The American Politics Workshop
presents
Marisa Abrajano
Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego
“The Intersection of Political Networks and Nativity: Insights from the 2016 Election”
Abstract:
Political discussion networks have been shown to play an important role in one’s political behaviors. Yet little is known about whether these findings hold across the lines of nativity or ethnorace. To address this question, this paper examines the composition and impact of social networks on political behavior across ethnorace and nativity in California. In partnership with six community organizations, we fielded an online survey several weeks following the November 2016 election. We find that individuals born outside the United States have significantly smaller and more politically diverse social networks than individuals born in the United States. Furthermore, regardless of birthplace, there is a significant, positive association between network homogeneity and both self-reported and validated political engagement. However, network size affects validated political engagement differently among US and foreign-born individuals: U.S.-born individuals in larger networks were more likely to turn out to vote, but there is no evidence of a relationship between network size and turnout among foreign-born individuals. Our findings suggest the importance of considering ethnoracial and nativity differences among individuals when studying social network effects.
Wednesday, March 7th, 2018
12:00 – 1:20 pm
**Lunch will be served**
Location: Pick Hall, First Floor Lounge, 5828 S. University Ave.
To join the workshop email list visit: https://lists.uchicago.edu/web/subscribe/americanpolitics. Individuals with disabilities or those who require special accommodations should contact the coordinators, Jenn M. Jackson (jennjackson@uchicago.edu) and Scott Cooley (cooley@uchicago.edu).
Additional information about the American Politics Workshop can be found on our website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/americanpol/.
