Rethinking Racial Threat: A Comparison of Latino Population Change in the North and South

Authors

  • Patrick R. Miller

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2010.31.0.203-221

Abstract

The racial dynamics of Southern politics have long been defined by the divide between whites and blacks, but recent years have seen high levels of Latino growth throughout the region. This work examines the effect that the influx of Latinos has had on attitudes toward immigration in the United States, and explores how racial threat resulting from Latino growth manifests itself differently in the North versus the South. Results suggest that traditional ways of conceptualizing racial threat may be inappropriate to capture the unique dynamics of Latino growth, especially in the South, and different measures of threat are proposed and tested. Data come from the 2000 National Election Survey (NES) merged with data from the U.S. Census.

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Published

2010-11-01

Issue

Vol. 31: Fall 2010

Section

Articles

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