Partisanship Acquisition Among Migrants in Spain

Party identification helps people orient themselves to the larger political system. Scholars have identified partisanship as a key predictor of political participation among the general population (Conway, 1991; Rosenstone and Hansen, 1993), as well as among ethnic groups made up of a large number of immigrants (Lien,1994; Uhlaner, 1996; Kam and Ortiz, 1998). One way that immigrants are likely to be incorporated into the new political system is through the acquisition of partisanship. Thus, research on the acquisition of partisanship among migrants is therefore a first but central step towards understanding the patterns of political integration among immigrant groups. This issue has been particularly studied in countries with long migratory experience (Finifter and Finifter, 1989; Wong, 2000). Our study offers the opportunity to test established theories in new immigration contexts, such as Spain. In this paper we test two established theories: the "political resocialization" perspective, and the expansion of the existing political self-concept. Instead, translation and expansion of the existing political self-concept are considered particularly likely to occur when individuals are adapting to a different but not radically discrepant political system (Finifter and Finifter, 1989). In this analysis, based on a survey of migrants in Spain, we examine the acquisition of a Spanish partisanship as a proxy of political integration, and people's current feelings of belonging to the country of origin and the country of destination as independent variables of the acquisition of partisanship. Based on previous studies we also test whether higher self-reported discrimination and xenophobia perception hinder partisanship acquisition.