Revisiting the brown-utility heuristic: a comparison of Latino linked fate in 2006 and 2016

ABSTRACT

In one of the first quantitative articles published on Latino linked fate, Sanchez and Masuoka (2010) found that immigrants and those with lower incomes are those with the strongest levels of linked fate and, that interestingly, the experience of discrimination did not have a significant effect on linked fate. They concluded by discussing the possible dampening role assimilation and social mobility might have on Latino political cohesion. But over a decade has now passed since the original data collection used in Sanchez and Masuoka (2010) and many events have occurred which lead us to expect changes in how Latino linked fate is formed. This article offers an update to our understandings of Latino linked fate by comparing the predictors of linked fate between 2006 and 2016. The comparison shows that the predictors of linked fate levels are different between these two years and that the experience of discrimination plays an important and significant role in the formation of Latino linked fate in 2016.

KEYWORDS:

• Latino/a politics
• identity
• 2016 election
• survey research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 See http://www.pewresearch.org/methods/2015/05/13/from-telephone-to-the-web-the-challenge-of-mode-of-interview-effects-in-public-opinion-polls/.

2 Please see Appendix for additional information about both surveys and for survey question wording.