Immigration, Diversity, and Welfare Chauvinism
-
Gary P. Freeman
Immigration is the driving force behind the rapidly growing ethnic, racial, and religious diversity of Western welfare states. This essay reviews research on the effects of immigration and diversity on the political support for redistributive social programs. A growing body of scholarship finds negative relationships between indicators of ethnic heterogeneity and measures of immigration, on the one hand, and attitudes towards welfare measures and state expenditures on welfare, on the other. Responding to these results, scholars have searched for mediating factors that slow or reverse these effects. As empirical studies multiply it is important to develop theories to make sense of the data. I discuss in-group and out-group theory, reciprocal altruism, and the neoDarwinian theory of ethnic nepotism. I argue that while no theory has been shown to be clearly superior to the others, neoDarwinism is the most comprehensive and should not be dismissed because of its pessimistic implications for immigration, diversity, and welfare states.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Politics of Immigration Reform
- Article
- Navigating an American Minefield: The Politics of Illegal Immigration
- Immigration Reform: Strategies for Legislative Action
- Immigration & Immigration Reform in the United States: An Outsider's View
- Taking Immigration Federalism Seriously
- Why "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" Is Not Comprehensive
- Defining the Circle of We: American Identity and Immigration Policy
- Immigration, Diversity, and Welfare Chauvinism
- Making Change: A Six-Month Review
- Do the Strategists Know Something We Don't Know? Campaign Decisions in American Elections
- Review
- Review of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West
- Review of America and Its Critics: Virtues and Vices of the Democratic Hyperpower
- A Rebuttal to O'Connor
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Politics of Immigration Reform
- Article
- Navigating an American Minefield: The Politics of Illegal Immigration
- Immigration Reform: Strategies for Legislative Action
- Immigration & Immigration Reform in the United States: An Outsider's View
- Taking Immigration Federalism Seriously
- Why "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" Is Not Comprehensive
- Defining the Circle of We: American Identity and Immigration Policy
- Immigration, Diversity, and Welfare Chauvinism
- Making Change: A Six-Month Review
- Do the Strategists Know Something We Don't Know? Campaign Decisions in American Elections
- Review
- Review of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West
- Review of America and Its Critics: Virtues and Vices of the Democratic Hyperpower
- A Rebuttal to O'Connor
