The Political Resocialization of Immigrants

• Author: Neil Nevitte,Elisabeth Gidengil,André Blais,Patrick Fournier,Stephen White
• Date: 01 June 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912908314713
• Published date: 01 June 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly
Volume 61 Number 2
June 2008 268-281
© 2008 University of Utah
The Political Resocialization of Immigrants
10.1177/1065912908314713
http://prq.sagepub.com
hosted at
Resistance or Lifelong Learning?
http://online.sagepub.com
Stephen White
Neil Nevitte
University of Toronto
André Blais
Université de Montréal
Elisabeth Gidengil
McGill University
Patrick Fournier
Université de Montréal
Theories of political socialization contain competing expectations about immigrants’ potential for political resocial-
ization. Premigration beliefs and actions may be resistant to change, exposure to the new political system may facil-
itate adaptation, or immigrants may find ways to transfer beliefs and behaviors from one political system to another.
This analysis empirically tests these three alternative theories of resocialization. The results indicate that both trans-
fer and exposure matter; there is little evidence that premigration beliefs and actions are resistant to change. Moreover,
how immigrants adapt depends on which orientation or behavior is being considered and on what kind of political
environments migrants come from.
Keywords:
political socialization; voting behavior; immigrants; Canada
Immigrants are a crucial source of population replace- and so the expectation is that citizens have difficulty
ment in advanced industrial states, where birthrates
adapting to radically different political environments.
have declined dramatically in the past half century. The
This research uses data from one immigrant-rich
demographic and consequent economic effects of immi-
country, Canada, to probe two sets of questions about
gration seem to be well understood. Flows of immi-
the adaptation of immigrants to new political environ-
grants revitalize aging labor forces and offset swelling
ments. First, how do immigrants adjust? To what extent
ranks of pensioners in advanced industrial countries.
do their prior experiences matter? Do immigrants learn
Understanding the dynamics of social and political
from exposure to the new political system? Or do they
adaptation seems to be more challenging because, per-
simply resist new political orientations and behaviors?
haps, large segments of new immigrants come from
Second, to what extent are the patterns of immigrants’
countries with dramatically different political cultures.
adjustment influenced by the kinds of political environ-
How do citizens adjust their political beliefs and
ments in which they were originally socialized?
behaviors upon moving to new political environments?
Do they engage in the politics in their new environ-
Theory and Empirical Expectations
ments, or are they bystanders, withdrawn from political
life? Research on the political resocialization of immi-
Two strands of resocialization theory, the theory of
grants is optimistic about the prospects for immigrants’
exposure and the theory of transferability, contain
adaptation, arguing that immigrants’ political orienta-
tions and behaviors are quite flexible. Prevailing
Authors’ Note: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial
theories of political socialization, by contrast, are more
assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
pessimistic. The conventional wisdom is that early polit-
Council. We thank the journal’s reviewers for their helpful com-
ical learning deeply conditions later political learning,
ments on earlier versions of this article.
268

