Understanding Hostility Toward Immigrants and Immigrant Political Participation

Beyond Your News Feed: Understanding Contemporary Politics

America has often prided itself as a nation of immigrants. Apart from indigenous peoples, Americans generally are descended from someone who came to this country from somewhere else. Despite this history, in recent years, many Americans have shown growing hostility toward immigrants. Politicians like Donald Trump have fueled and capitalized on this hostility in their anti-immigrant rhetoric. Immigrants who engage in political action of some type or hold elective office are particular targets of hostile reactions.

The guests on today’s episode are the principal investigators for a in a major national study: The Immigrant Visibility and Political Activism Research Collaborative a joint initiative of Providence College and the University of Massachusetts Boston funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Their study seeks to understand xenophobic reactions to immigrants – in particular reactions toward those immigrants who engage in political action. They are with me today to provide an early look at their findings so far.

Our guests are Jeff Pugh, associate professor of conflict resolution at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Matt Guardino associate professor of political science at Providence College.