Dangerous Stereotypes: Correcting Misperceptions About Undocumented Immigrants to Promote Inclusionary Preferences

You're invited to join Abby Córdova, Associate Professor of Global Affairs in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, for a Global Challenges to Democracy Seminar.

This event is part of Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School.

This event is open to Harvard ID holders only and registration is required.

Abstract

As the number of migrants globally has reached a record high, partly driven by intra-regional migration in Latin America and the Caribbean, natives’ attitudes toward immigrants have become less welcoming, straining social cohesion and core democratic principles. This study responds to the pressing need to promote citizen support for the implementation of inclusionary policies to which immigrants are often legally entitled but are frequently denied.

Highlighting the central role of immigrants’ agency, we develop and empirically test a theoretical framework that emphasizes the effects of correcting misperceptions about undocumented immigrants through personal testimonies to increase citizen support for inclusionary policies, as well as for the political candidates more likely to implement them. We test our argument using a mixed-method approach, drawing from fieldwork in Mexico and from quantitative data collected through an original three-wave nationwide panel survey.

Counterintuitively, we find that immigrants who are culturally similar to natives are the ones who are most likely to be perceived as economic and security threats. Encouragingly, our experimental findings show that correcting misperceptions about immigrants through personal narratives results in more united societies, where natives durably become more supportive of pro-immigrant policies and politicians. Beyond providing a novel theoretical framework and empirical data, our research offers valuable evidence-based lessons on how to design and implement education and media campaigns that can promote natives’ inclusionary preferences and help protect immigrants’ human rights.

About the Series

In the span of a few years, democracy has gone from a likely, if distant, destination for much of the world to a far more tenuous prospect. This seminar series, co-chaired by Professors Yanilda María González and Gautam Nair and hosted by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, delves deep into the various challenges, both internal and external, that stand in the way of building more accountable, responsive, and capable democracy. Leading scholars of politics provide insights using a wide variety of methods and expertise in countries from across the globe.