Comparative Study of Ethnic Minorities in California (M163V1)

"Currently political participation, especially voter registration and turnout, varies substantially with ethnicity. Blacks and non-Hispanic whites participate at roughly equal rates, while Latinos and Asian-Americans are substantially less active. This variation may reflect culatural factors, or it may be the spurious product of differences in the distribution of non-ethnic determinants of participation, including socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, variables reflecting immigration history, including citicenzhip, and measures of group idintification. Using data collected in 1984 on samples of California's black, Latino, Asian-American, and non-Hispanic white populations, we conclude that these other variables fully account for lower Latino participation rates. Even with such controls, however, Asian-Americans remain less likely to vote. Athough non-citizens particiape less than citizens, they do engage in non-electoral activities. Finally, we specualte on the future political impact of Latinos and Asian-American, by projecting participation rates under several scenarios."

当前，政治参与——尤其是选民登记与投票率——在不同族群间差异显著。黑人和非西班牙裔白人的参与率大致持平，而拉丁裔与亚裔美国人的参与活跃度则明显偏低。此种差异既可能源于文化因素，也可能由参与行为的非族群决定因素分布差异所导致的伪相关结果——这类决定因素涵盖社会经济与人口统计学特征、反映移民历史的变量（如公民身份），以及群体认同相关指标。本研究依托1984年收集的加州黑人、拉丁裔、亚裔美国人及非西班牙裔白人样本数据展开分析，结果显示上述非族群变量完全可以解释拉丁裔参与率偏低的现象。即便控制了上述变量，亚裔美国人的投票参与率依然显著低于其他族群。尽管非公民的投票参与率低于公民群体，但他们仍会参与非选举类政治活动。最后，我们通过多种情景下的参与率预测，对拉丁裔与亚裔美国人未来的政治影响力进行了推测。