Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics

Description

Immigration has been at the heart of US politics for centuries. In Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics, Yalidy Matos examines the inherent moral, value-based, nature of white Americans' immigration attitudes, including preferences on local immigration enforcement programs, federal immigration policy, and levels of legal immigration allowed. Does identifying as white always signify a commitment to maintain the racial status quo or can it result in commitments to racial justice? How do we understand the passage of state-level sanctuary and anti-sanctuary immigration legislation through a white identity political lens? Thinking about whiteness as a moral choice complicates the idea that immigration policy preferences are mostly about demographic shifts.

To examine the centrality of morality in white Americans' immigration attitudes, Matos looks at public opinion survey data as well as the roll call votes of elected officials. She examines the conditions under which white Americans choose to reproduce a system structured on white supremacy or repudiate it, as well as the role of socialization in their choices and immigration attitudes. As immigration continues to be weaponized to divide, Matos highlights the importance of understanding the roots of immigration attitudes in the United States and the ways in which whiteness structures these attitudes.

About the author:

Yalidy Matos is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. Matos' research interests lie in racial and ethnic politics, public opinion and political behavior, and immigration politics and policy in the United States.

Reviews

"Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics examines a policy issue that has been at the heart of US politics for centuries-that of immigration. Matos offers an innovative and fresh approach to understanding immigration attitudes in the US by looking at it through the lens of morality and whiteness. She then tests her theory with a series of empirical tests that take advantage of public opinion survey data as well as the roll call votes of elected officials. A must-read for scholars of political science, sociology, American studies, and public policy." - Marisa Abrajano, Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

"This is a timely, thoughtful, and wide-ranging book. Drawing on survey data, roll call votes, and historical analysis, Yalidy Matos offers fresh insights about the politics of immigration and whiteness in the United States. A must-read for students of public opinion, immigration, and racial and ethnic politics." - Daniel Tichenor, Philip H. Knight Chair of Political Science, University of Oregon

Table of contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics
2. Immigration Attitudes as A Racialized "Morality of Exclusion"
3. How Whiteness Structures Restrictive Immigration Attitudes
4. White Racial Privilege and Progressive Immigration Attitudes
5. Enacting Whiteness Through State-Level Immigration Laws
6. Conclusion: In Need of a Moral Reckoning
Appendix A: Survey Wording Questionnaire
Appendix B: Online Appendix Information
Notes
Bibliography
Index