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White et al. / Political Resocialization of Immigrants
269
optimistic expectations about the adaptability of
words, greater exposure to any political environment
immigrants to new political environments. Both are
(new or old) makes it easier to engage in politics;
rooted in research on native-born citizens: as
individuals find ways to effectively draw on the polit-
Converse pointed out nearly forty years ago, “signif-
ical skills developed in different environments.
icant increments of political learning are visible over
One empirical implication of the transferability
almost the whole course of adult participation in the
hypothesis is that immigrants’ attitudes and behaviors
electorate” (Converse 1969, 142).1 A substantial body
will be associated with the same basic demographic
of cross-national empirical evidence convincingly
indicators as they are for native-born populations.
demonstrates that levels of political interest and par-
And because age captures cumulative political expe-
ticipation (Milbrath and Goel 1977; Teixeira 1987;
riences of immigrants, age turns out to be an impor-
Rosenstone and Hansen 1993), as well as the inten-
tant determinant of immigrants’ political engagement
sity of such orientations as partisanship (Converse
regardless of how long they have lived in a new
1969, 1976), continue to increase and deepen
country. Thus immigrants’ past interest in politics and
throughout the life course.
their prior patterns of participation emerge as strong
The theory of exposure focuses on how much
predictors of engagement in the new host country
exposure immigrants have had to their new host
regardless of country of origin (Black 1982, 1987).
country’s political system: the more exposure they
Black, Niemi, and Powell (1987) similarly report a
have, the more they adapt. The evidence is that voter
strong relationship between age and political engage-
turnout among Latino and other immigrant groups
ment in the new country, even after controlling for
increases with years of residence in the United
length of residence in the new country, country of ori-
States (Arvizu and Garcia 1996; Ramakrishnan and
gin, and levels of prior political engagement in the
Espenshade 2001). Exposure also seems to have a
country of origin. Furthermore, the kinds of political
significant impact on partisan attitudes: the longer
orientations immigrants transfer from one political
Latino immigrants have lived in the United States, the
system to another may well include both prior party
more likely they are to be strong Democratic parti-
identification and ideological outlooks (Finifter and
sans, while Republican partisanship increases with
Finifter 1989).
length of residence for Chinese, Korean, and Southeast
A third perspective, resistance theory, is grounded
Asian immigrants (Cain, Kiewiet, and Uhlaner 1991;
more in classic political socialization theory and is
Wong 2000).
less sanguine about the prospects for immigrant
The empirical findings concerning the effects of
adaptation. From that perspective, the expectation is
political exposure to the new host country, however,
that “people acquire relatively enduring orientations
are not entirely consistent. For example, in their
toward politics in general and toward their own par-
study of newly enfranchised electorates in three
ticular political systems” (Merelman 1986, 279).
countries, Niemi and colleagues demonstrate, con-
Political socialization is seen as cumulative: orienta-
trary to the exposure hypothesis, that both partisan-
tions that are acquired earlier in life filter subsequent
ship (Niemi et al. 1985) and voter turnout (Niemi,
information, and new knowledge is incorporated in
Stanley, and Evans 1984; Niemi and Barkan 1987)
ways that typically conform to existing orientations.
increase with age rather than with firsthand experi-
The crucial point is that most political predisposi-
ence with electoral politics.
tions are acquired early in life during the “formative
Unlike the theory of exposure, the theory of trans-
years.” These political predispositions may be shaped
ferability contends that immigrant adaptation is
by such highly salient exogenous political, social, or
geared by more than just exposure to new political
economic shocks as wars, economic depressions, and
system. The claim is that immigrants are able to draw
political crises that occur during the formative years,
on past experience and transfer the lessons learned
but the conventional wisdom is that these orientations
from their old environment, applying them to the new
deepen over a relatively short period, they become
host environment (Black, Niemi, and Powell 1987;
stable as the formative years end, and they are resis-
Black 1987; Finifter and Finifter 1989). According to
tant to change (Jennings 1987; Green and Palmquist
Black (1987, 739), “More important than the specific
1990; Sears and Valentino 1997; Valentino and Sears
context in which political involvement takes place is
1998; Sears and Funk 1999; Jennings 2002).2
the question of whether it takes place at all—that is,
Because prior social and political learning deeply
it is the accumulation of experience with, and interest
conditions all later learning, people tend to avoid or
in politics per se that is more important.” In other
reject environmental messages that are inconsistent

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270
Political Research Quarterly
with orientations accumulated during the formative
partisanship. But the results are somewhat inconsis-
years (see, for example, Festinger 1957; Zaller 1992;
tent. Research that considers age and exposure typ-
Pomerantz, Chaiken, and Tordesillas 1995). For immi-
ically reports that both factors are positively related
grants, then, the expectation is that adaptation to a new
to political engagement among immigrants. Arvizu
political system will be difficult: immigrants’ political
and Garcia (1996) find that both age and exposure
orientations will be resistant to change the longer
have independent positive effects on voter turnout
immigrants have spent in their country...