Cross-posted at Thick Culture.
As of the 2010 Census, Latinos represent 17 percent of the US population, but are woefully underrepresented in traditional forms of political participation like voting and making campaign contributions. The Pew Hispanic center reports that while Latinos represented 21% of all eleigible voters in 2010, they accounted for only 6.6% of midterm election voters.
One area where Latinos are more likely to participate when compared to non-Latino whites is in outsider forms of participation like protest activity. This form of activity became synonymous with Latino political participation during the 2006 Grand Marcha where 500,000 protesters packed streets to protest immigration bills. A 2006 CIRCLE study finds that Latino youth, while not engaged in formal types of participation were much more likely to report having engaged in a protest:
Although young Latinos are generally not as engaged as other racial/ethnic
groups, 25% said that they had participated in a protest—more than twice the
proportion of any other racial/ethnic group.
By comparison, only 11% of all youth surveyed had reported taking part in a protest. The accounts for why Latinos protest more than other groups vary but a main causal fator is the lack of access to formal political channels, particularly for non-citizens and undocumented immigrants. Lisa Martinez (2008) points out that Latinos are less likely to engage in protest activity when they live in places with high numbers of elected officials. Is the increase in Latino political engagement via protest simply the result of demographic realities (e.g. residents can’t vote) or is it a leading indicator of an overall dissatisfaction with politics?
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Jose Marichal, PhD, is an assistant professor of political science at California Lutheran University. He teaches and writes about: public policy, race and politics, civic engagement, the Internet and politics, and community development. He is founder of the blog ThickCulture.
Comments 13
Elena — March 3, 2012
So... why exactly are you putting in the same bucket people whose families hailed from Mexico with Cuban Americans and people whose parents came from Argentina or Chile?
There is such a thing as different attitudes to politics depending on the history of the different countries in Latin America from where their families came, often because of that same history (be it economic refugees or political exiles). And this is leaving aside the heritage Hispanic people, for whom the border moved above them in the XIXth century when the USA acquired the states where they lived.
Joshmccollom — March 3, 2012
This is awesome! Thank you for the update. Numbers don't lie!!! Stop hating on this article- hate the numbers to the statistics.
Anonymous — March 4, 2012
For me, it makes a bit more sense because Latinos are perhaps the most affected by the awful immigration system. I have a friend who is a huge activist and organizes many protests for her university - but she is undocumented, brought by her parents when she was a child. Perhaps the lack of voting and tendency to protest instead is either because many of them are undocumented, or a nod to their undocumented brethren. Or perhaps they feel that they are not as represented for their many many problems, and if they were to vote then it would make no difference.
Gilbert Pinfold — March 4, 2012
I think you have it the wrong way round. The overly broad category, 'Latino', has become prevalent because the frankly racial category, 'Mezisto', is considered offensive (if I understand correctly - I find mixed answers on this).
So this imprecision leads to Spaniards, Mexican aristocrats and Argentines, (not typically the subjects at all of American social policy research), being included in surveys intended to be about Mezistos from Central America. And of course what you said also about the separateness of Cuban and PR concerns and issues.
Latinos Engage In Protests More Than Other Groups | NewsTaco — March 5, 2012
[...] interesting article appeared recently in The Society Pages, making the case that Latinos are more likely to engage in [...]
Billyjoe — March 10, 2012
Did nobody realize that the first graph is in millions and not percentages? 21 million, not 21%.
Veronica — December 5, 2012
Could not help notice the choice of colors (shades of brown) for the graphs.