Honors Theses
Advisor
Li-Yin Liu
Department
Political Science
Publication Date
5-1-2021
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Previous studies have investigated how the public’s gender affects its perception of immigrants and immigration policy. However, whether and how immigrants’ gender influences public acceptance of immigration policy is relatively understudied. Using a survey experiment, this research studies whether and how participants’ approval of male or female unauthorized immigrants given a hypothetical path-to-citizenship policy varies among the control group (no review criteria) and four experimental groups— review criteria derived from implicitly gendered dominant policy narratives of unauthorized immigration (public safety, economic contribution, economic threat, and cultural threat). It finds that when presented with public safety cues participants are less likely to accept unauthorized younger male immigrants and when presented with economic contribution cues participants are more likely to accept unauthorized younger male immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This research advances new knowledge in the study of narrative policy framework, politics, gender, and immigration by highlighting how gendered policy narratives influence public opinion of which immigrant, based on their gender, is considered deserving of entrance to the United States.
Permission Statement
This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.
Keywords
Undergraduate research
Disciplines
Political Science | Social and Behavioral Sciences
eCommons Citation
Otero, Yulianna, "Are U.S. Americans Scared of Male Immigrants? Surveying the Gendered Implications of the ‘Latino Threat Narrative’ in the U.S. Public’s Acceptance of Unauthorized Immigrants from Mexico and the Northern Triangle" (2021). Honors Theses. 329.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses/329
