Social threat theory argues that the dominant group can be threatened in a variety of ways by minorities. Illegal immigrants are an example of one such group that has been described as posing a threat. Illegal immigrants have been identified by some as criminally, culturally, and economically problematic for native-born Americans. However, prior research on social threat has rarely examined perceptions regarding illegal immigrants. This research uses data from a telephone survey of a random sample of adults in the United States (N=1534) to test several of the propositions of social threat theory as they relate to illegal immigrants. Specifically, this study tests how contextual threat influences both perceptions of threat and punitive attitudes as well as how perceived threat affects support for punitive controls. Not only is this study one of the first to focus specifically on illegal immigrants, but it also examines multiple links in the theory's causal chain, making it perhaps the most thorough test to date. Overall, findings are supportive of social threat theory. Individuals who live in more threatening contexts, as indicated by a dynamic measure of the exposure of non-Latinos to Latinos, perceive more criminal, cultural, and economic threat from illegal immigrants. These individuals are also more likely to express support for both border and internal controls. Additionally, all types of perceived threat considered here are significant predictors of support for the punitive controls. Additional analyses suggest the effect of perceived threat may vary by subsample. Most notably, there is evidence of a ceiling effect for conservative respondents. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / June 5, 2013. / Immigration, Public opinion, Social control, Social threat / Includes bibliographical references. / Ted Chiricos, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathryn Tillman, University Representative; Gary Kleck, Committee Member; Brian Stults, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183907 |
| Contributors | Stupi, Elizabeth K. (authoraut), Chiricos, Ted (professor directing dissertation), Tillman, Kathryn (university representative), Kleck, Gary (committee member), Stults, Brian (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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