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Article Excerpt
Relatively little is known about what individual-level factors drive Americans' attitudes toward offering services to immigrants. Using national-level data and logistic regressions, we examine what factors co-vary with whether respondents agree or disagree with specific policy initiatives regarding support for English language use for immigrants. We then examine what factors are related to whether respondents agree that tax money should be used to fund English classes for immigrant children and adults. We find that age, race, and general warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict English-only attitudes, and that marital status, education, and warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict attitudes toward the use of public funds to teach English.
Keywords: language policy, immigrants, attitudes, English classes
Introduction
The foreign born population of the United States grew from 7.9 percent in 1990 to 11.1 percent, or 31.1 million residents by 2000 (Schmidley, 2001; U.S. Department of State, 2002). Since 2000 the United States has continued to welcome large numbers of immigrants admitting 1,063,732 in 2002 alone of which over 40 percent originated from Spanish-speaking countries (U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service 2001; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2003).
Language is at the core of the policy debate over immigrants' impact on American culture (Lapinski, Peltola, Shaw, and Yang 1997). However, when we examine the research done on American attitudes toward English usage in public schools and the use of public tax money to teach immigrants English, the literature is modest. Some research has isolated correlates related to anti-immigrant attitudes (see Cowan, Martinez, and Mendiola, 1997 and Esses, Dovidio, Jackson, and Armstrong, 2001), but these conclusions have been based on small samples of college students and may not be representative of the general population. Research on sentiment toward making English the official language, as Propositions 187 and 227 in California intend, indicates the importance of language in shaping attitudes toward illegal immigrants (Cowan, et al. 1997). Americans who believe that English should be the only language in schools increased from 40 to 48 percent from 1993 to 1995 (Lapinski et al., 1997). This English-only sentiment is an important indicator of openness toward immigrants, especially if this trend continues. Preliminary analysis of our survey data shows this trend has become more pronounced with 66 percent of 395 respondents in 2001 reporting that English should be the only language used in public schools.
Using data from the University of Oklahoma's 2001 Survey of American Attitudes (SAA) national telephone survey we examine the individual-level factors that may predict more altruistic and open attitudes toward English language policy initiatives, such as whether English should be the only language used in public schools, and whether the same types of individuals who agree that tax money should be used to teach English to immigrant children also agree that tax money should be used to teach English to immigrant adults.
Throughout the twentieth century, the general trend in public opinion has been a growing negativity toward immigrants (Simon, 1985; Jarret, 1999), possibly caused by the perception that these newcomers threaten existing American cultural identity, beliefs, and values (Espenshade and Calhoun, 1993; Esses et al., 2001). Because English language use is a salient component of American identity, the symbolic politics model is useful in framing this analysis. The symbolic politics model posits that cultural symbols, such as language choice, may signify what it means to be an American and can influence opinions on other related issues such as bilingual education or immigration policy in general (Citrin, Reingold, Walters, and Green, 1990a; Citrin, Haas, Muste, and Reingold, 1994). In this paper, we examine the importance of English as a cultural symbol. Using the symbolic politics model, we can predict that because speaking English is such an important part of American identity, Americans would be willing to support the use of public funds to teach English to immigrants, regardless of whether they are children or adults.
The labor market competition model has also been used to understand American public opinion toward immigrants and immigration policies. According to the labor market competition theory, persons with lower social and economic status are less likely to view increased levels of immigration as a good policy direction, because low-wage, low-skill workers compete with immigrants for jobs in the economy (Abowd and Freeman, 1991; Bean, Lowell, and Taylor, 1988; Borjas and Freeman, 1992; Oliver and Mendelberg, 2001). Indeed, it is reasonable that those with lower social and economic status in society would face greater competition and threat to their livelihood with an influx of less-educated immigrants, compared with those of higher status. However, as Smith and Edmonston (1997) note, this may be more perception than reality. Additionally, those with lower status and fewer skills are likely to resent that public money would be spent to provide English training exclusively for immigrants when they, too, are challenged with their own skill levels in the labor market but offered no publicly funded assistance or training.
Evidence suggests that those with more education, higher incomes, and high status jobs are more likely to hold more favorable attitudes toward increased immigration levels, compared with those of lower status (Day 1990; Hoskin and Mishler, 1983; Simon, 1987; Simon 1985; Simon and Alexander, 1993; Sorensen and Krahn, 1996; Starr and Roberts, 1982). Some studies suggest that there may be variation across these social and economic categories (Burns and Gimple, 2000; Morris, 1985; Peterson and Kozmetsky, 1982). Other research provides additional weight to the importance of education in driving social status, showing that negative attitudes toward immigrants decrease with more education (Day 1990; Hoskin and Mishler, 1983; Moore, 1986; Starr and Roberts, 1982). A picture of higher status translates into more open, favorable attitudes toward immigration and immigrants. Thus, we would expect that those with higher status in...
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