Sunday, January 13, 2008

Which immigrant groups become more conservative as they assimilate? The General Social Survey aksed 33,197 people living in America their ethnic group, their highest degree earned, and where they fall on the political spectrum. Answers on political views range from:

Extremely liberal=1
Liberal=2
Slightly liberal=3
Moderate=4
Slightly conservative=5
Conservative=6
Extremely conservative=7

I've listed below the mean scores:


Mean conservative score

Chinese
Less than high school 4.12
High school 4.02
Junior college 3.50
Bachelors 3.81
Graduate school 3.93

Mexican
Less than high school 4.03
High school 4.02
Junior college 4.08
Bachelors 3.89
Graduate school 3.57

Filipino
Less than high school 3.14
High school 4.21
Junior college 4.33
Bachelors 4.13
Graduate school 4.40

Puerto Rican
Less than high school 3.74
High school 3.97
Junior college 3.65
Bachelors 3.67
Graduate school 3.20

West Indian
Less than high school 4.31
High school 3.30
Junior college 3.00
Bachelors 4.11
Graduate school 3.67

Asian Indians
Less than high school 4.05
High school 3.73
Junior college 4.14
Bachelors 3.69
Graduate school 3.65

Neocons concede that most immigrants are liberal when they get off the boat, but their upward mobility and Old Country values gradually move them right. Well, looking at the numbers above--data that any yahoo can access--we see a grand total of one immigrant group following the path they predict: Filipinos. One outta six ain't bad, right? And our largest group--Mexicans--beats a path to the left as they become more educated. Neocons are either incompetent analysts, or they secretly want this country to move left, and are simply lying to us.

(I'm sure skeptics will say that I need to analyze income and voting behavior rather than education and orientation. I'll do that next).

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:15 PM

    Ron wrote:

    "Neocons are either incompetent analysts, or they secretly want this country to move left, and are simply lying to us."


    Hell man, Ive been screaming that since 2002, when I realized Bush was lying to us on immigration. As soon as the neo-cons get rid of every player in the mid-east whom they feel is any kind of threat to Israel, they will lurch back over to the other side of the aisle from whence many of them came in the middle eighties anyway. They are simply killing conservatism with demography---and laughing at us while they are doing it.

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  2. From Steve Sailer's blog:

    "In a lengthy 1977 letter to Nobel Laureate Peter Medawar, Crick outlined his views on IQ and eugenics. He had this to say about one frequently cited figured on the anti-Jensen side

    Lewontin, in particular, is known to be strongly politically biased and himself admits to being scientifically unscrupulous on these issues. That is, he takes them as political ones and therefore feels justified in the use of biased arguments."

    We cannot believe "analyses" from neocons. The "analyses" always have a hidden agenda. In Lewontin's case he will make a complicated statistical argument which liberal-arts majors will simply assume is correct, but which he realizes in incorrect. It requires a subtle and difficult argument to refute him, and anyone who tries is labeled a racist, so very few will try.

    How many economists are spreading similar disinformation, knowingly, on the immigration issue? Many, I bet. Thank God for Borjas, but we need more on our side.

    We simply must not give these folks the presumption of disinterest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent demonstration that higher education promotes self-identifying liberalism. However, self-identifying liberalism is not actual liberalism. For instance, there's a ton of grads and post-grads out there carrying the banner of liberalism but live their lives and rear their children with extremely conservative values.

    ReplyDelete

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