Irene
Bloemraad
“Learning the Political Ropes: Civic and Political Learning in Mixed Status
Mexican Origin Families”
March
19, 2007
|
|
Irene
Bloemraad discusses the process by which
migrants become politically active in the U.S. |
Understanding
Political Socialization of Mixed-Status Families
By
Felipe Dias
Among
the millions of individuals who participated in the 2006
immigrant marches and demonstrations, tens of thousands were
children or teenagers, many of whom had immigrant parents.
This high level of political engagement among youth demands
inquiry into the processes that contribute to the political
socialization of the children of immigrants. Previous studies
have focused on the factors that influence the political
socialization of children of native-born parents, which chiefly
assumes a unidirectional model with parents influencing their
children’s
beliefs and attitudes. But what if the parents are immigrants?
During
her CLAS talk, Irene Bloemraad, a leading scholar in the
field of immigration studies, argued that political socialization
for the children of immigrants — “the
process of acquiring or developing attitudes, values, beliefs,
skills and behaviors related to politics” — not
only occurs from parents to children but also from children
to parents. Bloemraad, therefore, posited that political socialization
in immigrant families is not unidirectional, but rather “bidirectional,” whereby
children of immigrants also shape their parents’ political
engagement.
This
is an important project considering current demographic trends:
nationally, 12 percent of residents are foreign born, and
a third of Californians are Hispanic. Although the political
participation of Latinos is growing, it is nevertheless much
lower than their sheer numbers would suggest. If the goal
of democracy is to “reflect the full and equal contribution
to collective decision-making by individuals,” Bloemraad
explained, “…it is critical to understand how
immigrants and their children learn how to participate and
understand the political system.”
Current
models of political engagement and socialization focus on
the impact of education, work force participation, income
and marital status in predicting civic engagement. These
criteria, however, do not work well for teenagers. Bloemraad
maintained that what is needed is “a theory for youth
political participation which is separate from the models of
adults.” This is not to say that parents’ political
behavior and values are not strong predictors of their children’s
political attitudes. In fact, familial political socialization
exists both indirectly, by providing a good education and subsequent
stable income, thus affecting political engagement; and directly,
when family members provide political stimulation by discussing
politics. However, these arguments assume that the parents
are native born and therefore knowledgeable about the American
political system.
Bloemraad
argued that such assumptions become questionable in the case
of immigrant families who might not be as familiar with the
political system. Immigrant parents might not possess the
necessary English skills and/or the legal status to engage
in civic practices such as voting. And, due to their greater
English language skills, the children of immigrants often
act as interpreters for their parents, connecting them to
mainstream institutions through discussions with doctors,
landlords and government officials. This role gives children
influence over how their parent’s understand their new country and allows
them to develop a sense of civic engagement, which might lead
to future involvement in community-organizing or other political
activities. Consequently, Bloemraad hypothesized that “the
process of political socialization from parents to children
is attenuated in immigrant families, and that the reverse process — political
socialization from children to parents — might also exist.”
To find out, Bloemraad and her associates conducted interviews
with 48 Mexican-origin families in the East Bay . Interviewees
were recruited from high schools in West Contra Costa and Oakland
. In order to control for educational and income levels, which
are strong predictors of political and civic engagement, families
recruited had modest educational and income backgrounds which
reflected state averages for Latino families. Quantitative
findings in this project indicated that both parents and their
children had high levels of political and civic engagement.
Moreover, teenagers appeared to be more active than their parents,
as the median levels of political and civic engagement were
twice as great.
Bloemraad
also provided illuminating qualitative evidence which suggests
a “bidirectional” model (mutual
influence) of political socialization. In one family, for example,
the daughter of naturalized parents described how she made
her parents watch the news to keep up-to-date on events in
the U.S. The teen said, “I told them not to vote for
Bush the second time…they already had their own opinion
about him… but I encouraged them not to vote for him.”
Similarly,
Bloemraad found that immigrant parents also influence their
children’s political engagement, even when they
do not yet have legal papers. Among the four parents with the
highest scores on the index of political participation, three
were undocumented. Data from those who attended the 2006 spring
immigrant protests clearly supports the “bidirectional” model.
A daughter of a naturalized parent, for instance, explained
how her parents motivated her to attend the protests. She said, “Well,
I guess my dad encouraged us to participate… he went
through that; he didn’t have papers, so he wanted me
to go and be part of that [the demonstrations].” Another
teen, the daughter of an undocumented mother felt compelled
to participate in the protests because she understood that
her mother is an immigrant and she “needed to do something
about it.”
In
short, the findings for this project indicate that traditional
parent-child political socialization can occur regardless
of legal status. Furthermore, the evidence also suggests
that teens can influence their parents both directly and
indirectly through activities such as school and sports.
During the question and answer session, one attendee wondered
about the exact mechanisms through which schools influence
the parents’ political
socialization. In response, Bloemraad noted that the immigrant
experience is congruent with what Harvard political scientist
Robert Putnam calls “bridging and bonding social capitals.” In
his famous book Bowling Alone, Putnam maintained that “bridging” social
capital refers to the values attributed to social networks
between socially heterogeneous groups while “bonding” social
capital refers to social networks among socially homogeneous
groups. Immigrant parents form “bridging” social
capital with non-Latino immigrant groups and institutions by
participating in school organizations, such as the Parent Teacher
Association (PTA). These organizations provide parents with
the opportunity to engage civically, by signing a petition
to oust an incompetent teacher, for instance. Interviews with
those who participated in the 2006 protests also suggest the
development of “bonding social capital” among Latinos
who exhibited great levels of in-group solidarity and coalition
building.
Bloemraad
concluded by noting that the 2006 immigrant protests were
clearly a “mobilizing force for many immigrants
and their children.” She and her associates plan to examine
the longterm effects of such experiences, which might lead
to further political engagement or possibly disillusionment.
Moreover, future research should also be attentive to how the
experiences of Latinos compared to other immigrant groups (i.e.
Asians), who have fewer barriers to political participation,
such as documentation status and modest levels of schooling.
Irene
Bloemraad is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology
at University of California, Berkeley. She presented her
paper “Learning the Ropes: Civic and Political
Learning in Mixed Status Mexican Origin Families” at
CLAS on April 19, 2007.
Felipe Dias is a graduate student in the Sociology Department
at University of California, Berkeley.
