Assignment

Wonsehlea Teah

Instructor Name

Course Number

23 July 2019

Assignment: Latino Transnationalism

Part 1: Summary of Articles

In the article Puerto Rican Exceptionalism, DeSipio and Pantoja examine the variation of transnational political and civic ties among migrants from Puerto Rico, and whether the same patterns vary between other Latin American immigrants and migrants from Puerto Rico. It is based on the theory that immigrants belonging to Latin American have a greater tendency to develop transnational ties, among which Puerto Ricans have a greater opportunity to do so. The authors use survey data from 2002, acquired by the TRPI institute, to obtain comparative data on 5 largest Latino population groups from five Latin-American countries. Four hundred respondents from each group were randomly selected to participate and fill a questionnaire. For the first part, the involvement of the migrants in home country associations and politics were measured by self-reported involvement in political meetings, cultural events, memberships in organizations, alongside their participation in elections, fund contribution, and rally attendances. The second part of the research involved collecting their immigration characteristics, and demographic information, alongside measures of efficacy and incorporation. The results demonstrated that Puerto Rican migrants with lower times spent in the U.S. were more likely to be politically active, while demographic characteristics did not play a role. Other Latin American’s participation in transnational activities increased with high reported discrimination and education levels, while it subsided with long term immigration plans. The study indicates that there is little evidence for Puerto Rican exceptionalism compared to other Latino populations, and the difference could be a result of the unique relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. The study is limited as it relies only upon whether transnational political participation exists or not, as opposed to studying the extent of that involvement.

In Jones-Correa’s article Under two flags, he investigates how the practice of dual nationality affects rates of naturalization among immigrants to the U.S. He also investigates whether the practice of dual nationality is detrimental to the receiving state. For this purpose, statistics from the Census Bureau and the INS are obtained between the years 1965 to 1997, while naturalization is measured by comparing naturalized immigrants from a particular country to the total number of immigrants arriving from that country seven years later. The findings indicate that those countries that accept dual nationality for the immigrants they send to the U.S. have higher naturalization rates compared to others. It implies that certain concerns about dual national immigrants in the U.S. are founded and American citizenship is generally not threatened by the practice. In contrast, the study finds that dual nationality promotes greater participation in the American polity and that policies in the receiving countries affect immigrant participation more than the policies of the sending countries. A key limitation in the study is the way it measured naturalization rates, since it can lead to inaccurate estimations of actual rates of immigrant naturalizations.

In the article, Pessimists, optimists, and skeptics, Gershon and Pantoja aim to research whether political incorporation of immigrants in the U.S. is affected by transnational ties among Latino-Americans. It is based on the theory that the acquisition of U.S. citizenship is a measure of political incorporation, as naturalization is a vital step in that process. The study tests the hypothesis that incorporation can be hindered by transnational ties and also tests the opposite case. For this purpose, the LNS Survey in 2006 is analyzed through logistic regression to measure variables such as homeownership, higher incomes, knowledge of English language, and education besides other demographic information. Respondents are selected from 5 Latin American countries, whose years of stay in the U.S. are measured along with their civic participation and political interests. The findings suggest that immigrant inclinations towards naturalization and citizenship increase with transnational ties, which proves that it is not necessary for immigrants to disengage with the domestic politics of their origin countries to increase their engagement in the U.S. Hence transnational connections are a conduit to the political incorporation process. The findings are limited by a lack of other psychological and socioeconomic variables that can potentially impact immigrant choices to become citizens.

Part 2: Political Implications of Latino Transnationalism

For immigrants to participate in the U.S. political process, a key step is becoming naturalized. The three studies measure how transnational connections of immigrants to their sending countries impact their participation in political and civic life in the U.S. All three studies rely on a different set of methodologies, which naturally lead to different findings. However, the eventual outcomes of the studies are very familiar. Gershon and Pantoja measured political participation using the immigrant's choice to acquire U.S. citizenship. A large sample was obtained through LNS data, which included 8,634 Latinos in total who were stratified according to their location in the U.S. The chosen sample is, therefore, more closely represents the Latino population. Moreover, many transnational measures, such as the place of birth, provide a more accurate measure than conventional U.S. surveys such as the USCIS. Thus, the conclusions are more far-reaching and generalizable across the U.S. It can, therefore, be concluded with greater confidence that encouraging transnational ties among Latino immigrants improves their engagement with politics and society in the U.S CITATION Ger14 \l 1033 (Gershon and Pantoja). Similarly, the study by Jones-Cornea also found that dual nationality, which is also a measure of transnational engagement, encourages the political incorporation of immigrants. The INS data is relied on for the purpose, however, it contains limited cohort data. The study calculated naturalization rates by dividing the total immigrants arriving seven years earlier with the actual number of naturalized immigrants. It, therefore, fails to consider whether any change in naturalization rates is a result of other domestic policy factors and reforms instead of just dual nationality CITATION Jon01 \l 1033 (Jones-Correa). However, the method still allows one to measure whether dual nationality correlates with increased or decreased naturalization.

A more comprehensive study was undertaken by DeSipio and Pantoja, who used the 2002 TRPI data to test political participation among Puerto Rican and other Latino immigrants. It included more factors such as the settlement status, their demographic information, perception of discrimination, alongside their political engagement with the home country as well as in the U.S. It showed that discrimination also led to increased political involvement alongside education, but the later did not affect civic involvement. On the other hand, naturalized citizens showed increased civic involvement. This showed that transnational engagement and immigration status are both closely linked to political and civic engagement CITATION DeS07 \l 1033 (DeSipio and Pantoja). Yet, the method used did not indicate naturalization to be linked to home country political involvement.

Part 3: Career Connection

An understanding of the limitations and strengths of various sampling methods can help develop an accurate measure of public support for a new market opening, on a particular day. A smaller sample size, in this case, may lead to an inaccurate extrapolation because the presence of a few outliers can lead to misleading statistics. To decrease the margin of error, a larger sample size that considers the variability among the local population will lead to more accurate results. Although certain time and financial constraints may occur, larger samples will provide a more unbiased and fair estimate of the market’s success, especially when random people are asked to participate in a telephone survey. Stratification, according to age, will help provide more accurate age-distributed results. It will also remove the need for an extremely large sample size without sacrificing accuracy, as random samples could be obtained in each stratum.

Works Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY DeSipio, Louis and Adrian D. Pantoja. "Puerto Rican Exceptionalism? A Comparative Analysis of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Salvadoran, and Dominican Transnational Civic and Political Ties." Latino politics: Identity, mobilization, and representation. Ed. Rodolfo Espino, David L Leal and Kenneth J Meier. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2007. 104-120.

Gershon, Sarah Allen and Adrian D. Pantoja. "Pessimists, optimists, and skeptics: the consequences of transnational ties for Latino immigrant naturalization." Social Science Quarterly 95.2 (2014): 328-342.

Jones-Correa, Michael. "Under two flags: Dual nationality in Latin America and its consequences for naturalization in the United States." International migration review 35.4 (2001): 997-1029.