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(How) Does Nativity Influence Arab-American Attitudes and Behaviors?
Abstract
While a majority of Arab-Americans are foreign-born, a substantial proportion of the community is native-born United States citizens. The attitudinal differences between these first- and second-generation cohorts are key indicators of the degree to which this minority population is following a “typical” assimilationist path or one that is more staggered and segmented. These indicators, in turn, are arguably of greater consequence among Arab-American Muslims given their status as both an ethnic and religious minority. That is, assimilation in the American context is a far less complex (though not necessarily simple) proposition for members of the Christian majority; an assertion underscored in the Arab context through the historical circumstance of this population’s legal whiteness being in large part tied to the first claimants’ Christianity. This paper assesses the effect of nativity among Arab-American Muslims through the three waves of Pew’s nationally representative surveys (2007, 2011, and 2017) and pooled data from three waves of the American Muslim Poll (2016-2018) fielded by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. The analysis highlights whether and to what extent nativity conditions social attitudes, religiosity and self-identification/expression, discussing in each instance ex ante expectations and ex post implications. This examination thus offers a wide-ranging, empirically grounded assessment both for scholars looking to expand the dearth of research on this salient yet understudied community, and those interested in the comparative politics of race and ethnicity more broadly.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
North America
Sub Area
Diaspora/Refugee Studies