigration policy, the research on public opinion toward immigration is quite limited. In particular, we know relatively little about the contextual determinants of opinions on immigration issues. We address this issue by investigating the impact of migrant context on Anglo opinions toward immigration. We find that Anglo support for increased immigration is directly related to the size of the documented migrant population. Conversely, as the relative size of the undocumented migrant population increases, Anglo support for increased immigration decreases. We conclude with a discussion of the relevance of our findings for the study of immigration opinion, in particular, and the study of intergroup relations more generally.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Agresti, Alan (1984). Analysis of Ordinal Categorical Data. New York: Wiley.
Allport, Gordon W. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Boston: Beacon Press.
Amir, Y. (1969). Contact hypothesis in ethnic relations. Psychological Bulletin 71: 319–342.
Amir, Y. (1976). The role of intergroup contact in change of prejudice and ethnic relations. In Phyllis A. Katz (ed.), Towards the Elimination of Racism. New York: Pergamon Press.
Becker, William E., and Peter E. Kennedy (1992). A graphical exposition of the ordered probit model. Econometric Theory 8: 127–131.
Blumer, Herbert (1958). Race prejudice as a sense of group position. Pacific Sociological Quarterly 1: 3–7.
Campbell, Donald T. (1965). Stereotypes and the perception of group differences. American Psychological Review 22: 819–829.
Citrin, Jack, Beth Reingold, and Donald P. Green (1990). American identity and the politics of ethnic change. Journal of Politics 52: 1124–1154.
de la Garza, Rodolfo O., Jerry L. Polinard, Robert D. Wrinkle, and Tomas Longoria, Jr. (1991). Understanding intra-ethnic attitude variations: Mexican origin population views of immigration. Social Science Quarterly 72: 379–387.
de la Garza, Rodolfo O., Angelo Falcon, F. Chris Garcia, and John A. Garcia (1993). Attitudes toward U.S. immigration policy. Migration World 21: 13–16.
Desforges, Donna H., Charles G. Lord, Shawna L. Ramsey, Julie A. Mason, Marilyn D. Van Leeuwen, Sylvia C. West, and Mark P. Leppert (1991). Effects of structured cooperative contact on changing negative attitudes toward stigmatized groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60: 531–544.
Ellison, Christopher G., and Daniel A. Powers (1994). The contact hypothesis and racial attitudes among black Americans. Social Science Quarterly 75: 385–400.
Espenshade, Thomas J., and Charles A. Calhoun (1993). An analysis of public opinion toward undocumented immigration. Population Research and Policy Review 13: 189–224.
Fernandez, Edward W., and J. Gregory Robinson (1995). Technical Working Paper No. 8: Illustrative ranges of the distribution of undocumented migrants by state. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Mimeo.
Glaser, James M. (1994). Back to the Black Belt: Racial environment and white racial attitudes in the South. Journal of Politics 56: 21–41.
Hansen, Kristin A., and Amara Bachu (1995). The foreign-born population: 1994. Current Population Reports P20–486. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Hood III, M. V., and Irwin L. Morris (1997). ¿Amigo o enemigo?: Racial context, attitudes, and white public opinion on immigration. Social Science Quarterly 78: 309–323.
Hood III, M. V., Irwin L. Morris, and Kurt A. Shirkey (1997). ¡Quedate o vente!: Uncovering the determinants of Hispanic public opinion towards immigration. Political Research Quarterly 50: 627–648.
Hoskin, Marilyn, and William Mishler (1984). Public opinion toward new migrants: A comparative. International Migration 21: 440–462.
Jackman, M. R., and M. Crane (1980). Some of my best friends are black...: Interracial friendship and whites' raeial attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly 50: 459–486.
Kennedy, Peter (1992). A Guide to Econometrics, 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Kinder, Donald R., and Tali Mendelberg (1995). Cracks in American apartheid: The political impact of prejudice among desegregated whites. Journal of Politics 57: 402–424.
Levine, Robert A., and Donald T. Campbell (1972). Ethnocentrism: Theories of Conflict, Ethnic Attitudes, and Group Behavior. New York: Wiley.
McKelvey, Richard D., and William Zavoina (1975). A statistical model for the analysis of ordinal level dependent variables. Journal of Mathematical Sociology 4: 103–120.
Miller, Lawrence W., Jerry L. Polinard, and Robert D. Wrinkle (1984). Attitudes toward undocumented workers: The Mexican American perspective. Social Science Quarterly 65: 482–494.
Miller, Warren E., Donald R. Kinder, and Steven J. Rosenstone, Principal Investigators (1993). American National Election Study, 1992: Pre-and Post-Election Survey (ICPSR 6067). Ann Arbor: Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan.
Moore, S. (1986). Social scientists' views on immigrants and U.S. immigration policy: A postscript. In R. J. Simon (ed.), The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 487. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Polinard, Jerry L., Robert D. Wrinkle, and Rodolfo de la Garza (1984). Attitudes of Mexican Americans toward irregular Mexican immigration. International Migration Review 18: 782–799.
Powers, Daniel A., and Christopher G. Ellison (1995). Interracial contact and black racial attitudes: The contact hypothesis and selectivity bias. Social Forces 74: 205–226.
Rothbart, Myron, and Oliver P. John (1993). Intergroup relations and stereotype change: A social-cognitive analysis and some longitudinal findings. In Paul M. Sniderman, Philip E. Tetlock, and Edward G. Carmines (eds.), Prejudice, Politics, and the American Dilemma, Chapter 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Sherif, M., O. J. Harvey, B. J. White, W. R. Hood, and C. W. Sherif (1961). Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment. Norman, OK University of Oklahoma Book Exchange.
Sherif, Muzafer, and Carolyn Sherif (1953). Groups in Harmony and Tension. New York: Harper.
Sidanius, James (1993). The psychology of group conflict and the dynamics of oppression. In Shanto Iyengar and William J. McGuire (eds.), Explorations in Political Psychology, Chapter 7. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Sigelman, Lee, and Susan Welch (1993). The contact hypothesis revisited: Interracial contact and positive racial attitudes. Social Forces 71: 781–795.
Sniderman, Paul M., Richard A. Brody, and Philip E. Tetlock (1991). Reasoning and Choice, Explorations in Political Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Starr, Paul D., and Alden E. Roberts (1982). Attitudes toward new Americans: Perceptions of Indo-Chinese in nine cities. Research in Race and Ethnic Relations 3: 165–186.
Stephan, W. G. (1985). Intergroup relations. In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology (3rd ed.), vol. 2. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census (1994). Social and Economic Characteristics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census (1995). Survey of Current Business, vol. 75. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Van den Berghe, Pierre L. (1967). Race and Racism: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hood, M.V., Morris, I.L. Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, ... But Make Sure They Have a Green Card: The Effects of Documented and Undocumented Migrant Context on Anglo Opinion Toward Immigration. Political Behavior 20, 1–15 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024839032001
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024839032001