We examine the political position of the suburbs relative to the city by focusing on attitudes toward immigrants. Using 22 years of survey data for the Houston area, this paper addresses three questions. First, how has the attitudinal position of the suburbs relative to the city changed over time? Second, does the city-suburb distinction differ depending on the respondent’s race/ethnicity? Finally, do these results differ depending on the content of the question? Multivariate results indicate an overall increase in positive attitudes, but the increase is slower in the suburbs relative to the city. The resulting divergence is driven exclusively by non-Hispanic whites and is only evident when focusing on more contentious questions regarding immigrants in the United States. Our results suggest a persistent suburban cultural context despite recent demographic shifts, and they highlight the multidimensional nature of the (racialized) attitudes toward immigrants held by non-Hispanic whites in the United States.
AlbaRichardRumbautRuben G.MarotzKaren. 2005. “A Distorted Nation: Perceptions of Racial/Ethnic Group Sizes and Attitudes toward Immigrants and Other Minorities.” Social Forces84(2):899–917.
2.
AmbrosiusJoshua D.2015. “Blue City . . . Red City? A Comparison of Competing Theories of Core County Outcomes in U.S. Presidential Elections, 2000-2012.” Journal of Urban Affairs38(2):169–95.
3.
AyersJohn W.HofstetterC. RichardSchnakenbergKeitherKolodyBohdan. 2009. “Is Immigration a Racial Issue? Anglo Attitudes on Immigration policies in a Border County.” Social Science Quarterly90(3):593–610.
4.
BanksManley E.2000. “A Changing Electorate in a Majority Black City: The Emergence of a Neo-conservative Black Urban Regime in Contemporary Atlanta.” Journal of Urban Affairs22(3):265–78.
5.
BergerBennett. 1960. Working-class Suburb: A Study of Workers in Suburbia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
6.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2003. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
7.
BrownEric S.2017. “Changing Political Fortunes: Race, Class, and ‘Black Power’ in the Rise of a Black Urban Regime in Oakland.” Research in Political Sociology24(1):215–56.
8.
BrownJessica. 2016. “Running on Fear: Immigration, Race and Crime Framings in Contemporary GOP Presidential Debate Discourse.” Critical Criminology24(3):315–31.
9.
BurnsPeterGimpelJames G.2000. “Economic Insecurity, Prejudicial Stereotypes, and Public Opinion on Immigration Policy.” Political Science Quarterly115(2):201–25.
10.
ChandlerCharles R.TsaiYung-mei. 2001. “Social Factors Influencing Immigration Attitudes: An Analysis of Data from the General Social Survey.” The Social Science Journal38(2):177–88.
11.
ChengWendy. 2013. “The Changs Next Door to the Diazes: Suburban Racial Formation in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley.” Journal of Urban History39(1):15–35.
12.
CitrinJackGreenDonald P.MusteChristopherWongCara. 1997. “Public Opinion toward Immigration Reform: The Role of Economic Motivations.” Journal of Politics59(3):858–81.
13.
DancygierRafaela M.DonnellyMichael J.2013. “Sectoral Economies, Economic Contexts, and Attitudes toward Immigration.” Journal of Politics75(1):17–35.
14.
DobrinerWilliam M.1963. Class in Suburbia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
15.
DyeThomas R.1965. “City-suburban Social Distance and Public Policy.” Social Forces44(1):100–106.
16.
EspenshadeThomasCalhounCharles. 1993. “An Analysis of Public Opinion toward Undocumented Immigration.” Population Research and Policy Review12(3):189–224.
17.
EspenshadeThomasHempsteadKatherine. 1996. “Contemporary American Attitudes toward U.S. Immigration.” The International Migration Review30(2):535–70.
18.
FeaginJoe R.1988. The Free Enterprise City: Houston. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
19.
FennellyKatherineFedericoChristopher. 2008. “Rural Residence as a Determinant of Attitudes toward U.S. Immigration Policy.” International Migration46(1):51–90.
20.
