In “The Political Socialization of Adolescent Children of Immigrants,” Melissa Humphries and Chandra Muller of the University of Texas and Kathryn S. Schiller of the State University of New York perform an intriguing study of the political socialization of the children of immigrants. Their studies clearly showed that it is impractical to assume that the process of becoming politically active is the same among all racial groups particularly among children of immigrants. The educational level of the parents, the quality of the child’s schooling, and community involvement are all shown to have varying effects among whites, blacks, Asians and Latinos. However, these racial groups are overly generalized and do not correctly represent the diversity
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society, issues affecting their specific racial group may also affect their decisions to become politically involved” (BLAH date, 1266). The assumption is that the children of the various ethnic groups will assimilate with the generalized racial groups used by the authors. Under this assumption, all Latin American immigrant children should assimilate to the general “Latino” culture of the United States. This claim is at least partially false as shown by the difference between the political involvement of Cuban and Mexican-Americans previously stated. However, in many cases it may be true that the racial views of the surrounding society, among both minorities and whites, force the immigrant group to associate with the broad racial categories identified by the authors. For example, this may hold true if an immigrant Black African family faces discrimination based on their skin color and, in an attempt to avoid further persecution, begins to associate and live among the predominant African-American culture. However, it is also possible that among the various ethnicities classified under every broad racial group there would be significant differences in political socialization. This illustrates a further need for more specific data based on specific ethnicity in order to determine the true nature of political
society, issues affecting their specific racial group may also affect their decisions to become politically involved” (BLAH date, 1266). The assumption is that the children of the various ethnic groups will assimilate with the generalized racial groups used by the authors. Under this assumption, all Latin American immigrant children should assimilate to the general “Latino” culture of the United States. This claim is at least partially false as shown by the difference between the political involvement of Cuban and Mexican-Americans previously stated. However, in many cases it may be true that the racial views of the surrounding society, among both minorities and whites, force the immigrant group to associate with the broad racial categories identified by the authors. For example, this may hold true if an immigrant Black African family faces discrimination based on their skin color and, in an attempt to avoid further persecution, begins to associate and live among the predominant African-American culture. However, it is also possible that among the various ethnicities classified under every broad racial group there would be significant differences in political socialization. This illustrates a further need for more specific data based on specific ethnicity in order to determine the true nature of political