Immigration and the American Ethos

Morris Levy, Matthew Wright

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781108488815
• eBook ISBN: 9781108802819
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

What do Americans want from immigration policy and why? In the rise of a polarized and acrimonious immigration debate, leading accounts see racial anxieties and disputes over the meaning of American nationhood coming to a head. The resurgence of parochial identities has breathed new life into old worries about the vulnerability of the American Creed. This book tells a different story, one in which creedal values remain hard at work in shaping ordinary Americans' judgements about immigration. Levy and Wright show that perceptions of civic fairness - based on multiple, often competing values deeply rooted in the country's political culture - are the dominant guideposts by which most Americans navigate immigration controversies most of the time and explain why so many Americans simultaneously hold a mix of pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant positions. The authors test the relevance and force of the theory over time and across issue domains.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Prologue
• 1 What Do Americans Want from Immigration Policy, and Why?
• 2 Civic Fairness and Group-Centrism
• 3 Functional Assimilation, Humanitarianism, and Support for Legal Admissions
• 4 Civic Fairness and the Legal–Illegal Divide
• 5 Civic Fairness and Ethnic Stereotypes
• 6 Assimilation, Civic Fairness and the ''Circle of We''
• 7 Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index