FreyWilliam H.2015. Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
21.
GainsboroughJuliet F.2005. “Voters in Context: Cities, Suburbs, and Presidential Vote.” American Politics Research33(3):435–61.
22.
GansHerbert. 1967. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community. New York: Pantheon Books.
23.
GarciaCarlosDavidsonTheresa. 2013. “Are Rural People More Anti-immigrant than Urban People? A Comparison of Attitudes toward Immigration in the United States.” Journal of Rural Social Science28(1):80–105.
24.
GreensteinFred I.WolfingerRaymond E.1958. “The Suburbs and Shifting Party Loyalties.” Public Opinion Quarterly22(4):473–82.
25.
HaShang E.2010. “The Consequences of Multiracial Contexts on Public Attitudes toward Immigration.” Political Research Quarterly63(1):29–42.
26.
HaubertJeannieFussellElizabeth. 2006. “Explaining Pro-immigrant Sentiment in the U.S.: Social Class, Cosmopolitanism, and Perceptions of Immigrants.” International Migration Review40(3):489–507.
27.
HirschArnold. 1983. Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960. New York: Cambridge University Press.
28.
JacksonKenneth T.1985. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.
KlinebergStephen. 2010. The 2010 Kinder Houston Area Survey Report. Houston, TX: Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.
31.
LazerwitzBernard. 1960. “Suburban Voting Trends: 1948 to 1956.” Social Forces39(1):29–36.
32.
LichterDaniel T.JohnsonKenneth M.2006. “Emerging Rural Settlement Patterns and the Geographic Redistribution of America’s New Immigrants.” Rural Sociology71(1):109–31.
33.
MurphyThomas P.RehfussJohn A.1976. Urban Politics in the Suburban Era. New York: Dorsey Press.
34.
NicolaidesBecky M.2002. My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
35.
O’NeilKevin O.MartaTienda. 2010. “A Tale of Two Counties: Natives’ Opinions toward Immigration in North Carolina.” International Migration Review44(3):728–61.
36.
ParkRobert E.1967. On Social Control and Collective Behavior. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
37.
ReynaChristineDobriaOvidiuWetherellGeoffrey. 2013. “The Complexity and Ambivalence of Immigration Attitudes: Ambivalent Stereotypes Predict Conflicting Attitudes toward Immigration Policies.” Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology19(3):342–56.
38.
SauerzopfRichardSwanstromTodd. 1999. “The Urban Electorate in Presidential Elections, 1920-1996.” Urban Affairs Review35(1):72–91.
39.
ShortRobertMagañaLisa. 2002. “Political Rhetoric, Immigration Attitudes, and Contemporary Prejudice: A Mexican American Dilemma.” The Journal of Social Psychology142(6):701–12.
40.
SingerAudreyHardwickSusan W.BrettellCaroline B.2008. Twenty-first Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute Press.
41.
VitielloDomenic. 2013. “The Politics of Immigration and Suburban Revitalization: Divergent Responses in Adjacent Pennsylvania Towns.” Journal of Urban Affairs36(3):519–33.
42.
WalkerKyle E.2013. “Political Segregation of the Metropolis: Spatial Sorting by Partisan Voting in Metropolitan Minneapolis-St. Paul.” City & Community12(1):35–55.
43.
WalksR. Alan. 2004. “Place of Residence, Party Preferences, and Political Attitudes in Canadian Cities and Suburbs.” Journal of Urban Affairs26(3):269–95.
44.
WenMingLauderdaleDiane S.KandulaNamratha R.2009. “Ethnic Neighborhoods in Multi-ethnic America, 1990-2000: Resurgent Ethnicity in the Ethnoburbs?”Social Forces88(1):425–60.
45.
WhyteWilliam H.1956. The Organization Man. New York: Simon & Schuster.
46.
WilkesRimaCorrigall-BrownCatherine. 2011. “Explaining Time Trends in Public Opinion: Attitudes toward Immigration and Immigrants.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology52(1):79–99.
