Research
Dissertation
The Scope of Solidarity: Panethnic Identity and Political Action Among Latinos
Show Abstract
Studies of Latino political behavior assume group members share a common mental referent when invoking group identity. Yet the panethnic label was constructed with deliberately ambiguous boundaries. Existing frameworks document variation in identity strength and salience but not in the content of the identity. I introduce identity scope, defined as the breadth of the mental representation group members hold of the panethnic category. Scope varies from narrow (Latino = own national origin group) to broad (Latino encompasses the full range of origin groups). Using 72 in-depth interviews, I describe how as the Latino community diversifies, Latinos increasingly face panethnic choices, or decisions about whether to express political solidarity with Latinos outside their own national origin group. Identity scope is the missing cognitive antecedent that determines who counts as the group before any solidarity calculation begins. Using an original survey of N=1,308 self-identified Latinos with a pre-registered embedded experiment, I find that Latinos with narrow scope are less supportive of immigration policy with an outgroup beneficiary and allocate fewer resources to outgroup political organizations. These results highlight how existing measurement likely overestimates panethnic solidarity, while also revealing the continued incentive to deploy ambiguous panethnic language to sustain fragile coalitions.
Published
Measuring Attentiveness in Self-Administered Surveys
Public Opinion Quarterly, 2024, 88(1), 214-241
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The surge in online self-administered surveys has given rise to an extensive body of literature on respondent inattention, also known as careless or insufficient effort responding. This burgeoning literature has outlined the consequences of inattention and made important strides in developing effective methods to identify inattentive respondents. However, differences in terminology, as well as a multiplicity of different methods for measuring and correcting for inattention, have made this literature unwieldy. We present an overview of the current state of this literature, highlighting commonalities, emphasizing key debates, and outlining open questions deserving of future research. Additionally, we emphasize the key considerations that survey researchers should take into account when measuring attention.
Working Papers
¡Oralé! Unpacking the Impact of Spanish-Language Accents on Latino Identity in U.S. Political Mobilization
R&R at Journal or Race, Ethnicity, and Politics
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Spanish-language appeals are a common tool for mobilizing Latino voters, yet most research treats Spanish as a uniform cue of a panethnic Latino identity. This paper argues that Spanish-language communication operates through a dual-cue logic: it can signal shared panethnicity, while the accent of delivery simultaneously cues national ori- gin attachments. Using a preregistered survey experiment of 937 Mexican-origin Lati- nos, we test how accent congruence–whether the accent in a Spanish-language appeal matches listeners’ national origin background–shapes evaluations of a Latino candidate. Respondents exposed to a Puerto Rican accent rated the candidate less favorably and perceived weaker commitment to the Mexican-American community than those exposed to a Mexican accent. These findings show that accent incongruence weakens the link between language and representation, highlighting how subtle linguistic variation can complicate identity-based outreach and efforts to mobilize the nation’s second largest ethno-racial group.